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Closet Devotions
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Closet Devotions Paperback - 1998

by Richard Rambuss


From the publisher

Religion and sex, body and soul, sacred and profane: In Closet Devotions, Richard Rambuss traces the relays between these cultural formations by examining the issue of "sacred eroticism," the literary or artistic expression of devotional feelings in erotic terms that has repeatedly occurred over the centuries. Rather than dismissing such expression as mere convention, Rambuss takes it seriously as a form of erotic discourse, one that gives voice to desires that, outside the sphere of sacred rapture, would otherwise be deemed taboo.
Through startling rereadings of works ranging from the devotional verse of the metaphysical poets (Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, and Traherne) to photographer Andres Serrano's controversial "Piss Christ," from Renaissance religious iconography to contemporary gay porn, Rambuss uncovers the highly charged erotic imagery that suffuses religious devotional art and literature. And he explores one of Christian culture's most guarded (and literal) closets--the prayer closet itself, a privileged space where the vectors of same-sex desire can travel privately between the worshiper and his or her God.
Elegantly written and theoretically astute, Closet Devotions illuminates the ways in which sacred Christian devotion is homoeroticized, a phenomenon that until now has gone unexplored in current scholarship on religion, the body, and its passions. This book will attract readers across a wide array of disciplines, including gay and lesbian studies, literary theory and criticism, Renaissance studies, and religion.


From the rear cover

""Closet Devotions" is a bold and original work. Rambuss asks us to take seriously the relation between sexual and religious affect in the Renaissance devotional lyric, without reducing one to the other. In a series of virtuoso readings, he brings together two previously distant fields of scholarly inquiry, enriching our sense of the affective intensity of religious lyric at the same time that he demonstrates the astonishing scope of human sexuality."--John David Guillory, Harvard University

Details

  • Title Closet Devotions
  • Author Richard Rambuss
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 1st Edition
  • Pages 208
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina
  • Date 1998-08-26
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index
  • ISBN 9780822321972 / 0822321971
  • Weight 0.76 lbs (0.34 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.26 x 5.88 x 0.6 in (23.52 x 14.94 x 1.52 cm)
  • Reading level 1630
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: British
  • Library of Congress subjects Sex in literature, Desire in literature
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 98019598
  • Dewey Decimal Code 820.938

About the author

Richard Rambuss is Associate Professor of English at Emory University. He is the author of Spenser's Secret Career.

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Closet Devotions

Closet Devotions

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USA: Duke University Press, 1998. Soft cover. Good. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. 194pp, with occasional monochrome illustrations. In laminated, illustrated card covers. 8vo. A little edge wear to covers, single crease on front cover, two on verso. Internally neat, clean, bright and tight. Religion and sex, body and soul, sacred and profane: In Closet Devotions, Richard Rambuss traces the relays between these cultural formations by examining the issue of sacred eroticism - the literary or artistic expression of devotional feelings in erotic terms.
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Closet Devotions (Series Q)

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