Signing The Body Poetic

Publisher Description

This unique collection of essays, accompanied by a pioneering DVD, at last brings a dazzling view of the literary, social, and performative aspects of American Sign Language to a wide audience. The book presents the work of a renowned and diverse group of deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing scholars who examine original ASL poetry, narrative, and drama. The DVD showcases the poems and narratives under discussion in their original form, providing access to them for hearing non-signers for the first time. Together, the book and DVD provide new insight into the history, culture, and creative achievements of the deaf community while expanding the scope of the visual and performing arts, literary criticism, and comparative literature.

Introducing Sign Language Literature: Folklore and Creativity is the first textbook dedicated to analyzing and appreciating sign language storytelling, poetry and humour. The authors assume no prior knowledge of sign language or literary studies, introducing readers to a world of visual language creativity in deaf communities. Introducing Sign Language Literature: Folklore and Creativity - Explains in straightforward terms the unique features of this embodied language art form - Draws on an online anthology of over 150 sign language stories, poems and jokes - Suggests ways of analysing and appreciating the rich artistic heritage of deaf communities Watch a short video about the book.

This groundbreaking volume introduces readers to the key concepts and debates in deaf studies, offering perspectives on the relevance and richness of deaf ways of being in the world. In Open Your Eyes, leading and emerging scholars, the majority of whom are deaf, consider physical and cultural boundaries of deaf places and probe the complex intersections of deaf identities with gender, sexuality, disability, family, and race. Together, they explore the role of sensory perception in constructing community, redefine literacy in light of signed languages, and delve into the profound medical, social, and political dimensions of the disability label often assigned to deafness. Moving beyond proving the existence of deaf culture, Open Your Eyes shows how the culture contributes vital insights on issues of identity, language, and power, and, ultimately, challenges our culture’s obsession with normalcy. Contributors: Benjamin Bahan, Gallaudet U; Douglas C. Baynton, U of Iowa; Frank Bechter, U of Chicago; MJ Bienvenu, Gallaudet U; Brenda Jo Brueggemann, Ohio State U; Lennard J. Davis, U of Illinois, Chicago; Lindsay Dunn, Gallaudet U; Lawrence Fleischer, California State U, Northridge; Genie Gertz, California State U, Northridge; Hilde Haualand, FAFO Institute; Robert Hoffmeister, Boston U; Tom Humphries, U of California, San Diego; Arlene Blumenthal Kelly, Gallaudet U; Marlon Kuntze, U of California, Berkeley; Paddy Ladd, U of Bristol; Harlan Lane, Northeastern U; Joseph J. Murray, U of Iowa; Carol Padden, U of California, San Diego.

"The moment when a society must contend with a powerful language other than its own is a decisive point in its evolution. This moment is occurring now in American society". Peters explains precisely how ASL literature achieved this moment, tracing its past and predicting its future in this trailblazing study. Peters connects ASL literature to the literary canon with the archetypal notion of carnival as "the counterculture of the dominated". Throughout history carnivals have been opportunities for the "low", disenfranchised elements of society to displace their "high" counterparts. Citing the Deaf community's long tradition of "literary nights" and festivals like the Deaf Way, Peters recognizes similar forces at work in the propagation of ASL literature. The agents of this movement, Deaf artists and ASL performers -- "Tricksters", as Peters calls them -- jump between the two cultures and languages. Through this process they create a synthesis of English literary content reinterpreted in sign language, which also raises the profile of ASL as a distinct art form in itself. Peters applies her analysis to the craft's landmark works, including Douglas Bullard's novel Islay and Ben Bahan's video-recorded narrative Bird of a Different Feather. Deaf American Literature, the only work of its kind, is its own seminal moment in the emerging discipline of ASL literary criticism.

The most beguilingly seductive novel to date from the author of The Passion and Sexing the Cherry. Winterson chronicles the consuming affair between the narrator, who is given neither name nor gender, and the beloved, a complex and confused married woman.

Experience life as it is in the U.S. for those who cannot hear.