{"product_id":"monstrous-intimacies-9780822345916","title":"Monstrous Intimacies","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eArguing that the fundamental, familiar, sexual violence of slavery and racialized subjugation have continued to shape black and white subjectivities into the present, Christina Sharpe interprets African diasporic and Black Atlantic visual and literary texts that address those “monstrous intimacies” and their repetition as constitutive of post-slavery subjectivity. Her illuminating readings juxtapose Frederick Douglass’s narrative of witnessing the brutal beating of his Aunt Hester with Essie Mae Washington-Williams’s declaration of freedom in \u003ci\u003eDear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as the “generational genital fantasies” depicted in Gayl Jones’s novel \u003ci\u003eCorregidora\u003c\/i\u003e with a firsthand account of such “monstrous intimacies” in the journals of an antebellum South Carolina senator, slaveholder, and vocal critic of miscegenation. Sharpe explores the South African–born writer Bessie Head\u0026amp;rsqu\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Through compelling and intricate readings of visual and written texts, Sharpe is concerned with unpacking the intersection between violence, sex, and subjectivity in post-slavery subjects. Sharpe’s work is a poignant reflection on historical time and convincingly deals with the ways that the horrors of the past continue to structure the present. . . . Sharpe’s book is an eloquent and at times challenging analysis of the construction of post-slavery subjects as subjects who are by no means ‘post’ but continue to be structured by the past that is not quite past.” - Sam McBean, \u003ci\u003eElevate Difference\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This is a bold, challenging book which is unrelenting in its interpretation of slavery and the effects it has had on subsequent generations, black and white. In effect, the monstrous intimacies continue.”\u003cbr\u003e - Danielle Mulholland, \u003ci\u003eM\/C Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Sharpe’s \u003ci\u003eMonstrous Intimacies\u003c\/i\u003e succeeds in illuminating the complex entanglements of desire and horror at the heart of Black and White subjectification ‘after’ slavery. More profoundly, this text powerfully balances the fact of history’s monstrous persistence and the desire for what she identifies, after Dionne Brand, as a modality of Black life unhinged to historical narrative (129).” - Sarah Cervenak, \u003ci\u003eWomen’s Studies\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The materials in \u003ci\u003eMonstrous Intimacies\u003c\/i\u003e register as being profoundly relevant not only for African American literature, but also for studies of the history of slavery in relation to the U.S. South. Moreover, her second chapter, focusing on the literature and culture of South Africa, addresses histories of racism, colonialism, and imperialism and speaks to discourses on the global South.” - Riché Richardson,\u003ci\u003e Southern Literary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Overall…Sharpe successfully demonstrates the presence of \"monstrous intimacies\" in each chapter. Most importantly, she creates a methodology for understanding the psychological development of post-slavery subjects and the seductive story-telling that represents his or her experience.\" - Denia Fraser, \u003ci\u003e Kritikon Litterarum\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMonstrous Intimacies\u003c\/i\u003e is a remarkable study, lucid, engaging, and thoroughly engrossing.”—\u003cb\u003eSharon Patricia Holland\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eRaising the Dead: Readings of Death and (Black) Subjectivity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMonstrous Intimacies\u003c\/i\u003e is an original, enriching look at the variety of artistic forms and practices that interrogate the illness of the post-slavery subject. It is international in its scope, interdisciplinary in its approach, and consistently intelligent in its execution.”—\u003cb\u003eAshraf Rushdy\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eRemembering Generations: Race and Family in Contemporary African American Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Sharpe’s \u003ci\u003eMonstrous Intimacies\u003c\/i\u003e succeeds in illuminating the complex entanglements of desire and horror at the heart of Black and White subjectification ‘after’ slavery. More profoundly, this text powerfully balances the fact of history’s monstrous persistence and the desire for what she identifies, after Dionne Brand, as a modality of Black life unhinged to historical narrative (129).” -- Sarah Cervenak * Women's Studies *\u003cbr\u003e“This is a bold, challenging book which is unrelenting in its interpretation of slavery and the effects it has had on subsequent generations, black and white. In effect, the monstrous intimacies continue.”\u003cbr\u003e -- Danielle Mulholland * M\/C Reviews *\u003cbr\u003e“Through compelling and intricate readings of visual and written texts, Sharpe is concerned with unpacking the intersection between violence, sex, and subjectivity in post-slavery subjects. Sharpe’s work is a poignant reflection on historical time and convincingly deals with the ways that the horrors of the past continue to structure the present. . . . Sharpe’s book is an eloquent and at times challenging analysis of the construction of post-slavery subjects as subjects who are by no means ‘post’ but continue to be structured by the past that is not quite past.” -- Sam McBean * Elevate Difference *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments ix\u003cbr\u003e Introduction. Making Monstrous Intimacies: Surviving Slavery, Bearing Freedom 1\u003cbr\u003e 1. Gayl Jones's \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eCorregidora\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eand Reading the \"Days That Were Pages of Hysteria\" 27\u003cbr\u003e 2. Bessie Head, Saartje Baartman, and \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eMaru\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e Redemption, Subjectification, and the Problem of Liberation 67\u003cbr\u003e 3. Isaac Julien's \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Attendant\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e and the Sadomasochism of Everyday Black Life 111\u003cbr\u003e 4. Kara Walker's Monstrous Intimacies 153\u003cbr\u003e Notes 189\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography 223\u003cbr\u003e Index 243\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48866012004695,"sku":"9780822345916","price":73.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780822345916.jpg?v=1722276618","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/monstrous-intimacies-9780822345916","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}