Uncontrollable Bodies: Testimonies of Identity and Culture [Paperback]

Rodney Sappington (Editor), Tyler Stallings (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0941920275 | ISBN-13: 978-0941920278 | Publication Date: May 1, 1994

anthology featuring Trinh Mihn-ha, others

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This unique and compelling assemblage of poetry, photography, and prose (both autobiographical and fictional) mixes the work of writers (Dennis Cooper), visual artists (Robert Flynt), activists (Greg Bordowitz), performance artists (Luis Alfaro), and sex workers (Carol Leigh). The point of departure here is the body as worthy-even demanding-of reflection and, according to Sapplington's introduction, "the body as a site of vulnerability." What could dissolve into a pop-psychological discussion of maso-chism instead becomes brave, personal, artistic discourse. Rather than musing indolently on their own physical inadequacies or being disgruntled by society's one-size-fits-all leisure-suit solution, the contributors deftly treat the very act of searching as an intense collaboration with themselves. On the whole, these philosophical testimonies, whether through visual means or the use of language, are pertinent and provocative. The reader participates not as student or voyeur or therapist but as fellow body. Recommended for large contemporary art and philosophy collections.
Douglas McClemont, New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Perhaps the proof that human beings are different from the rest of the animals lies not, as theologians claim, in the existence of a soul, but rather in the existence of poststructuralism. Cats may or may not pray, but surely they don't complicate ``the use of first person through multiple personas and voices, inhabiting different bodies, and at moments feeling `other' to the one body they own.'' Which is what Sappington writes of the contributors to this eclectic array of stories, poems, photographs, drawings, confessions, rants, dreams, and various conglomerates of words and images arranged around the notion that the human body (and the representation of it) is a battleground for every social, political, aesthetic, psychological, and sexual conflict imaginable. With input from Dennis Cooper, Leslie Dick, Lynne Tillman, and others, this polyglot book edited by two writers and visual artists addresses race, gender, sexuality, and Captain Jean- Luc Picard. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 283 pages
• Publisher: Bay Press (May 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941920275
• ISBN-13: 978-0941920278
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,131,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)