Dismantles the Woody Guthrie we have been taught--the rough-and-ready rambling\' man--to reveal an artist who discovered how intimacy is crucial for political struggle Woody Guthrie is often mythologized as the classic American "rambling\' man," a real-Life Steinbeckian folk hero who fought for working-class interests and inspired Bob Dylan.
He lives in Haverford, Pennsylvania..
His writing has appeared in the Bay Guardian , SF Weekly , the North Carolina Independent Weekly , Social Text , Sounding Out! , avidly.com, and numerous other outlets.
A well-established scholar of nineteenth- and twentieth-century US culture and popular music, he is the author of Troubling Minds: The Cultural Politics of Genius in the U.
S., 1840-1890 .
About author(s): Gustavus Stadler is a professor of English at Haverford College.
Using intimacy as one\'s weapon, Guthrie believed we could fight fascism\'s seductive call.
By closely connecting to others, society could combat the customary emotional states of capitalist cultures: loneliness and isolation.
Rejecting bodily shame and embracing the power of sexuality, he came to believe that intimacy was the linchpin for political struggle.
In his close relationship with dancer Marjorie Mazia, Guthrie discovered a restorative way of thinking about the body, which provided a salve for the trauma of his childhood and the slowly debilitating effects of Huntington\'s disease.
Part biography, part cultural history of the Left, Woody Guthrie offers a stunning revelation about America\'s quintessential folk legend, who serves as a guiding light for leftist movements today.
Featuring an insert with personal photos of Guthrie\'s family and previously unknown paintings, Woody Guthrie: An Intimate Life is a fresh and contemporary analysis of the overlapping influences of sexuality, politics, and disability on the art and mind of an American folk icon.
What\'s left unexamined is how the bulk of Guthrie\'s work--most of which is unpublished or little known--delves into the importance of intimacy in his personal and political life.
Biographers and fans frame him as a foe of fascism and focus on his politically charged folk songs.
Dismantles the Woody Guthrie we have been taught--the rough-and-ready rambling\' man--to reveal an artist who discovered how intimacy is crucial for political struggle Woody Guthrie is often mythologized as the classic American "rambling\' man," a real-Life Steinbeckian folk hero who fought for working-class interests and inspired Bob Dylan
