The complete guide to camp; an anthology of the best writing on its history and current theory in cultural studies and lesbian and gay studies

Camp: Queer Aesthetics and the Performing Subject addresses the multilayered issue of camp, whose inexhaustible breadth of reference and theoretical relevance to the issues taken up by academic research in recent years have made it one of the most salient and challenging issues on the contemporary critical stage. Reassessing the role and significance of the finest essays on camp written by leading intellectuals in cultural studies, lesbian and gay studies, and queer theory, this critical anthology at one and the same time 'queers' camp as an issue and offers an excellent key to rethinking the history, theory, and practice of camp. The anthology is divided into five thematic/historical sections: Tasting It; Flaunting the Closet; Gender, and Other Spectacles; Pop Camp, Surplus Counter-Value, or the Camp of Cultural Economy; and The Queer Issue. These essay clusters help the reader situate the critical debates around the subject. A comprehensive bibliography of items from the earliest use of the word 'camp' to the present completes this unique and exciting volume.