Listening to the sirens : musical technologies of queer identity from Homer to "Hedwig"

In this fresh and innovative study, Judith A. Peraino investigates how music has been used throughout history to call into question norms of gender and sexuality. Beginning with a close examination of the mythology surrounding the sirens - whose music seduced Ulysses into a state of mind in which he would gladly sacrifice everything for the illicit pleasures promised in their song - Peraino goes on to consider the musical creatures, musical gods and demigods, musical humans, and music-addled listeners who have been associated with behavior that breaches social conventions. She deftly employs a sophisticated reading of Foucault as an organizational principle as well as a philosophical focus to survey seductive and transgressive queerness in music from the Greeks through the Middle Ages and to the contemporary period. Listening to the Sirens analyzes the musical ways in which queer individuals express and discipline their desire, represent themselves, build communities, and subvert heterosexual expectations. It covers a wide range of music including medieval songs, works by Handel, Tchaikovsky and Britten, women's music and disco, performers such as Judy Garland, Melissa Etheridge, Madonna, and Marilyn Manson, and the movies The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. EEn......Page 0 Listening to the Sirens - Musical Technologies of Queer Identity from Homer to Hedwig......Page 1 Copyright Info......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 TOC......Page 8 Illustrations......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Introduction......Page 16 1 Songs Of The Sirens - Desire......Page 26 Musical Self-questioning......Page 28 Divine Music......Page 34 Music Education......Page 43 Questioning Chant......Page 52 The Singing Self......Page 59 Romantic Love And Musical Self-invention......Page 68 2 From Confession To The Couch......Page 83 2 The Psychology Of The Musically Inclined......Page 86 2 Tchaikovsky’s Musical Confession......Page 94 2 Benjamin Britten And The Use Of Music......Page 107 2 Craft As Confession......Page 122 3 Queer Ears And Icons - Sign Systems......Page 125 Technology Of Sign Systems......Page 126 Melodrama......Page 129 Sappho And The Melodramatic Man......Page 130 Judy Garland / Sappho Redux......Page 134 A Sister Of Dorothy: Melissa Etheridge And The Melodramatic Lesbian Phallus......Page 146 Madonna: Dorothy In Oz......Page 158 4 Homomusical Communities - Production......Page 167 Product To The People......Page 169 The Business Of Women’s Music......Page 178 Selling Lesbians......Page 181 The Politics Of Instrumental Music......Page 186 Problems With Success......Page 188 Discosexuality......Page 191 Making Gay Men......Page 195 Mighty Real Men, And The Queens Behind Them......Page 199 5 Flights Of Fancy - Power......Page 210 Catching Cuckolds And Hermaphrodites......Page 213 “The Phoenix Of Sodom”......Page 223 Coming Out Into The Middle......Page 242 Notes......Page 268 Works Cited......Page 322 Index......Page 348

A wide-ranging and beautifully composed book. Peraino moves the argument to the next level, and the elegance of her prose pulls the reader along with her own siren song until the very last sentence.—Susan McClary, author of Modal Subjectivities

This important book is enlivened by formidable scholarship and engaging prose. Peraino crosses boundaries and makes inspired intellectual and historical connections with breathtaking assurance, unfolding steadily her stunning arguments.—Byron Adams, University of California, Riverside

Having mastered a daunting and thrilling array of materials—from the troubadour Arnaut Daniel through the disco queen Sylvester and beyond—Peraino brilliantly extends the range of what is considered musical text. Daring, original, and visionary, Listening to the Sirens is likely to become a classic among works that explore the sexual valences of cultural forms.—Carolyn Dinshaw, author of Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communities, Pre- and Postmodern

Queerly heterogeneous in structure, wide-ranging in content, and grounded in cultural theory from Foucault to Marcuse, this book produces surprising readings of both classical and vernacular musics that are sure to provoke lively—indeed, impassioned—discussion.—Suzanne G. Cusick, New York University

Judith Perraino investigates how music has been used throughout history to call into question norms of gender and sexuality. Beginning with an examination of the mythology surrounding the Sirens, she goes on to consider musical creatures, gods, humans and music-addled listeners Songs of the sirens : desire A music of one's own : discipline Queer ears and icons : sign systems Homomusical communities : production Flights of fancy : power. Sailing home from war, Odysseus decides to make a brief detour in order to listen to a song sung by creatures called Sirens.