Bram Dijkstra
Bram Dijkstra is a professor of English literature. He joined the faculty of the University of California, San Diego in 1966, and taught there until he retired and became an emeritus (retired professor who still holds the title) in 2000. He is married to the literary agent Sandra Dijkstra.
He is the author of seven books on literary and artistic subjects. These include:
- Cubism, Stieglitz and the Early Poetry of William Carlos Williams (1969)
- Georgia O'Keeffe and the Eros of Place (1998)
- Expressionism in America (2001)
He is probably best known for two books that have escaped the academic world into the world of popular culture:
- Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-de-siècle Culture (1986)
- Evil Sisters: The Threat of Female Sexuality and the Cult of Manhood (1996)
These two books discuss vamp imagery, femmes fatales, and similar threatening images of female sexuality in a number of works of literature and art.[1] His epithet-laden rhetoric directed against the mostly forgotten nineteenth century artists, especially in Idols of Perversity, has been perceived as excessive.[2] In comedian Steve Martin's short novel Shopgirl, Martin's heroine claims that Idols of Perversity is her favourite book.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Alessandra Comini, "Posters from the War Against Women", review of Idols of Perversity (New York Times, Books section, Feb. 1, 1987)
- ^ Eugen Weber, review of Idols of Perversity (Los Angeles Times, Dec. 21, 1986
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