Queer Angels in Post-1945 American Literature and Culture: Bad Beatitudes (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781350198999)

From Allen Ginsberg's 'angel-headed hipsters' to angelic outlaws in Essex Hemphill's Conditions, angelic imagery is pervasive in queer American art and culture. This book examines how the period after 1945 expanded a unique mixture of sacred and profane angelic imagery in American literature and culture to fashion queer characters, primarily gay men, as embodiments of 'bad beatitudes'.

Deutsch explores how authors across diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, including John Rechy, Richard Bruce Nugent, Allen Ginsberg, and Rabih Alameddine, sought to find the sacred in the profane and the profane in the sacred. Exploring how these writers used the trope of angelic outlaws to celebrate men who rebelled wilfully and nobly against religious, medical, legal and social repression in American society, this book sheds new light on dissent and queer identities in postmodern American literature.

Author: David Deutsch
ISBN-10: 1350198994
ISBN-13: 9781350198999
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English
Published: 02/23/2023
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.47d