Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Subtitled: A theory of failed community. Examines the structure of four novels (Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance, James's The Golden Bowl, Wharton's The House of Mirth and Chopin's The Awakening through the lens of Mikhail Bakhtin's critical framework. Feminist music criticism in seven essays, four previously published, dealing with the musical construction of gender and sexuality, gendered aspects of traditional music theory and narrative, music as a gendered discourse, and discursive strategies of women musicians. Analyzes the work and thought of Monteverdi, Laurie Anderson, Madonna, and others. Paper edition (1899-2), $14.95. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This collection of feminist essays applies feminist discursive theory to a repertory ranging from Monteverdi to Madonna. McClary correctly takes the position that there has been little critical (as opposed to theoretical) discussion of music and posits a methodology that examines the construction of gender and sexuality in pieces like Tristan and Madonna and Prince's duet "This Is Not a Love Song"; gendered theory such as strong and weak cadences ("feminine endings") and beats, gender, and sex in musical themes; and the "effeminate" nature of music devotees from antiquity to Ives. Her division is tripartite: works in the canon, music by women who "problematize their sexual identity," and popular musicians like Laurie Anderson and Madonna, "who flaunts her own feminine ending." Tchaikovsky, sonata form, madwomen in opera, and Janika Vandervelde's "Jack and the Beanstalk" are all used in McClary's intriguing challenges to the "classic schema of Western masculine subjectivity." No one will read these essays without thinking about and hearing music in new and interesting ways. Exciting reading for adventurous students and staid professionals. J. P. Ambrose University of Vermont