French Literature Reviews - 2026
W. Koestenbaum, Anatomy of the Lyrical Madwoman
Theatre and Performance
Wayne Koestenbaum,
Anatomie de la "folle lyrique",
La Rue musicale - Philharmonie de Paris,
collection "Anthropologie musicale", 2019.
EAN13 : 1094642134.
Wayne Koestenbaum, Anatomie de la "folle lyrique" (The Queen's Throat: Opera, Homosexuality And The Mystery Of Desire, 1993), translated from American English by Laurent Bury, with a preface by Olivier Py and an afterword by Timothée Picard, Éditions de la rue musicale - Philharmonie de Paris, Jan. 24, 2019.
Am I an outsider to opera, an unwelcome intruder? Does my queer singularity distort the meanings of this majestic world? At the heart of Wayne Koestenbaum's historical essay unfolds the voice of the lyrical madwoman, the opera queen—that opera-obsessed gay man who collects records and box sets, compiles his favorite arias, and catalogs his ecstasies. For him, the adoration of divas induces the vertigo of identification: dazzling illumination, the reversal of roles, escape, and struggle.
Published in 1993, this book stands as one of the first and foremost milestones linking opera and homosexuality. It is representative of that moment when, at the height of the AIDS crisis, a number of gay intellectuals decided to come out of the closet. Koestenbaum reconstructs this history in the manner of an anatomical dissection, tracing what happens within—the body, listening, institutions, and the imagination. Through these fragments, a political present is forged where "consciousnesses remain inexorably separate" (Roland Barthes).
A poet, novelist, critic, and performer, Wayne Koestenbaum teaches at the City University Graduate Center (New York). He has published nineteen books, including Camp marmalade (2018), My 1980s & other essays (2013), The Anatomy of Harpo Marx (2012), Humiliation (2011), Hotel theory (2007), Andy Warhol (2001), and Jackie under my skin : interpreting an icon (1995).
Wayne Koestenbaum s Anatomie de la folle lyrique (The Queen's Throat: Opera, Homosexuality And The Mystery Of Desire) was published in 1993, translated from American English by Laurent Bury, with a preface by Olivier Py and an afterword by Timothée Picard, by Éditions de la rue musicale - Philharmonie de Paris. Published in 1993, this book stands as one of the first and foremost milestones linking opera and homosexuality, and is representative of that moment when, at the height of the AIDS crisis, a number of gay intellectuals decided to come out of the closet. Readers interested in cultural studies, queer history, and musicology may find it relevant to their inquiries.
Wayne Koestenbaum is a poet, novelist, critic, and performer who teaches at the City University Graduate Center in New York. He has published nineteen books, including Camp marmalade (2018), My 1980s & other essays (2013), The Anatomy of Harpo Marx (2012), Humiliation (2011), Hotel theory (2007), Andy Warhol (2001), and Jackie under my skin : interpreting an icon (1995).