Luminous presence: Derek Jarman's life-writing is the first book to analyse the prolific writing of queer icon Derek Jarman. Although he is well known for his avant-garde filmmaking, his garden, and his AIDS activism, he is also the author of over a dozen books, many of which are autobiographical. Much of Jarman's exploration of post-war queer identity and imaginative response to HIV/AIDS can be found in his books, such as the lyrical AIDS diaries Modern Nature and Smiling in Slow Motion. This book fully explores, for the first time, the remarkable range and depth of Jarman’s writing. Spanning his career, Alexandra Parsons argues that Jarman’s self-reflexive response to the HIV/AIDS crisis was critical in changing the cultural terms of queer representation from the 1980s onwards. Luminous presence is of great interest to students, scholars and readers of queer histories in literature, art and film.
Price: £25.00
Pages: 280
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Publication Date:
28 March 2023
ISBN: 9781526171573
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
LITERARY CRITICISM / General, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, LITERARY CRITICISM / Semiotics & Theory, PERFORMING ARTS / Individual Director (see also BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment & Performing Arts), Literary theory, Individual film directors, film-makers
'In this engrossing collection of essays, Parsons captures well Jarman’s frenetically creative impulses...'
Choice
(Reprinted with permission from Choice Reviews. All rights reserved. Copyright by the American Library Association)
Introduction
1 'The porter into forgotten landscapes': A finger in the fishes mouth
2 Dancing Ledge: 'An autobiography at forty'
3 Derek Jarman’s Caravaggio: 'Reading between the lines of history'
4 Becoming Pasolini: Derek Jarman in Ostia
5 Kicking the Pricks: 'Forward into an uncertain future...'
6 Self-Projection in film: The Last of England and The Garden
7 Modern Nature: Haunting, flowers and personal mythologies
8 Queer Edward II: 'Are you a closet bigot?'
9 At Your Own Risk: A Saint's Testament
10 Smiling in Slow Motion: Testimony and elegy
11 'A kind of bliss': Blue and Chroma
12 Derek Jarman’s Garden: A therapy and a pharmacopoeia
Conclusion: 'The past is the mirror'
Bibliography
Filmography
Index
