Lynda Hart

-- Mark Steinberg, University of Illinois

Focusing on a variety of representations, from the boundary-shattering work of queer performances to the daring conjunction of childhood sexual abuse and desire in the work of Dorothy Allison, Between the Body and the Flesh stimulates discussions of s/m through the exploration of censorship in the arts, the fetishization of sexual paraphernalia, recombinations of class, race and sexuality, and the politics of psychoanalysis.

Starting from the historical link between criminality and sexual deviancy, Lynda Hart builds a complex and original theory in which the shadow of the lesbian animates representations of violent women in literature, plays, films and performance. Chapters detail this theory in diverse areas, including: * Frank Wedekind's Lulu Plays * Thelma and Louise and Basic Instinct * the performance art of Karen Finley in the context of censorship debates * The Split Britches' performance Lesbians Who Kill Fatal Women is a major contribution to lesbian theory and cultural studies. It is a challenging, stimulating and rewarding study.

A wonderfully helpful survey of the drama of Sam Shepard. It is bound to find many eager readers among those who are either intrigued or baffled--or both--by the plays of this still-young playwright whom many think contemporary America's finest. ChoiceAmerica's most highly acclaimed contemporary playwright continues to puzzle critics, even as his reputation grows and his imagination seeks new creative channels. Finding the dramatist difficult to classify, critics and scholars continue to search for the central direction of Shepard's creative development. Lynda Hart's study, which focuses on ten representative plays, is the first book to examine Shepard's growth and development as a dramatist within and against the historical tradition. Offering a unified critical perspective, the author considers the plays from both a literary standpoint and as texts for performance. Resources include a bibliography that offers the most complete listing of relevant critical writings.