Synopsis
One of the most controversial filmmakers of our time (Caravaggio, The Last of England, Edward II), and outspoken crusader for gay civil rights in Britain, Derek Jarman was diagnosed HIV positive in December of 1986. At Your Own risk is Derek's distillation of his philosophy of life and an impassioned and witty guide to gay sexuality from the repressed 40s through the libidinous 60s to the Aids-chilled present. Derek confronts his death, describing the reality of being HIV positive. Of a walk home after a sexual encounter on Hampstead Heath, he writes: "Why are you doing this, Derek? You shouldn't be standing under these cold stars. You shouldn't have the stamina to do this.' The answer is that I didn't have the stamina, but throwing my arms around a stranger is an act of defiance that keeps me alive." At Your Own Risk is an act of defiance - a defiant statement against a society that vacillates between indifference and moral censure on the issue of Aids and a defiant celebration of gay sexuality. At Your Own Risk argues that if you are HIV positive you can only remain frightened for so long and that there comes a point at which fear gives way to acceptance - a point after which you have to start living again.
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Review
"If there is any such thing as the literary equivalent of an incendiary bomb, then this is it... His semtex-packed sentences are welcome thunderflashes of dissent in the grey drizzle of a dispirited political climate" (New Statesman)
"At Your Own Risk gives the reader access to something that is hard to articulate, the near asphyxiating pain, anxiety and rage which many gay people have felt living under the physical, legal and cultural attacks of the last few years" (Observer)
"For all his anger, Jarman never seems brutalised. He retains his humanity and good humour. His is a wonderfully garrulous, mercurial, polymathic daemon" (Literary Review)
Book Description
Impassioned, witty and polemical, At Your Own Risk is Derek Jarman's defiant celebration of gay sexuality.
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At Your Own Risk: A Saint's Testament
Published by
Overlook Books, 1993
ISBN 10: 0879514736
ISBN 13: 9780879514730
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: West With The Night, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hard cover. First edition. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 160 p. Audience: General/trade. Fine in fine dust jacket. excellent in excellent jacket, first printing, as new. Seller Inventory # Alibris.0022548
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At Your Own Risk: A Saint's Testament
Seller: World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. Item in very good condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00102545364
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At Your Own Risk. A Saint's Testament
Published by
The Overlook Press. NY. 1993. 1st Am. ed. bds.&cl.w.dj., 1993
ISBN 10: 0879514736
ISBN 13: 9780879514730
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Ira Joel Haber - Cinemage Books, Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Essays & memory pieces from the 40's to the 80's by the late gay filmmaker who died of AIDS a few years back. 16pgs. of photos. 1 sm. stain to 1 pg. Vg+/fine Also included is MODERN NATURE this is an UNCORRECTED PROOF W. PUBLISHER'S LETTER LAID IN. The 3rd installment of the late filmmaker's memoirs. proof edition. Binding is wraps.Newspaper rubber stamp on 1/2 title & title pgs.and ink line on cover. Vg. Sold as a collection only. Book. Seller Inventory # 3202
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At Your Own Risk: a saint's testament
Published by
Overlook Press, Woodstock, 1993
ISBN 10: 0879514736
ISBN 13: 9780879514730
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Bolerium Books Inc., San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. 153p., photos, very good first US edition stated in quarter-cloth boards and unclipped dj. Second volume of memoirs by the late filmmaker, artist, and theatrical designer, published shortly before he died of AIDS. Seller Inventory # 264741
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At Your Own Risk: A Saint's Testament
Seller: Book Dispensary, Concord, ON, Canada
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. AS NEW hardcover in VERY GOOD dust jacket, no marks in text, tight binding. Book. Seller Inventory # 140544
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At Your Own Risk: A Saint's Testament
Seller: GoldBooks, Denver, CO, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # 4N86_95_0879514736
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At Your Own Risk: A Saint's Testament
Seller: Letusbegin, Ossining, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: New. New Hardcover! Pristine unmarked pages, may have very slight warehouse wear, no remainder marks, still a great buy straight from warehouse, sealed in plastic, exact artwork as listed, Seller Inventory # 048220129091
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At Your Own Risk: A Saint's Testament
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Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! Seller Inventory # Q-0879514736
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At Your Own Risk: A Saint's Testament
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Condition: New. Satisfaction Guaranteed or your money back. Seller Inventory # 0879514736