Sexual Personae [ TOP › ]

In the shadow of the 1990s, a 736-page tome titled Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson burst onto the academic scene like a dionysian storm. Its author, , set out to prove a provocative thesis: that beneath the thin veneer of Western civilization lies a dark, roiling ocean of primal nature that Christianity never truly tamed. The War of the Gods

In Paglia's view, art is the battlefield where these forces meet. From the regal, rigid beauty of to the internal, explosive poetry of Emily Dickinson , she traces how artists have attempted to trap the "Dionysian" within "Apollonian" forms. A Provocative Worldview Sexual Personae

: She claims that Western culture is inherently pagan, and that our fascination with "sexual personae"—glamorous, archetypal figures in art and media—is a modern continuation of ancient idol worship. Reception and Legacy In the shadow of the 1990s, a 736-page

: This represents order, logic, and the "male" drive to build, categorize, and create a safe structure for society. From the regal, rigid beauty of to the

: Paglia posits that men created civilization as a defensive "Apollonian" response to the overwhelming power of women and nature.