Signing the Body Poetic

by Bauman, H-Dirksen L.

• ISBN13: 9780520229761
• ISBN10: 0520229762
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-12-20
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

This unique collection of essays, accompanied by a pioneering DVD, at last brings a dazzling view of the literary, social, and performative aspects of American Sign Language to a wide audience. The book presents the work of a renowned and diverse group of deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing scholars who examine original ASL poetry, narrative, and drama. The DVD showcases the poems and narratives under discussion in their original form, providing access to them for hearing non-signers for the first time. Together, the book and DVD provide new insight into the history, culture, and creative achievements of the deaf community while expanding the scope of the visual and performing arts, literary criticism, and comparative literature.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS OF THE DVD	xi
FOREWORD
William C. Stokoe	xiii
PREFACE: UTOPIAN GESTURES
W.J.T. Mitchell	xv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xxv
USERS' GUIDE	xxvii
1 Introduction	1
H-Dirksen L. Bauman,Jennifer L. Nelson, Heidi M. Rose
PART ONE FRAMING ASL LITERATURE
2 Face-to-Face Tradition in the American Deaf Community: Dynamics of the Teller, the Tale, and the Audience
Ben Bahan	21	(30)
3 The Camera as Printing Press: How Film Has Influenced ASL Literature
Christopher B. Krentz	51	(20)
4 Deaf American Theater
Cynthia Peters	71	(24)
PART TWO THE EMBODIED TEXT: "WRITING" AND VISION IN ASL LITERATURE
5 Getting out of Line: Toward a Visual and Cinematic Poetics of ASL
H-Dirksen L. Bauman	95	(23)
6 Textual Bodies, Bodily Texts
Jennifer L. Nelson	118	(12)
7 The Poet in the Poem in the Performance: The Relation of Body, Self, and Text in ASL Literature
Heidi M. Rose	130	(17)
8 ASL Literature Comes of Age: Creative "Writing" in the Classroom
Liz Wolter	147	(22)
PART THREE THE POLITICAL TEXT: PERFORMANCE AND IDENTITY IN ASL LITERATURE
9 "If there are Greek epics, there should be Deaf epics": How Protest Became Poetry
Kristen C. Harmon	169	(26)
10 Visual Screaming: Willy Conley's Deaf Theater and Charlie Chaplin's Silent Cinema
Carol L. Robinson	195	(21)
11 Hearing Things: The Scandal of Speech in Deaf Performance
Michael Davidson	216
AFTERWORD
Carol A. Padden	235	(6)
APPENDIX A: TIME LINE OF ASL LITERATURE DEVELOPMENT	241	(12)
APPENDIX B: ASL VIDEO REFERENCES	253	(2)
CONTRIBUTORS	255	(2)
INDEX	257