Diva Nation

Diva Nation explores the constructed nature of female iconicity. From ancient goddesses and queens to modern singers and writers, each chapter critically reconsiders the female icon, tracing how she has been offered up for emulation, debate, or censure. Diva Nation stems from our curiosity over the insistent presence of female figures who refuse to sit quietly on the sidelines of history but have not been admitted into mainstream scholarship or routine knowledge. Our case studies move beyond archival portraits to consider historically and culturally informed diva imagery and diva lore. We ask how the diva disrupts or bolsters ideas about nationhood, morality, and aesthetics. She is ripe for expansion, fantasy, eroticization, and playful reinvention, yet her unavoidability also makes her a special problem for patriarchal culture. Charting the waxing and waning of the diva story helps illuminate national narratives and assists us in understanding the ways the nation is imbricated with notions of gender, nostalgia, and identity politics.