William E. Jones: Halsted Plays Himself

USA 2011, 216 pp. with numerous b/w + color photographs, hardbound, € 21.99
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MIT Press - Semiotext(e)
Fred Halsted's »L.A. Plays Itself« (1972) was gay porn's first masterpiece: a sexually explicit, autobiographical, experimental film whose New York screening left even Salvador Dalí repeatedly muttering »new information for me«. Halsted, a self-taught filmmaker, shot the film over a period of three years in a now-vanished L.A. that harbored a long-gone gay lifestyle at a volatile point in time and a now-extinct Hollywood underground. Although his cultural notoriety at one point equaled that of Kenneth Anger or Jack Smith, Halsted's star waned in the 1980s with the emergence of a more commercial gay-porn industry. After the death from AIDS of his long-time partner, lover, spouse (and tormentor) Joey Yale in 1986, Halsted committed suicide in 1989. The author documents his quest to capture the elusive public and private personas of Halsted to zero in on an identity riddled with contradictions.

Derek Jarman: Kicking the Pricks

USA 2010, 251 pp. illustrated, brochure, € 16.95
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University of Minnesota Press
The provocative title of the 4th volume of Jarman's journals suggests a look back in anger and defiance of the conventional. It is, but it is also rich in wit, intellect, and a clearly articulated aesthetic. Written while editing his film »The Last of England« and originally entitled that in Britain, this 1st American edition goes by the uncompromising title the late British avant-garde filmmaker, artist, and gay activist originally chose. Part memoir, part career retrospective, the journal is a collage, incorporating dryly moving personal reminiscences from childhood through the 1980s, glimpses of his filmmaking genius at work, and penetrating critiques of his own art and those of others, as well as vivid prose and poetry miniatures.

Derek Jarman: Dancing Ledge

USA 2010, 246 pp. illustrated, brochure, € 16.95
Kostenloser Versand ab 20 Euro Bestellwert.
University of Minnesota Press
»Dancing Ledge« is Derek Jarman's stunning account of his life and art. From his sexual awakening in postwar England to life in the 60s and beyond, Derek Jarman tells his life story with the in-your-face immediacy that became his trademark style in both his films and writing. He was not only one of England's foremost filmmakers (he directed several feature films, including »Sebastiane«, »Caravaggio«, »Edward II«, or his most radical »Blue«) - he also was a stage designer, artist, writer, gardener, and an outspoken AIDS and queer rights Activist in the UK and in the U.S. Accompanied by many photographs of Jarman, his friends, lovers, and inspirations, the candid accounts provide intimate and vivid glimpses into this iconoclastic filmmaker's life and times.

Tony Peake: Derek Jarman

USA 2011, 615 pp. with b/w + color photographs, brochure, € 21.99
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University of Minnesota Press
In 1986, at the height of his career, Derek Jarman was rigorously denounced by right-wing censor Mary Whitehead for promoting homosexuality and violence after his earlier films, »Sebastiane« and »Jubilee«, were shown on Channel 4. The attacks were emblematic of the fire the filmmaker drew as a radical artist and sexual provocateur from the beginning of his career in the late 1960s to his death from AIDS in 1994. This intelligent, graceful critical biography traces Jarman's colorful life and art in detail. Born to middle-class parents, Jarman spent his youth abroad and in boarding schools, where he became aware, at a young age, of his gay sexuality and his artistic talents. Peake, who was Jarman's literary agent, deftly weaves together his subject's many artistic facets (Jarman was a director, designer, painter, sculptor and writer) with the intricacies of his public and private lives.

Thomas Klein: Gib nicht auf!

Wie man aus den Tiefen seines Lebens wieder zu neuen Höhen finden kann. Ö 2011, 183 S. mit Abb., geb., € 18.90
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Prima Vista
Nach den erfolgreichen Memoiren »Zwischen Schein und Sein - Mein Weg aus der Depression« schildert der schwule Almdudler-Chef Thomas Klein in seinem zweiten Buch aus der subjektiven Perspektive eines Betroffenen, wie man selbst in ausweglos erscheinenden Situationen den Mut bewahren kann. Dieser Erfahrungsbericht versucht Hilfestellung zu geben in Momenten, in denen man von Angst, Depressionen, Verzweiflung, Trauer und Selbstmordgedanken bedrängt wird. Thomas Klein wählt hierfür absichtlich einen nicht objektiven Zugang, wie ihn ein Mediziner oder Psychiater wählen würde. »Ich will Menschen in schwierigen Phasen ihres Lebens zeigen, wie sie - so wie ich - doch noch zum Glückskind werden können.«

Thomas Blubacher: Gibt es etwas Schöneres als Sehnsucht?

Die Geschwister Eleonora und Francesco von Mendelssohn. D 2012, 449 S. mit zahlreichen S/W-Abb., Pb, € 13.35
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Insel Verlag
Das Geschwisterpaar Eleonora und Francesco von Mendelsohn waren im Berlin der Weimarer Republik stadtbekannt: sie fielen allein schon wegen ihres extravaganten Äußeren auf. Und Gerüchte ihrer Ausschweifungen - v.a. die schwulen Eskapaden Francescos - machten allgemeinhin die Runde. Freundschaften und Affären der beiden bestanden zu den Großen ihrer Zeit: Max Reinhardt, Arturo Toscanini, Vladimir Horowitz und Gustaf Gründgens. Dabei verfügten die Mendelsohn-Geschwister selbst über künstlerisches Vermögen. Francesco tat sich als Musiker und Theaterregisseur hervor, Eleonora als Theaterschauspielerin. Die Machtübernahme der Nazis in Deutschland setzte einen Schlussstrich unter ihr bisheriges, sorgenfreies Leben. Die Emigration der beiden in die USA wurde zur Straße ohne Wiederkehr.

Andrew Graham-Dixon: Caravaggio

A Life Sacred and Profane. UK 2011, 514 pp. illustrated, brochure, € 15.60
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For centuries Caravaggio's staggering artistic achievements have thrilled viewers, yet his volatile personal trajectory - the murder of Ranuccio Tomasini, the doubt surrounding Caravaggio's sexuality, the chain of events that began with his imprisonment on Malta and ended with his premature death - has long confounded historians. In a bravura performance, the biographer delves into the original Italian sources, presenting fresh details about Caravaggio's sex life, his many crimes and public brawls, and a convincing account of the painter's tragic death at the age of 38. With illuminating readings of Caravaggio's infamous religious paintings, which often depict prostitutes and poor people, Graham-Dixon creates a masterful profile of the mercurial painter's life and work.

P. J. Rhodes: Alcibiades

Athenian Playboy, General and Traitor. UK 2011, 143 pp. illustr., hardbound, € 27.99
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Young Athenian aristocrat Alcibiades came to prominence during the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens. Flamboyant, charismatic and wealthy, this beloved of philosopher Socrates persuaded the Athenians to attempt to stand up to the Spartans on land as part of an alliance he was instrumental in bringing together. He was also a prime mover in Athens' desastrous Sicilian Expedition. On arrival in Sicily, however, he was recalled to face charges of sacrilege. Jumping ship on the return journey, he went over to the Spartans. Although he helped the Spartans in keeping year-round pressure on the Athenians from a fort inside Attica, he was suspected of sleeping with the Spartan queen and had to run away to the Persians. He incited the overthrow of the Athenian democracy and was later assassinated by Persian agents when he was found useless to Persians as well as Spartans.