Lament and Curse: An Introduction to Diamanda Galás By Luca Zanchi

March 26, 2014

Filed under: Essays, Featured Writings, Publications about Diamanda, Writings

In this introductory essay Luca Zanchi explores the origins of poetic musician Greek-American Diamanda Galás, taking us on an exciting journey that from the archaic rituals of ancient Greece will lead us to investigate the reasons for the expressive power and dissident art of one of the most significant artists in the contemporary art scene.

When the curse shifts from the secret and individual domain of magic to the artistic and literary plane of poetry, when women’s archaic funeral lamentations become performance, then a structural change is produced, that provides an interdisciplinary field of study for the theory of art. It is therefore the purpose of this research to look into the aesthetic consequences of this transition.

By Luca Zanchi
Introduction by Fernando Castro Flórez
Foreword by Renato Miracco
Afterword by Viviana Meschesi

Available for purchase at Aracne Books
Book 9 €
PDF 5.4 €

Read an English excerpt here

 Read an Italian excerpt here