I normally don’t recommend the short and easy thing over the long and hard thing, especially when it means screwing up chronology, but in this case I think it makes sense. I’d begin, that is to say, with Sex, Art, and American Culture.

There are a couple of reasons. One is that that book contains the preface to Sexual Personae as Paglia originally intended it to appear; the way shorter version that actually appeared in Sexual Personae doesn’t really adequately prepare you for the maelstrom you’re about to be plunged into. Also, some of the other long pieces–her notes from one of her arts classes, the “Junk Bonds and Corporate Raiders” book review, and the transcript of her lecture at MIT–are a good setup for her overall mindset. In fact, I’d read those before skipping toward the front of the book for the reprints of shorter book reviews and op-ed columns. They’re all good, but they’d probably be kind of disjointed and confusing as a starting point.

It’s from there that I’d recommend Sexual Personae. Beyond that, you’ll want to read “No Law in the Arena” from Vamps and Tramps, but by 1994 Paglia’s media-celebritihood was at its peak, and you can see from other stuff in the book that she was getting soused on it. You may find a lot of it skippable, though you’ll be eating it all up if you’re a convert by then.

Enjoy.

From the Grand Stand has an excellent, thoughtful post on groupthink versus true individuality:once you remove all the external cosmetics, the adornments and affectations, what you’re left with is what’s inside