A Small Boy and Others

InA Small Boy and Others, Michael Moon makes a vital contributon to our understanding of the dynamics of sexuality and identity in modern American culture. He explores a wide array of literary, artistic, and theatrical performances ranging from the memoirs of Henry James and the dances of Vaslav Nijinsky to the Pop paintings of Andy Warhol and such films asMidnight Cowboy,Blue Velvet,and Jack Smithrs"sFlaming Creatures.Moon illuminates the careers of James, Warhol, and others by examining the imaginative investments of their protogay childhoods in their work in ways that enable new, more complex cultural readings. He deftly engages notions of initiation and desire not within the traditional framework of "sexual orientation" but through thedisorienting effects of imitation. Whether invoking the artist Joseph Cornellrs"s early fascination with the Great Houdini or turning his attention to Jamesrs"s self-described "initiation into style" at the age of twelve-when he first encountered the homoerotic imagery in paintings by David, Geacute;ricault, and Girodet-Moon reveals how the works of these artists emerge from an engagement that is obsessive to the point of "queerness."Rich in historical detail and insistent in its melding of the recent with the remote, the literary with the visual, the popular with the elite,A Small Boy and Otherspresents a hitherto unimagined tradition of brave and outrageous queer invention. This long-awaited contribution from Moon will be welcomed by all those engaged in literary, cultural, and queer studies.

Michael Moon is Professor of English at Duke University.