Homos
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £2.65
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Homos for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.65, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Homos" is an extremely persuasive analysis of the "anticommunal" freedom made possible by "perverse" sexuality...Bersani's argument is at once subtle, even brilliant.--Peggy Phelan "Contemporary Sociology "
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book gave me a lot to think about. Bersani is wrong and interesting where any number of other theorists in the field are right and boring. Some of what he says is rather silly, much of it is brilliant, and if you have a brain you will almost certainly enjoy reading it.
0 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
At first I found this book quite a rewarding read as it really helped me discover my sexuality and pluck up that all important courage to visit Heaven, but since "coming out" I've realised there is still too much pretence in this book to really justify it's claims, especially when Leo Bersani delves into sadomasochism in the modern era as if an expert! An Insult. Also not enough pictures for my liking which is why I give this book just 3 stars. Marti Knox
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
The Irruptive Force of Gay Identity
24 May 2009
Format:Paperback
Bersani's *Homos* is arguably the most underappreciated text in the academic canon of queer theory. The book is not only the foundation for the "no future" turn in the field but also one of the earliest critiques of gay and lesbian visibility in American culture and politics. In a twist to the conventional logic that motivates gay rights activism, Bersani contends that the drive toward visibility, representation, and tolerance has denuded gay identity as such of its sexually specific character (i.e., the "desire for the same"). It's as though gay rights activism has had to mute its erotic lifeworld in order to gain respectability in American society. Bersani suggests the trade off isn't worth it, in part because such a pact doesn't challenge power relations in toto, thus leaving the door open for future homophobic attacks.
Along with mainstream gay rights activism, Bersani is concerned to identify how then-emergent trends in queer theory seemed to follow the liberal/tolerance script. Indeed the book's most insightful moments inhere in Bersani showing how queer theory elides the specificity of same-sex desire in courting "subversive" notions of sexual practice. In withering critiques of Judith Butler, *Paris Is Burning*, and S/M culture, Bersani says that queer theory has made a fetish of the micro-politics of performance and given up on a wholesale challenge to the structures of power by way of same-sex desire. Bersani's readings are refreshing because they take queer politics to task from a standpoint of wanting to radicalize it -- and to do so through gay erotics, not platitudes about how queerness works against the "system."
*Homos* elaborates on Bersani's controversial but brilliant essay "Is the Rectum a Grave?" (1988). The book is not as precise in its theoretical argument as I wanted it to be, which is why I'm giving it four stars. For those who want Bersani's essential point in a compact form, I recommend going to the essay before the book. Still, *Homos* deserves extended study and revisiting among scholars interested in queer theory, gay and lesbian studies, and contemporary social critique.
Along with mainstream gay rights activism, Bersani is concerned to identify how then-emergent trends in queer theory seemed to follow the liberal/tolerance script. Indeed the book's most insightful moments inhere in Bersani showing how queer theory elides the specificity of same-sex desire in courting "subversive" notions of sexual practice. In withering critiques of Judith Butler, *Paris Is Burning*, and S/M culture, Bersani says that queer theory has made a fetish of the micro-politics of performance and given up on a wholesale challenge to the structures of power by way of same-sex desire. Bersani's readings are refreshing because they take queer politics to task from a standpoint of wanting to radicalize it -- and to do so through gay erotics, not platitudes about how queerness works against the "system."
*Homos* elaborates on Bersani's controversial but brilliant essay "Is the Rectum a Grave?" (1988). The book is not as precise in its theoretical argument as I wanted it to be, which is why I'm giving it four stars. For those who want Bersani's essential point in a compact form, I recommend going to the essay before the book. Still, *Homos* deserves extended study and revisiting among scholars interested in queer theory, gay and lesbian studies, and contemporary social critique.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Absolute Genius! Assimilationists look out!
31 Mar 2002
Format:Paperback
This is the most reasonable, well organized work on gay political culture in existence. Bersani delves beyaonf the rhetoric, and into the psyche of society and the gay culture, making clear why "de-gaying gayness" is a travesty to all parts of society. It is a must reaa for anyone grappling with their sense of society, belonging, be-ing.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Gay & Lesbian > Critical Theory
- Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature > Criticism & Reference
- Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Academic Sociology
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Anthropology > Social & Cultural
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Communication Studies > Semiology
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Sociology
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
