num_pages: 221
description: Eroticism is, for most of us, a private affair. Something experienced behind closed doors or, if outdoors, in those hidden places where we endure even nettles to be far from prying eyes. But the artist who employs eroticism invites the prying eye and says "Look! Don't turn away." This book sets out to answer that call. It explores the American erotic as it functions in various cultural texts ranging from film to fiction and music videos to televisions. Part One (Literary Perspectives) begins with the essay 'Eroticism Displaced: Eros &amp; Power in Norman Mailer's Fiction &amp; G.W. Bush's America". The allure of the black bordellos of Panama are explored in terms of lesbian erotic love in 'Bad Girls &amp; Naughty Narratives: Erotic &amp; Textual Transgression in J. Bowle's Two Serious Ladies.' Food and the erotic is examined in the light of French feminist theory by J. Tally. The section includes also 'Is Philip Roth an Erotic Writer?', and concludes with 'The Prying Eye: Voyeurism in Faulkner's Sanctuary". Part Two (Cultural Readings) opens with 'Digital Get Down: Postmodern Boy Band Slash &amp; Queer Female Space', followed by 'Pathologically Queer: The Fragmented Queer Subject in Fight Club &amp; The Talented Mr. Ripley' and 'I Still Dream of Madonna: Erotics after Erotica.' In 'How Far Can You Go? Black Eroticism on American Screens' T. Pospisil traces the development of cinematic depictions of African American eroticism and sexuality. Other essays of this section include: 'Good Sex &amp; Star Trek: Where Few Women Have Gone Before', 'Dissolving &amp; Solidifying Identities: Crossing Race, Sex &amp; Politics in Mestiza Politics', and 'Sexualized Fat Bodies: Expanding the Boundaries of Female Beauty'. To counter a residual Puritanism which tells us to turn our eyes away, the "Eros.usa" collection invites us to look at the American erotic and marvel at this undying animal which calls and coaxes, teases and taunts, seduces and sells itself to us in a multiplicity of forms.
language: English
title: Eros.usa: Essays on the Culture and Literature of Desire
titlecomplete: Eros.usa: Essays on the Culture and Literature of Desire
publisher: WUG