Includes bibliographical references (pages 228-250) filmography (pages 251-252) and index.
Contents:
'The porter into forgotten landscapes': a finger in the fishes mouth -- Dancing ledge: 'an autobiography at forty' -- Derek Jarman's Caravaggio: 'reading between the lines of history' -- Becoming Pasolini: Derek Jarman in Ostia -- Kicking the pricks: 'forward into an uncertain future...' -- Self-projection in film: The last of England and The garden -- Modern nature: haunting flowers and personal mythologies -- Queer Edward II: 'are you a closet bigot?' -- At your own risk: a saint's testament - - Smiling in slow motion: testimony and elegy -- 'A kind of bliss': Blue and Chroma -- Derek Jarman's Garden: a therapy and a pharmacopoeia -- Conclusion: 'The past is the mirror'.
Summary:
"Luminous presence: Derek Jarman's life-writing is the first book to analyse the prolific writing of queer icon Derek Jarman. Although he is well known for his avant-garde filmmaking, his garden, and his AIDS activism, he is also the author of over a dozen books, many of which are autobiographical. Much of Jarman's exploration of post-war queer identity and imaginative response to HIV/AIDS can be found in his books, such as the lyrical AIDS diaries Modern Nature and Smiling in Slow Motion. This book fully explores, for the first time, the remarkable range and depth of Jarman's writing. Spanning his career, Alexandra Parsons argues that Jarman's self-reflexive response to the HIV/AIDS crisis was critical in changing the cultural terms of queer representation from the 1980s onwards. Luminous presence is of great interest to students, scholars and readers of queer histories in literature, art and film."--Amazon.ca.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.