Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson [Paperback]

Camille Paglia (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 1991

From ancient Egypt through the nineteenth century, Sexual Personae explores the provocative connections between art and pagan ritual; between Emily Dickinson and the Marquis de Sade; between Lord Byron and Elvis Presley. It ultimately challenges the cultural assumptions of both conservatives and traditional liberals. 47 photographs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Sexual Personae is an enormous sensation of a book, in all the better senses of 'sensation'. There is no book comparable in scope, stance, design or insight." Harold Bloom "A fine, disturbing book. It seeks to attack the reader's emotions as well as his/her prejudices. It is very learned. Each sentence jabs like a needle." Anthony Burgess "It relentlessly pursues its ambition to assault the emotions, batter the brain and aim a kick at the groin." Alan Bold, The Times "Provocative... a radical reappraisal of the human condition. Her style is marked by angry exhiliration, brittle epigrams and acid paradoxes." Times Literary Supplement --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

"A remarkable book, at once outrageous and compelling, fanatical and brilliant....One must be awed by [Paglia's] vast energy, erudition and wit"--Washington Post Book World

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: Vintage Books (August 20, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679735798
• ISBN-13: 978-0679735793
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #196,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant mix of belles-lettres and philosophy, July 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (Paperback)

Paglia has gotten so much press in recent years, due to her self-transformation from obscure academic into media pundit, that it's easy to sniff at the awe-inspiring strengths of her first and greatest book. There is something in "Sexual Personae" to annoy and upset everyone - but Paglia irritates because her brilliant mind neatly and decisively rips apart received ideas. By asserting the truth of certain basic oppositions - Apollo/Dionysos, Christian/Pagan, male/female - Paglia creates a thinking-space where we can see how art and literature have flourished in the tense zone between these poles. You cannot help but admire the range and depth of her erudition and interests, particularly in an age where American intellectuals say more and more about less and less. Paglia's prose is clear, dramatic, and of an adamantine brilliance that, in its better passages (the introduction, "Renaissance Art," and "Pagan Beauty," come to mind) stuns yo! u with its insights. I applaud her defense of the male imagination's sexual peculiarities, always kept on a short leash in Puritan America, and greatly look forward to the second volume. This book should be required reading in freshman composition courses. Reading this book changed my view of reality permanently. Paglia says many thing which I had always sensed, but could never put into words. The firestorm of opposition which her ideas have generated merely indicates her strength as a thinker. You owe it to yourself to read this book!

80 of 95 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I am conflicted in simultaneous love & hate for Camille..., January 12, 2000

By 

"sarah_elizabeth" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (Paperback)

Camille is brilliant, and this book proves it. But this book also proves that Camille is bombastic, occasionally offensive, and tedious. There are parts of this book which sparkle and excite, but there are parts which make me question my decision to shell out the $$ for it in the first place.

In her analysis of everything (which is essentially what this book is), Camille makes absolutely brilliant links between diverse art & artists. She is at her best when she discusses the Dionysian & Apollonian nature of cultural movements, and her clarification of these duelling forces is incisive and thrilling. You wonder about the intellectual acrobatics she is performing in her scholarship, but you are happily amazed at the conclusion of the performance. It is an appealing notion to explain the world of art & culture in these grand, sweeping terms, and even the most anti-Paglia reader has to give her credit where credit is due for making persuasive arguments.

However, the book is tragically bogged down by Camille's cult-of-personality approach to her subject. Her constant pre-emptve strikes at critics are weak, and her own dubious politics are showcased occasionally, serving only to discredit her. She is also frequently impossible to follow, and when you are done with the book, after you get over the glow of her fabulous intellect, you have to wonder if she is just playing some sort of trick...because you have emerged with enough witty, esoteric cocktail party conversation to fill a lifetime (guaranteed to impress everyone at that alum function at your alma mater!) BUT you are still not quite sure what the point was. Which is a real shame.

Nonetheless, I recommend this highly. It is intellectual aerobics, and it is too easy to criticize Camille without ever reading her work. This remarkable book is something which I will never forget, and I have taken a great number of cohesive thoughts about culture from this text and mulled them over, coming to a personal conclusion of my own. It requires an investment of time & effort to get to know this book, but I do feel that it is worthwhile.

38 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CHANGED MY LIFE, March 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (Paperback)

A book this outstanding is rare, as I can see from the customer reviews many have perceived. Paglia's book, which I read when I was 17, crystallized my thoughts on art, sexuality, and human nature: like her I was a freakish female fan of Oscar Wilde, the gay male sensibility, and decadence. I had truly been searching for this book since I was 13 years old and got my first adult public library card, and thereby discovered the endlessly fascinating world of literature and art--the existence of which I'd never suspected. I'll never forget sitting down with this book during Grade 12 Spring Break; my mother and little sisters were away visiting relatives, so I had the house to myself during the day and I sat in the dining room from the time my step-father left for work at about 7 am to the time he returned about 5 pm, reading. It was by far the longest and most difficult book I had ever read, and I took time over it because as other customer reviewers have pointed out, Paglia addresses such profound, disturbing ideas in such original, provocative ways that I did no less than go over my whole life in my head from my earliest memories to test Paglia's ideas. Needless to say, Paglia won more often than not: the myth of original sin is a better explanation of art and human nature than the myth of social constructionism.

If you are truly open to ideas and you love art, don't read this book unless you want your life completely changed for better or worse. Almost ten years later I find myself completely intellectually alienated from both peers and most professors in my university English program because I continue to fight UNCOMPROMISINGLY for art and independent thought (not to mention intellectual rigour and standards and good prose!), thanks to Paglia's inspiration. But it makes it worthwhile when I come on amazon.com and see that others have felt the same way I do. For you others, if you're looking for other *special* works of criticism (neither the run-of-the-mill merely accurate kind nor postmodern drivel), I recommend George Toles's A House Made of Light: Essays in the Art of Film and Stanley Cavell's Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage. If you read them after Paglia you'll have some balance, too, since Toles and Cavell emphasize the link between art and morality, while treating the subject with the complexity it deserves.