Divine Decadence (Princeton Legacy Library, 124) - Softcover

9780691023465: Divine Decadence (Princeton Legacy Library, 124)
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 

As femme fatale, cabaret siren, and icon of Camp, the Christopher Isherwood character Sally Bowles has become this century's darling of "divine decadence"--a measure of how much we are attracted by the fiction of the "shocking" British/American vamp in Weimar Berlin. Originally a character in a short story by Isherwood, published in 1939, "Sally" has appeared over the years in John Van Druten's stage play I Am a Camera, Henry Cornelius's film of the same name, and Joe Masteroff's stage musical and Bob Fosse's Academy Award-winning musical film, both entitled Cabaret. Linda Mizejewski shows how each successive repetition of the tale of the showgirl and the male writer/scholar has linked the young man's fascination with Sally more closely to the fascination of fascism. In every version, political difference is read as sexual difference, fascism is disavowed as secretly female or homosexual, and the hero eventually renounces both Sally and the corruption of the coming regime. Mizejewski argues, however, that the historical and political aspects of this story are too specific--and too frightening--to explain in purely psychoanalytic terms. Instead, Divine Decadence examines how each text engages particular cultural issues and anxieties of its era, from postwar "Momism" to the Vietnam War. Sally Bowles as the symbol of "wild Weimar" or Nazi eroticism represents "history" from within the grid of many other controversial discourses, including changing theories of fascism, the story of Camp, vicissitudes of male homosexual representations and discourses, and the relationships of these issues to images of female sexuality. To Mizejewski, the Sally Bowles adaptations end up duplicating the fascist politics they strain to condemn, reproducing the homophobia, misogyny, fascination for spectacle, and emphasis of sexual difference that characterized German fascism.

Originally published in 1992.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:
Linda Mizejewski is Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the Ohio State University in Columbus. She is the author of Divine Decadence: Fascism, Female Spectacle, and the Makings of Sally Bowles, Ziegfeld Girl: Image and Icon in Culture and Cinema, and Hardboiled & High Heeled: The Woman Detective in Popular Culture. Her most recent book, It Happened One Night, is a study of the original romantic comedy film.
From Library Journal:
There are actually two plays and two movies based on the stories of Christopher Isherwood, although Bob Fosse's film Cabaret is the most familiar version. For each production, this work analyzes the role of Sally Bowles comparatively, contextually (showing, for instance, how the politics and mood of the Sixties informed the Broadway musical), and with well-argued alternate readings. Using the vocabulary of literary criticism, the author discusses the character's frequently paradoxical female image (as child, mother, sexual being, and prostitute) as a metaphor for the decadence that was ostensibly linked to the rise of fascism. Iconography, cinematic predecessors, the notion of "camp," and gay/lesbian sensibilities are discussed at length. Of interest to humanities, gender, and film studies collections.
- Janice Braun, Oakland, Cal.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherPrinceton University Press
  • Publication date1992
  • ISBN 10 0691023468
  • ISBN 13 9780691023465
  • BindingPaperback
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages284
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780691637174: Divine Decadence: Fascism, Female Spectacle, and the Makings of Sally Bowles (Princeton Legacy Library, 124)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0691637172 ISBN 13:  9780691637174
Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2016
Hardcover

  • 9780691608785: Divine Decadence: Fascism, Female Spectacle, and the Makings of Sally Bowles (Princeton Legacy Library, 124)

    Prince..., 2014
    Softcover

  • 9780691078960: Divine Decadence: Fascism, Female Spectacle, and the Makings of Sally Bowles (Princeton Legacy Library, 124)

    Prince..., 1993
    Hardcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Mizejewski, Linda
Published by Princeton University Press (1992)
ISBN 10: 0691023468 ISBN 13: 9780691023465
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0691023468

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 25.77
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mizejewski, Linda
Published by Princeton University Press (1992)
ISBN 10: 0691023468 ISBN 13: 9780691023465
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0691023468

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 39.99
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mizejewski, Linda
Published by Princeton University Press (1992)
ISBN 10: 0691023468 ISBN 13: 9780691023465
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0691023468

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 39.30
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mizejewski, Linda
Published by Princeton University Press (1992)
ISBN 10: 0691023468 ISBN 13: 9780691023465
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0691023468

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 39.29
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mizejewski, Linda
Published by Princeton University Press (1992)
ISBN 10: 0691023468 ISBN 13: 9780691023465
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenDragon
(Houston, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon0691023468

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 40.49
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mizejewski, Linda
Published by Princeton University Press (1992)
ISBN 10: 0691023468 ISBN 13: 9780691023465
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(North Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 0.8. Seller Inventory # Q-0691023468

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 75.60
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.13
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds