Description
Book SynopsisImages of suffering male bodies permeate Western culture, from Francis Bacon's paintings and Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs to the battered heroes of action movies. Drawing on perspectives from a range of disciplines, this title explores the complex, ambiguous meanings of the enduring figure of the male-body-in-pain.
Trade Review"Imagine a book that treats religion and eroticism not as sworn enemies or cycling debaters but as twin arts. A book for which images of sexed bodies are not records or replacements so much as devices of an ecstatic redemption. You have found that book. In it, Kent Brintnall retells the Christian saga of male suffering through Hollywood action films, Mapplethorpe's most scandalous photographs, and the gurgling paintings of Francis Bacon." (Mark D. Jordan, Harvard University)"
