cover image Opera, Sex, and Other Vital Matters

Opera, Sex, and Other Vital Matters

Paul A. Robinson. University of Chicago Press, $20 (332pp) ISBN 978-0-226-72183-5

The 17 erudite and accessible essays in Opera, Sex, and Other Vital Matters probe Stanford University humanities professor Paul Robinson's (Gay Lives) long-time obsessions the two named in the title, plus a third: Sigmund Freud. In both previously published and new pieces, Robinson weighs in on such matters as Orientalism in Aida; Richard Strauss's maligned later works; opera queens; sex studies; Freud and feminism; sexuality in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four; and the strange, compelling qualities of cats. Whether arguing that Beethoven's Fidelio is actually the orchestrated history of the French Revolution or considering student-teacher relationships, Robinson offers both intimate anecdotes and a whirlwind tours through modern intellectual history.