{"product_id":"fearless-vulgarity-ken-feil-9780814346037","title":"Fearless Vulgarity: Jacqueline Susann's Queer Comedy and Camp Authorship","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eThe enduring queer feminist engagement with \u003ci\u003eValley of the Dolls \u003c\/i\u003eauthor Jacqueline Susann's camp comedy legacy.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCatalyzed by her notoriously \"dirty,\" fabulously successful bestseller \u003ci\u003eValley of the Dolls\u003c\/i\u003e, the \"Jackie Susann Sixties\" brimmed with camp comedy that now permeates contemporary celebrations of the author, from \u003ci\u003ePee-wee's Playhouse \u003c\/i\u003eto \u003ci\u003eRuPaul's Drag Race\u003c\/i\u003e and Lee Daniels's \u003ci\u003eStar. \u003c\/i\u003eFirst christened \"camp\" by Gloria Steinem in an excoriating review of \u003ci\u003eValley of the Dolls\u003c\/i\u003e and compounded by the publishing juggernauts \u003ci\u003eThe Love Machine \u003c\/i\u003e(1969), \u003ci\u003eOnce Is Not Enough \u003c\/i\u003e(1973), and \u003ci\u003eDolores \u003c\/i\u003e(1976), the comedy of Jackie Susann illuminated conflicting positions about gender, sexuality, and aesthetic value. Through a writing formula that Ken Feil calls \u003ci\u003esleazy realism\u003c\/i\u003e, Susann veers from gossip to confession and devises comedies of bad manners spun from real celebrities whose occasionally queer and always outré antics clashed with their \"official\" personas, the popular genres they were famous for, and the narrow, normative constructions of identity and reality shaped by the culture industry. Susann's promotional appearances led to another comedy of bad manners, this one populated with critics alternately horrified and delighted by an upstart woman vulgarian barging into the male literary firmament, and which continues to inspire fascination for the author, her novels, and their legendarily bad film adaptations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ken Feil\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0814346030\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780814346037\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Wayne State University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/29\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.31lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.75d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2023","brand":"Ken Feil","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44070856982783,"sku":"9780814346037","price":84.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_b2129e79-7e2c-4b7d-85d4-373af12d00de.jpg?v=1685432740","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/fearless-vulgarity-ken-feil-9780814346037","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}