Cart
Free US shipping over $10
Proud to be B-Corp

Fantasies of Nina Simone Jordan Alexander Stein

Fantasies of Nina Simone By Jordan Alexander Stein

Fantasies of Nina Simone by Jordan Alexander Stein


$34.19
Condition - New
6 in stock

Summary

Jordan Alexander Stein uses an archive of Nina Simones performances, images, and writings to think through the space between our collective and individual fantasies about Simone the performer, Civil Rights activist, and icon and her own fantasies about herself.

Fantasies of Nina Simone Summary

Fantasies of Nina Simone by Jordan Alexander Stein

Since her death in 2003, Nina Simone has been the subject of an astonishing number of rereleased, remastered, and remixed albums and compilations as well as biographies, films, viral memes, samples, and soundtracks. In Fantasies of Nina Simone, Jordan Alexander Stein uses an archive of Simones performances, images, and writings to examine the space between our collective and individual fantasies about Simone the performer, civil rights activist, and icon, and her own fantasies about herself. Stein outlines how Simone gave voice to personal fantasies through releasing dozens of covers of her white male contemporaries. With her covers of George Harrison, the Bee Gees, Bob Dylan, and others, Simone explored and claimed the power and perspective that come with race and gender privilege. Looking at examples from Simones four-decade genre-bending careerfrom songbook standards, jazz, and pop to folk, junkanoo, and reggaeand at her works many uptakes and afterlives, Stein mobilizes the psychoanalytic concept of fantasy to build a black feminist history with and for this multifaceted performing artist.

Fantasies of Nina Simone Reviews

With thoughtful analysis and experimental form, Jordan Alexander Steins Fantasies of Nina Simone is a daring exploration of how and why Nina Simone had to invent herself and what has motivated us---her fans, fellow artists, and audience---to embrace her iconicity over time and invoke her as the ultimate signifier of our own political demands and desires today. -- Salamishah Tillet, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and author of * In Search of "The Color Purple": The Story of an American Masterpiece *
Jordan Alexander Stein uses meticulous research and a vast archive of Nina Simones recordings and performances to provide a novel approach to engaging with the life and work of an iconic figure. Offering unique insights, Stein advances conversations about how critics take Simone up as a figure and as an artist and how she fashioned herself through her music, writing, performance, and self-presentation. This groundbreaking book makes an important contribution to cultural studies, sound studies, and conversations about life writing. -- Soyica Diggs Colbert, author of * Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry *

About Jordan Alexander Stein

Jordan Alexander Stein is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Fordham University and author of When Novels Were Books and Avidly Reads Theory.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix
Something 1
Biography 31
Covering 73
1972 113
Obeah 117
Audience 147
Fantasies 177
Something (Reprise) 223
Acknowledgments 227
Notes 233
Selected Bibliography 275
Index 299

Additional information

NGR9781478030706
9781478030706
1478030704
Fantasies of Nina Simone by Jordan Alexander Stein
New
Paperback
Duke University Press
2024-09-27
320
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a new book - be the first to read this copy. With untouched pages and a perfect binding, your brand new copy is ready to be opened for the first time

Customer Reviews - Fantasies of Nina Simone