Art as performance, story as criticism

Overview: Pick up a work of typical literary criticism and you know what to expect: prose that is dry, pedantic, well-meaning but tedious-slow-going and essentially humorless. But why should that be so? Why can't more literary criticism have a political edge and be engaging, fast-paced, even humorous? Why can't criticism become an artistic performance, rather than just a discussion of art? Art as Performance, Story as Criticism is Craig Womack's answer to these questions. Inventive and often outrageous, the book turns traditional literary criticism on its head, rejecting distanced, purely theoretical argumentation for intimate engagement with literary works. Focusing on Native American literature, Womack mixes forms and styles. He is unafraid to combine meticulous research and carefully considered historical perspectives with personal reactions and reflections. The book's chapters include original short stories and dramas, along with essays that more closely resemble traditional literary criticism, such as Womack's discussions of the lesser-known plays of Lynn Riggs and the stories of Durango Mendoza. Throughout, the author offers his take on the Cherokee freedmen issue, the ban on gay marriage, and other controversies. Womack breathes new life into literary analysis and introduces criticism to a wider audience. Radical, groundbreaking, and refreshing, Arts as Performance, Story as Criticism reinvents literary criticism for the twenty-first century.