Sexual Personae

Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson

By: Camille Paglia

Narrated by: Emily Durante

In this brilliantly original book, Camille Paglia identifies some of the major patterns that have endured in western culture from ancient Egypt and Greece to the present. According to Paglia, one source of continuity is paganism, which, undefeated by Judeo-Christianity, continues to flourish in art, eroticism, astrology, and pop culture. Others, she says, are androgyny, sadism, and the aggressive western eye, which has created our art and cinema.

Paglia follows these and other themes, from Nefertiti and the Venus of Willendorf to Apollo and Dionysus, from Botticelli and Michaelangelo to Shakespeare and Blake and finally to Emily Dickinson, who, along with other major 19th-century authors, becomes a remarkable example of Romanticism turned into Decadence.

©1990 Yale University (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"'Pagan' in its own pictorialism, sprawl, and unstopped prose, [Paglia's] unusual book creates its brilliant effect from an explosive fusing of scholarship and theater." ( Kirkus)

Necessary Reading

Mind expanding, a golden stitch work to become wrapped in! The authors accomplishments in this book are inspired and inspiring.

this was brilliant!

throughly enjoyed this. went in unsure but it was so insightful and the view point given was eye opening.
you know, things like how women dress as men to be strong like a man. be ready to do a man’s job. men that dress as women are seeking God, because they will forever envy their mothers.
and examples are given.
same with the concept of women having power. why in modern day as well throughout history woman have power over children, or those not yet at adulthood. why men mostly assault and rape women. woman can’t more than they don’t. and they do, throughout history and literature but with minors, where they have the dominance.
this lead to a quote “experience always wins against innocents” it’s just so good at feeding your mind. i really wish i had read Camille Paglia when i was back in school, i wish they had taught us this book in school.
take a bow Camille Paglia, take a bow.
*applauds*

Very interesting literary thematic criticism

A great amount of Paglia's personal and presumably internally consistent interpretations of the artists in historical poetry and literature. Especially as that art could be relayed as sexuality, or expressions of "Sexual personae".

Amazing

Even if you disagree with some of the conclusions that result from her perspective, you've been taken on an amazing, consciousness-expanding ride. Some of her sentences approach poetry in the way they draw disparate objects together. I have not read or seen all the works she talks about, but it is testament to her mesmerizing writing that it is unnecessary.

Best book of the 21st century.

Paglia is one of the greatest minds of the century, and this book has never been more relevant.