Norma Trist, or, Pure carbon : a story of the inversion of the sexes /
| Other Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Austin, TX :
Flatbed Press,
[2020]
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| Edition: | Signed and numbered in arabic numerals. |
| Subjects: |
| Item Description: | Title from colophon (1 unnumbered leaf). "Each chapter is illustrated with an image of what currently stands on the sites of historic lesbian and gay bars across the state of Texas. The layout of the text is based on the artists' 2016 physical installation: '50 States: Texas', in which the complete text was stenciled over 100 linear feet of paper in loose graphite powder which was degraded over the course of its exhibition by airflow, insects and errant viewers' fingers. For this edition, the folio print plates were likewise created with loose stenciled graphite left open to the elements and organic interventions which were subsequently photographed by the artists."--Colophon. Based on the true story of Alice Mitchell, the book recounts a crime of passion by a lesbian who cannot marry her lover; volume is accordion bound. "In 1895 John Wesley Carhart, a prominent medical doctor from the small town of La Grange, TX wrote a novel featuring what is most likely American fiction's first unambiguously lesbian protagonist. The text is notable for its astonishingly sympathetic and progressive ideological defenses of homosexuality and incoporates references to cutting-edge fin-de-siecle medical thought on same-sex desire. Particularly worthy of attention is Chapter 27, in which Norma is put on trial for the attempted murder of her lover Marie (pp 121-124). Carhart's views on race are decidedly less enlightened than his views on sexuality. The book contains racist depictions of African American, Jewish, and Mexican characters. With the exception of a single racial epithet, which we have omitted, we have included the complete text of Norma Trist in an effort to avoid sanitizing Carhart's legacy."--A note from the artists, colophon. 24 sets printed "15 copies signed and numbered in arabic numerals 1/15 to 15/15. 3 copies reserved for the artists, signed and marked A.P. I/III to A.P. III/III. 3 copies reserved for the publisher, signed and marked Flatbed I/III to Flatbed III/III. 2 copies are designated for the assisting printers, signed and marked PP I/II to II/II. 1 copy designated for public presentations/exhibitions, unsigned and marked H.C."--Colophon. The Cushing Library/Women & Gender Studies copy is [number] 11/15 and is signed by Nick & Jake. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 portfolio box (1 unnumbered leaf + 6 folded prints + 1 volume (147 pages : illustrations ; 26 x 8 cm)) : illustrations ; in box 33 x 32 x 10 cm |