Camp!

£10.99

Fabulously unrestrained and ever-evolving, ‘camp’ has captured the cultural imagination for at least 150 years. The term possibly derives from the French ‘se camper’, meaning to pose in a bold, provocative or exaggerated fashion. Frequently used to define or deride young heterosexual men, the upper classes, Black people, older women and gay men, ‘camp’ has also played a key role in equality movements.

In stock

Description

‘My dear, she’s on fire!’ DAMIAN BARR
‘A snappy guide to an all-conquering aesthetic’ Financial Times

‘The following things have seemed impossibly camp to me at one point or another: a doll whose body acts as a cover for a toilet roll, a tantrum over wire coat hangers, a 1950s muscle magazine featuring a photo of a young man dressed as a gladiator, and a rat underneath a silver serving platter’

An essential reappraisal of camp across time and across the globe, from the author of Fabulosa! and Outrageous!

Camp has been an inescapable part of popular culture for at least the last 150 years. Famously unrestrained and ever evolving, it has not only captured the cultural imagination, but also played an important role as a form of protest and resistance.

Paul Baker takes us through camp’s rebellious and revolutionary past with warmth, humour and sensitivity, starting with the court of Louis XIV and the dandies of the eighteenth century through to Showgirls, Harlem’s drag balls and Columbian telenovelas.

Throughout its history, camp has been a place of refuge and renewal, of heroism and hedonism. This glorious celebration traces camp’s journey from the fringes of society to the mainstream.

Additional information

Dimensions 19.8 × 12.9 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

320

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

306.76 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K

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