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Drag: A British History

Hardback by Bloomfield, Jacob

Drag: A British History

£25.00

ISBN:
9780520393325
Publication Date:
1 Aug 2023
Language:
English
Publisher:
University of California Press
Pages:
272 pages
Format:
Hardback
For delivery:
Estimated despatch 7 - 8 Aug 2026
Drag: A British History

Description

"A must-read for anyone interested in the history of drag performance."-?Publishers Weekly A rich and provocative history of drag's importance in modern British culture. Drag: A British History is a groundbreaking study of the sustained popularity and changing forms of male drag performance in modern Britain. With this book, Jacob Bloomfield provides fresh perspectives on drag and recovers previously neglected episodes in the history of the art form. Despite its transgressive associations, drag has persisted as an intrinsic, and common, part of British popular culture-drag artists have consistently asserted themselves as some of the most renowned and significant entertainers of their day. As Bloomfield demonstrates, drag was also at the center of public discussions around gender and sexuality in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from Victorian sex scandals to the "permissive society" of the 1960s. This compelling new history demythologizes drag, stressing its ordinariness while affirming its important place in British cultural heritage.

Contents

Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Old Mother Riley and the Modern Dame 2 Splinters: Cross-Dressing Ex-Servicemen on the Interwar Stage 3 Danny La Rue: Conservative Drag in the "Permissive Society" 4 Skirting the Censor: Drag and the Censorship of the British Theater, 1939-1968 Epilogue: How Queer Is Drag? Notes Bibliography Index

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