Background
Sam Abel was born on October 5 in 1957 in Norwood, Massachusetts. He is a son of Robert and Evelyn (Shuman) Abel.
(Verdi, Wagner, polymorphous perversion, Puccini, Brunnhil...)
Verdi, Wagner, polymorphous perversion, Puccini, Brunnhilde, Pinkerton, and Parsifal all rub shoulders in this delightful, poetic, insightful, sexual book sprung by one man's physical response to the power and exaggeration we call opera. Sam Abel applies a light touch as he considers the topic of opera and the eroticized body: Why do audiences respond to opera in a visceral way? How does opera, like no other art form, physically move watchers? How and why does opera arouse feelings akin to sexual desire? Abel seeks the answers to these questions by examining homoerotic desire, the phenomenon of the castrati, operatic cross-dressing, and opera as presented through the media.In this deeply personal book, Abel writes, These pages map my current struggles to pin down my passion for opera, my intense admiration for its aesthetic forms and beauties, but much more my astonishment at how opera makes me lose myself, how it consumes me.” In so doing, Abel uncovers what until now, through dry musicology and gossipy history, had been left behind a wall of silence: the physical and erotic nature of opera. Although Abel can speak with certainty only about his own visceral response to opera, he provides readers with a language and a resonance with which to understand their own experiences. Ultimately, Opera in the Flesh celebrates the power of opera to move audiences as no other book has done. It is indeed a treasure of scholarship, passion, and poetry for everyone with even a passing interest in this fascinating art form. Verdi, Wagner, polymorphous perversion, Puccini, Brunnhilde, Pinkerton, and Parsifal all rub shoulders in this delightful, poetic, insightful, sexual book sprung by one man's physical response to the power and exaggeration we call opera. Sam Abel applies a light touch as he considers the topic of opera and the eroticized body: Why do audiences respond to opera in a visceral way? How does opera, like no other art form, physically move watchers? How and why does opera arouse feelings akin to sexual desire? Abel seeks the answers to these questions by examining homoerotic desire, the phenomenon of the castrati, operatic cross-dressing, and opera as presented through the media.In this deeply personal book, Abel writes, These pages map my current struggles to pin down my passion for opera, my intense admiration for its aesthetic forms and beauties, but much more my astonishment at how opera makes me lose myself, how it consumes me.” In so doing, Abel uncovers what until now, through dry musicology and gossipy history, had been left behind a wall of silence: the physical and erotic nature of opera. Although Abel can speak with certainty only about his own visceral response to opera, he provides readers with a language and a resonance with which to understand their own experiences. Ultimately, Opera in the Flesh celebrates the power of opera to move audiences as no other book has done. It is indeed a treasure of scholarship, passion, and poetry for everyone with even a passing interest in this fascinating art form.
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editor educator stage director writer
Sam Abel was born on October 5 in 1957 in Norwood, Massachusetts. He is a son of Robert and Evelyn (Shuman) Abel.
Sam received his education at Dartmouth College in 1979. Then he graduated from Indiana University in 1981 and finished Ph. D. Program there in 1984.
Sam started his career as an associate instructor at Indiana University in Bloomington in 1981-1982. Then he became an instructor at Moorhead State University from 1983 till 1984. Since 1985, he was an assistant professor at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. Since 1990, he became an assistant professor at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire as well as a book review editor and reader in New England Theatre Journal. Since 1993, he was a consulting editor in Theatre History Studies, and in 1996 he became a consultant for Oxford University Press, University of Michigan Press, and Bedford Books.
Sam also directs various stage productions at Center Theatre, DePauw University, Indiana University, and Warner Bentley Theatre. He is also a contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, journals, and anthologies, including Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Journal of Popular Culture, Memory, Practice, Desire: Gay Performances, New England Theatre Journal, A Night at the Opera: Media Representation of Opera, Notable Gays and Lesbians in American Theatre History, Opera News, Terrance McNally: A Casebook (edited by Toby Zinman), Theatre Annual: A Journal of Performance Studies, Theatre History Studies, Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, Theatre Topics, and Western European Stages.
(Verdi, Wagner, polymorphous perversion, Puccini, Brunnhil...)
