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61st out of 72 books
—
9 voters
The Queer Art of Failure (a John Hope Franklin Center Book)
The Queer Art of Failure is about finding alternatives—to conventional understandings of success in a heteronormative, capitalist society; to academic disciplines that confirm what is already known according to approved methods of knowing; and to cultural criticism that claims to break new ground but cleaves to conventional archives. Judith Halberstam proposes “low theory”...more
Hardcover, 211 pages
Published
September 19th 2011
by Duke University Press Books
(first published August 1st 2011)
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Halberstam is unique to queer theory in that she is able to channel both effective queer negativity and present practical, recognizable motivating forces for it without sounding like Lee Edelman Lite. While I love Lee Edelman in that I believe his argument is sexy and his logic is almost flawless, I think Halberstam presents something I can truly believe in. "The Queer Art of Failure" thoughtfully and responsibly explores the question: "How do we engage in and teach antidisciplinary knowledge?"...more
For those who are skeptical of a "gay rights movement" which aspires only to enable "queers" to assimilate into the cultural mainstream, this book will seem as refreshing as water in a desert. As Judith Halberstam explains in her introduction:
"Radical utopians continue to search for different ways of being in the world and being in relation to one another than those already prescribed for the liberal and consumer subject."
She goes on to critique a widely-accepted conception of "success:"
"I arg...more
"Radical utopians continue to search for different ways of being in the world and being in relation to one another than those already prescribed for the liberal and consumer subject."
She goes on to critique a widely-accepted conception of "success:"
"I arg...more
In this space/book, Halberstam is looking for ways to resist colonialism and the dominant order. She is specifically looking at some ways of being that are linked to each other and to queerness -- failure, losing, passivity, forgetting, unbeing, self-negation, and more. She follows threads of colonialism, optimism, kyriarchy and other poisons a long way through our tangled collective ideas, upending the hidden problematic elements of a lot of popular values, and explores new, unexpected ways to...more
a lot i found interesting. a lot i found ridiculous. especially the artcrit part.
mostly i think i'd like it better if it hadn't grossed me out about how, at the end of the day, this is a pop-academia book that's making some academic some money.
the shaddow feminisms chapter is perhaps the most interesting. i liked it the most. but i couldn't really draw practical conclusions from it. and it does feel a little slimy to cite posgenerallyt-colonial/third world female writers and people to sell a ni...more
mostly i think i'd like it better if it hadn't grossed me out about how, at the end of the day, this is a pop-academia book that's making some academic some money.
the shaddow feminisms chapter is perhaps the most interesting. i liked it the most. but i couldn't really draw practical conclusions from it. and it does feel a little slimy to cite posgenerallyt-colonial/third world female writers and people to sell a ni...more
A lively and thought-provoking examination of how the homogenizing tendencies of modern society might be resisted through the creative application of failure, forgetting, and passivity, actions generally deemed of little value within today's capitalist models of success. . . . [A]s a close reader of popular culture, she is exemplary, and as a valiant attempt to find value in positions and attitudes such as negativity that our modern success-oriented society disdains, this study is never less tha...more
Failing never felt so good! Being a failure never made me feel like such a winner. Halberstam does an excellent job of looking at how queers are failures in society to begin with and that there is not necessarily nowhere to go up, but everywhere to go different. Unlike a lot of her other books Halberstam does a good job of staying relevant in her writing to her overarching theory. She uses modern art, in particular to this book animation to illuminate her theory. This is by far her best book to...more
This is a fascinating insight into the virtues of failure. In a capitalist system, we are faced with a binary of specific success and failure, and sometimes refusing to follow the conventional path to "success" we can stage small (or large) acts of revolution. Halberstam examines a broad cross-section of "failure" narratives, from Pixar films (which hold much commentary of hope) to erotic-fascist art. We face our discomfort and we don't conquer it--we don't need to.
I really liked the ideas in this book -- thinking about queer failure, forgetting, and unbecoming in politically productive ways. However, I think some of Halberstam's readings are a bit of a stretch, and overall, the book feels a little erratic, and might have benefited from a little extra editing. Aside from that, it's very readable, and as always, Halberstam has plenty of provocative things to say about disciplinarity, method, and flaws of the academy.
An interesting take on what it means to "fail" and what it means to read failure. Halberstam's readings, however, are whimsical at best, misguided at times, and dangerously wrong at worst (which is perhaps part of her own project in failure, but still irksome when you as a reader "know" she's omitting key elements in her analysis).
Absolutely amazing book. This is the first full book I read about queer theory, and it has completely changed my outlook about every other type of theory out there. Halberstam has an extremely postmodern take on a number of issues, and the book, although accessible to the average reader, encourages breaking barriers and concepts.
This is one of the few books I have actively championed with all my friends, family and people I barely know. Five Stars.
This is one of the few books I have actively championed with all my friends, family and people I barely know. Five Stars.
This is one of those books that you get upset when you reach the last chapter because you don't want it to end. Halbertams writing style is as if she is sitting next to you explaining everything. Definitely going to follow up with some of her sources and her other books.
An odd, scholarly discussion of failure's place in western society, from what I'd characterize as a sort of neomarxist viewpoint. Pretty intense, verbose, and sometimes slow, but interesting reading.
Terrific, although in hindsight I find myself wishing her work on animation had drawn more from Sianne Ngai. Its nice to see somebody call out Zizek on his bullshit Kung Fu Panda reading though.
Sep 05, 2012
Lina
added it
Really good for an academic endeavor
I really enjoyed Jeffrey's review of this book:
http://behindheavydrapes.blogspot.com...
so I picked it up for myself but ultimately it was too academic for me to really enjoy (and the cultural subjects the author focuses on, including Spongebob Squarepants, Chicken Run, and Dude Where's My Car, aren't particularly engaging to me). I love the idea and I love that this book exists, it just wasn't for me at the current time.
http://behindheavydrapes.blogspot.com...
so I picked it up for myself but ultimately it was too academic for me to really enjoy (and the cultural subjects the author focuses on, including Spongebob Squarepants, Chicken Run, and Dude Where's My Car, aren't particularly engaging to me). I love the idea and I love that this book exists, it just wasn't for me at the current time.
another home run for halbsteram!
Reviewed here.
Completely and totally brain-expandingly awesome.
Maybe it was ultimately just too academic for me to really sink my teeth into? I enjoyed the first couple of chapters, and then got totally lost/disinterested.
Excellent; I enjoyed Halberstam's interesting take on animated films, and the "Shadow Feminisms" chapter is a standout in this collection of very strong essays.
Ironically optimistic. Wasn't impressed/frustrated by the simplistic critique of Edelman, yet found the work to be inspiring and entertaining in its lightness.
Failure = the new resistance. I love it!
May 18, 2013
Dania
is currently reading it
May 16, 2013
Mashumko
marked it as to-read
May 15, 2013
Kaelee Torbet
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Biz
marked it as to-read
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Judith "Jack" Halberstam is a Professor of English and Director of The Center for Feminist Research at the University of Southern California.
More about J. Jack Halberstam...
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Jan 02, 2013 01:42pm