Signing the Body Poetic

H-Dirksen L. Bauman is Professor in the Department of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University. Jennifer L. Nelson is Professor in the Department of English at Gallaudet University. Heidi M. Rose is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Villanova University.

"Signing the Body Poetic should receive a deafening ovation. It is the first major scholarly work to celebrate and theorize American Sign Language artistic expression ranging from poetry, to theater and film. A must for anyone interested in contemporary poetry, drama, or literary theory." - Lennard J. Davis, editor of The Disabilities Studies Reader "This collection is as unique as ASL, merging linguistics, nonverbal communication and performance in both the content of the chapters as well as in its form (text and DVD). Unlocking the performative dimension of ASL, it merges disciplines, communicative forms, and channels while demonstrating that our ability to communicate is not limited by the organs we use to do so but only by our ability to perform." - Michael L. Hecht, editor of Redefining Culture: Perspectives across the Disciplines"

• Contents of the DVD Foreword--William C. Stokoe Preface: Utopian Gestures--W.J.T. Mitchell Acknowledgments Users' Guide 1. Introduction 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 3. The Camera as Printing Press: How Film Has Influenced ASL Literature--Christopher B. Krentz 4. Deaf American Theater--Cynthia Peters 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 6. Textual Bodies, Bodily Texts--Jennifer L. Nelson 7. The Poet in the Poem in the Performance: The Relation of Body, Self, and Text in ASL Literature--Heidi M. Rose 8. ASL Literature Comes of Age: Creative "Writing" in the Classroom--Liz Wolter 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 10. Visual Screaming: Willy Conley's Deaf Theater and Charlie Chaplin's Silent Cinema--Carol L. Robinson 11. Hearing Things: The Scandal of Speech in Deaf Performance--Michael Davidson Afterword Carol A. Padden Appendix A: Time Line of ASL Literature Development Appendix B: ASL Video References Contributors Index