Level up your game
See All Buying Options
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Camille Paglia
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Sexual Personae: Art & Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson Paperback – Illustrated, 20 Aug. 1991

by Camille Paglia (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 371 ratings
The fiery, provocative, and unparalleled work of feminist art criticism that launched the exceptional career of one of our most important public intellectuals--"a remarkable book, at once outrageous and compelling, fanatical and brilliant.... One must be awed by [Paglia's] vast energy, erudition and wit" (The Washington Post).

Is Emily Dickinson "the female Sade"? Is Donatello's David a bit of pedophile pornography? What is the secret kinship between Byron and Elvis Presley, between Medusa and Madonna? How do liberals and feminists--as well as conservatives--fatally misread human nature? This audacious and omnivorously learned work of guerrilla scholarship offers nothing less than a unified-field theory of Western culture, high and low, since Egyptians invented beauty--making a persuasive case for all art as a pagan battleground between male and female, form and chaos, civilization and daemonic nature.

With 47 photographs.

Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    718 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Vintage Books
  4. Publication date
    20 Aug. 1991
  5. Dimensions
    13.03 x 3.91 x 20.27 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    9780679735793
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0679735793
Next slide of product details
Amazon Books Sale
Shop early deals up to 70% off. Learn more.
Save 15% on Baby Einstein

Product description

Review

"A remarkable book, at once outrageous and compelling, fanatical and brilliant.... One must be awed by [Paglia's] vast energy, erudition and wit." --The Washington Post

"Sexual Personae [is] an enormous sensation of a book, in all the better senses of 'sensation.' There is no book comparable in scope, stance, design or insight." --Harold Bloom

"The ability to infuriate both antagonists in an ideological struggle is often a sign of a first-rate book.... [Paglia] is a conspicuously gifted writer ... and an admirably close reader with a hard core of common sense." --The New York Times Book Review

"Paglia marshals a vast array of ... cultural materials with an authorial voice derived from sixties acid-rock lead guitar.... Close to poetry." --Greil Marcus, author of Lipstick Traces

"This book is a red comet in a smog-filled sky.... Brilliant." --The Nation

From the Inside Flap

Egypt through the nineteenth century, Sexual Personae explores the provocative connections between art and pagan ritual; between Emily Dickinson and the Marquis de Sade; between Lord Byron and Elvis Presley. It ultimately challenges the cultural assumptions of both conservatives and traditional liberals. 47 photographs.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0679735798
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage Books; Illustrated edition (20 Aug. 1991)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 718 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780679735793
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679735793
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.03 x 3.91 x 20.27 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 371 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Camille Paglia

Camille Paglia

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
371 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find the book fascinating and stimulating to read. They appreciate the author's knowledge level, with one customer noting their impressive breadth of information.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

8 customers mention ‘Reading quality’8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book fascinating and stimulating to read, describing it as brilliant.

"...This book leaves you gobsmacked several times per page. It's mind blowing. Crème de la crème." Read more

"...learned, her insights into arte and culture both challenging and brilliant...." Read more

"Stands the test of time, a challenging read." Read more

"One of the most stimulating and thrilling books I have ever read in my life, Sexual Personae will never bore you!..." Read more

6 customers mention ‘Knowledge level’6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's knowledge level, with reviews highlighting its erudite breadth of information, impressive comparisons, and keen observations.

"...A masterpiece of insight and research...." Read more

"...er style is dazzling and formidably learned, her insights into arte and culture both challenging and brilliant...." Read more

"...It's packed with fascinating concepts that are presented with lively, fearless wit and electrifying style...." Read more

"...The observations are keen, and the comparisons show an impressive level of knowledge, but it also requires it for the numerous references that are..." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Tecumseh
    5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 February 2021
    Verified Purchase
    One of those few books which change your way of seeing the world around you. A masterpiece of insight and research. I keep the reading of this book for the most silent, reclusive moments available, so I can absorb as much as possible from every page. Some books smack you with pieces of wisdom once, some, a few times. This book leaves you gobsmacked several times per page. It's mind blowing. Crème de la crème.
    4 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • m d
    5.0 out of 5 stars the book in perfect shape and delivered rather fast
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 January 2025
    Verified Purchase
    this is a dream come true book thank you for saving it for me
    Helpful
     Report
  • Mr. R. J. L. Payne
    5.0 out of 5 stars Comulsive reading
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 March 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Camille Paglia's massive study of Western culture and the dynamic of Apollo and Dionysus - heaven striving and earthbound - is difficult to put down. It is a real challenge both to conventional feminism, and also to politically correct notions. er style is dazzling and formidably learned, her insights into arte and culture both challenging and brilliant. Her approach is as she states indeebted to Freud, Nietzsche, de Sade, and Jung and Neumann. It is a most valuable and deeply challenging to many current notions and is not aafraid to look at the deeper shadow side of Western culture, Christianity, and sexual dynamics.
    11 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Amazon Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars enlightening
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 May 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Stands the test of time, a challenging read.
    Helpful
     Report
  • alphaelsaluna
    5.0 out of 5 stars Completely Fascinating!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 April 2012
    Verified Purchase
    One of the most stimulating and thrilling books I have ever read in my life, Sexual Personae will never bore you! It's packed with fascinating concepts that are presented with lively, fearless wit and electrifying style. You may or may not agree with Paglia's ideas but her passion is undeniable and extremely engaging. It's a book to read and then read again because you're certain to find something new and astonishing with every reading.
    8 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Kolnai
    5.0 out of 5 stars Turning over the post modern apple cart
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2017
    Verified Purchase
    An astonishing tour de force written by an old-school feminist, with a brand new point of view. The book turns today's university impregnated absurdities on their head. For example, Paglia is not afraid to say that biology, and gender accompany one another - there are real vaginas and real penises and these are associated directly with the myth systems behind many of our current problems. One of her startling ideas is that pornography carries the primal fantasies of the race, fantasies which are to all intents and purposes immediately biological. Even more startling, Paglia dismisses any claim which relativises notions such as 'male domination hierarchy', claiming these have been a part of our history since time began.
    11 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Amazon Customer
    3.0 out of 5 stars Dense, Interesting, but Dense
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 August 2018
    Verified Purchase
    The way the author writes could be perfect for a short essay, or even prose poem, but for a work of such length, it tires too quickly. The observations are keen, and the comparisons show an impressive level of knowledge, but it also requires it for the numerous references that are rushed through towards a great point to be understood. Read it if you feel you have a comprehensive knowledge of Western literature, from Sophocles to Shakespear.
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • ingrid Birkeland
    5.0 out of 5 stars How to explore millienia of sex and poetry ! Excellent in every way !
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 November 2017
    Verified Purchase
    An exciting and very informative selection of various authors throughout time who has written about the importance of sensual / sexual feelings and acts which has added to sveral thousands of years of storytelling and poetry up to our contemporary authors - brilliant and very informative Ingrid Birkelqnd
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • Xavier
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente.
    Reviewed in Mexico on 6 July 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Excelentes conceptos de una interesante y polémica autora
    Report
  • AJfied
    3.0 out of 5 stars A learned, archaeological dissection of Western art.
    Reviewed in Japan on 21 November 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Very detailed and imaginative, there were points here that truly astounded me and made me raise an eyebrow; a true polemical literary feat. I have been a fan of Camille's acerbic approach to criticism and her witty common sense, of course, so I gave this very first book of hers a try. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it that much, because my god this really is a thorough fleshing out. Exposition after exposition that became harder and harder for me to keep up, chapter after chapter. Most of her references were the most obscure of the bygone eras--for someone who just wants to enjoy some academic insights of art--esp. the 'Fairy Queene' chapter which to a point bored me to death and decided to skip it. Could've been trimmed I guess.
    Report
  • Alexandre Bartilotti Machado
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book!
    Reviewed in Brazil on 3 January 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Camille Paglia is the brilliant voice that we all must hear!
    Report
  • A. Reynolds
    5.0 out of 5 stars Grows In Importance With Time's Passing
    Reviewed in Canada on 3 October 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Welp, Paglia - as a second-wave feminist - has now been disavowed (and virtually canceled) by the third and fourth wavers (in much the same way as Christina Hoff-Somers, Erin Pizzey, and Gloria Steinem); this makes it all the more important to get hold of her works while one can - before they are consigned to the memory hole. This is a fairly heavy, and critical, examination but is easily accessible to the moderately intelligent.
    Report
  • arthistorian100
    5.0 out of 5 stars Continues to be relevant and thought-provoking
    Reviewed in the United States on 10 September 2017
    Verified Purchase
    This is now a classic in feminist art studies and philosophy. Readers in this field will know that Paglia's work can be polarizing. Camille Paglia and Donna Haraway--though substantially different from each other--wrote major tomes at the same time which affected the trajectory of feminist studies for the next two decades causing a proverbial divergence in the field. Fascinating writers and speakers, they are erudite and original. Paglia's first major book pushed boundaries and fomented interdisciplinary discussions and debates. This book is not for a general audience, though I think it might be a good idea for general readers to challenge their assumptions by reading a chapter or two and then coming back to it to see if their point of view has changed. Parts of the book read as if they are slightly dated from a different time while other parts read as if they could have been written this week. It's still relevant, and either way it prompts thinking. Some paragraphs can be lengthy and dense and may require a couple reads. Recommend this book (at least several chapters of it) for graduate seminars and upper division undergraduate courses.
    Report