Description: Since we all have one, why do people squirm when the anus in mentioned? In a playful, yet scholarly exploration of everything from porn to poetry, Jonathan Allan tackles this question and more.
Brief description: Jonathan A. Allan is Canada research chair in queer theory and assistant professor of gender and women's studies and English and creative writing at Brandon University. He is the author of Reading from Behind: A Cultural Analysis of the Anus.
Review Quotes:
"Looks at the subject of the 'booty' with remarkable enthusiasm." --Attitude
"Jonathan Allan has come up with a whole theory of the arsehole." --Dazed and Confused "Readers outside the academy will be rewarded with a fine example of textual analysis-and, possibly, a new appreciation of the anus as the most democratic and empowering of our body parts." --Literary Review of Canada "A serious work of theory, exploring the backside as a site of humiliation and disgust." --The Guardian "Allan's work is, in a sense, groundbreaking ... opening up a whole new field of study ... Allan's book should be required reading." --The Independent "Assholes are like opinions: Everyone has them - but no one has more opinions on assholes than Jonathan Allan." --VICE "A remarkably fresh and original contribution to contemporary queer studies. I am confident that, with Reading from Behind, Allan will emerge as a widely respected critical voice of his generation." --David William Foster, author of Sexual Textualties: Essays on Queer/ing Latin American Writing "Entertaining and informative." --Merrill Cole, author of The Other Orpheus: A Poetics of Modern Homosexuality "Allan reorients studies of anality." --Todd Reeser, author of Masculinities in Theory