Sexual Personae

Sexuality and eroticism, says Camille Paglia in this exciting work, is the place where nature and culture intersect. Which inevitably produces conflicts. Many times, feminist theory has simplified them, and has thought that it was enough to readjust society, establish sexual equality and clarify the functions of each sex for happiness and harmony to reign. The reality is much more complicated. And to prove it, Paglia embarks on a journey through the great western culture. Lord Byron's poems, the most Apollonian Renaissance sculptures, Shakespeare's plays, decadent Orientalist paintings, the cruelty of the Marquis de Sade, Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, videos (somewhat pornographic) of Madonna and Elvis Presley's sexual charisma. All this illustrates, with its beauty and its sometimes threatening character, what we talk about when we talk about sex and what their masks are. With a mix of art criticism, narrative talent, forays into the Jewish and Christian religions and paganism, and a breadth of outlook that exceeds that of any ideology, Paglia rebuilds our civilization with unprecedented audacity. Sexual Personae is a scholarly war of guerrillas against the most accommodating commonplaces about sex and its place in culture, and also a celebration of its dark power.