Camp Comforts: Reparative Gay Literature In Times Of Aids (lettre)

»Camp Comforts« investigates the wide-ranging impact of camp on AIDS literature and places this impact within two different traditions of camp analysis: a politically subversive one that aims at social change and an aesthetically uplifting one that aims at personal healing. Christian Lassen argues that camp may in fact serve both ends, social change and personal healing, and goes on to explore reparative reading practices in order to rehabilitate alleviation and relief as vital objectives in literary representations of gay grief. In this way, »Camp Comforts« reveals the workings that make camp so crucial a strategy for survival in times of AIDS. »Camp Comforts« investigates the wide-ranging impact of camp on AIDS literature and places this impact within two different traditions of camp analysis: a politically subversive one that aims at social change and an aesthetically uplifting one that aims at personal healing. Christian Lassen argues that camp may in fact serve both ends, social change and personal healing, and goes on to explore reparative reading practices in order to rehabilitate alleviation and relief as vital objectives in literary representations of gay grief. In this way, »Camp Comforts« reveals the workings that make camp so crucial a strategy for survival in times of AIDS. Camp,AIDS,Literature,Culture,Queer,Representation,Gender,British Studies,American Studies,Queer Theory,Cultural Studies,Literary Studies Table of Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 INTRODUCTION 9 Camp Comforts. Reparative Gay Literature in Times of AIDS 11 PART ONE: CAMP CARE 45 With Your Health Held High. The Camp Probing of the Ideology of Caring in Adam Mars-Jones’ Monopolies of Loss 47 Drag and Drugs and Rockin’ Roles. Medicine, Poetry and Camp Performativity in Rafael Campo’s What the Body Told 87 PART TWO: CAMP ELEGIES 137 In Sheep’s Clothing. Genre Camp and the Invasion of the Pastoral Elegy in Alan Hollinghurst’s The Folding Star 139 Shepherds on Horseback. Genre Camp and the Invasion of the American Western in Annie Proulx’s “Brokeback Mountain” 189 PART THREE: CAMP META-FICTIONS 219 Follow the Yellow Brick Interstate Highway. Camp Meta-Fictions and the Recovery of a Proto-Gay Childhood in Geoff Ryman’s Was 221 AFTERWORD 273 Towards a Recuperation of Reparative Reading Practices. A Tribute to Eve Sedgwick 275 WORKS CITED 281 Bibliography 283 Introduction. Camp comforts : reparative Gay literature in times of AIDS Part 1. Camp care. With your health held high : the camp probing of the ideology of caring in Adam Mars-Jones' Monopolies of loss ; Drag and drugs and rockin' roles : medicine, poetry and camp performativity in Rafael Campo's What the body told Part 2. Camp elegies. In sheep's clothing : genre camp and the invasion of the pastoral elegy in Alan Hollinhurst's The folding star ; Shepherds on horseback : genre camp and the invasion of the American western in Annie Proulx's "Brokeback Mountain" Part 3. Camp meta-fictions. Follow the yellow brick interstate highway : camp meta-fictions and the recovery of a proto-gay childhood in Geoff Ryman's Was Afterword. Towards a recuperation of reparative reading practices : a tribute to Eve Sedgwick. Camp Comforts investigates the wide-ranging impact of camp on AIDS literature and places this impact within two different traditions of camp analysis: a politically subversive one that aims at social change and an aesthetically uplifting one that aims at personal healing. Lassen argues that camp may in fact serve both ends, social change and personal healing, and goes on to explore reparative reading practices in order to rehabilitate alleviation and relief as vital objectives in literary representations of gay grief. In so doing, Camp Comforts reveals the workings that make camp so crucial a strategy for survival in times of AIDS Long description:>>Camp Comforts< >Camp Comforts