Caramagno, Thomas C. 1946-

PERSONAL:

Born February 16, 1946, in Los Angeles, CA; divorced. Education: Loyola Marymount University, M.A., 1970; M.A., 1975, University of California at Los Angeles, Ph.D., 1983.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—Lincoln, NE. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

Educator and writer. University of Hawaii, Manoa, assistant professor,1983-89; University of Nebraska, Lincoln, associate professor.

MEMBER:

Institute for the Psychological Study of the Arts.

AWARDS, HONORS:

William Riley Parker Prize, 1988, for Manic-Depressive Psychosis and Critical Approaches to Virginia Woolf's Life and Work; Andrew W. Mellon fellow, Harvard University, 1989-90; Fulbright grant, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 1999.

WRITINGS:

The Flight of the Mind: Virginia Woolf's Art and Manic-Depressive Illness, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1992.

Irreconcilable Differences? Intellectual Stalemate in the Gay Rights Debate, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2002.

Visible Love (novel), PublishAmerica (Baltimore, MD), 2002.

It Isn't Just Me, Is It? The Racing Thoughts of a Suburban Anarchist, PublishAmerica (Baltimore, MD), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

In his first book The Flight of the Mind: Virginia Woolf's Art and Manic-Depressive Illness, Thomas C. Caramagno examines Woolf's fiction in light of her bipolar disorder, then known as manic depression, a state that results in extreme mood swings. In recent years, researchers have uncovered much about the genetic and biological basis for manic-depression. Armed with this research, the author, who also is reported to suffer from manic depression, analyzes Woolf's art as he "attempts to bridge literary criticism, psychoanalysis, and neuropsychiatry," as noted by Judith Lutzer in the Journal of English and Germanic Philology. Writing that the author's "work raises questions about the relationship between art and illness," Lutzer went on to note: "What is helpful in Caramagno's book is calling attention to the relation between art and affect, and illustrating how fluctuating moods are represented in Virginia Woolf's fiction." Jane Marcus, writing in Signs, referred to The Flight of the Mind as a "sober and well-documented book."

Irreconcilable Differences? Intellectual Stalemate in the Gay Rights Debate focuses on the primary issues involved in gay rights and examines the debate in the light of scientific research, theology, and politics. A contributor to the BookReview.com, wrote that the book "is structured to open up discussions for readers without pandering to the ‘already converted’ or demonizing the opposition." Blaise Astra Parker, writing on the Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality, commented: "Those looking for answers would be advised to try a more dogmatic publication. This is a book for individuals who want to explore the debate." Parker also wrote: "It is to Caramagno's credit that he recognizes the diversity within pro-gay and anti-gay rights groups." In a review on the Logged Off: Interviews, Reviews & Rants Web site, a contributor wrote that the book's primary focus is "that neither side has the monopoly on truth … and that the more extreme both sides get, the more similar they become in the content and form of their arguments."

The author turns to fiction to explore sexuality in Visible Love, a satire about seven heterosexuals in the 1980s and the psychological and physical dangers of their sexual encounters as HIV transmission and AIDS expand under a cloud of ignorance and myth. The various characters include a homemaker who seeks exciting sex outside of marriage with a married man, another who seeks out anonymous gay sex with other married men, and a couple who belong to a Palm Springs sex club. When one of the characters develops AIDS, he seeks medical assistance only to find a doctor whose own fears over the "rumors" about how AIDS is spread results in her developing pseudosymptoms of the disease, which she begins treating herself. A BookReview.com contributor called the novel "an adult satire of sex and anxiety in the 1980s."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Journal of English and Germanic Philology, April, 1994, Judith Lutzer, review of The Flight of the Mind: Virginia Woolf's Art and Manic-Depressive Illness, p. 263.

Signs, summer, 1992, Jane Marcus, review of The Flight of the Mind, pp. 806-819.

ONLINE

BookReview.com,http://www.bookreview.com/ (November 17, 2006), reviews of Visible Love and Irreconcilable Differences? Intellectual Stalemate in the Gay Rights Debate.

Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality,http://www.ejhs.org/ (December 22, 2004), Blaise Astra Parker, review of Irreconcilable Differences?

Logged Off: Interviews, Reviews & Rants,http://home.iprimus.com.au/laurapalmer/ (November 17, 2006), review of Irreconcilable Differences?

Thomas C. Caramagno Home Page,http://www.caramagnobooks.com (November 17, 2006).

University of Nebraska Lincoln Department of English Web site,http://www.unl.edu/english/ (November 17, 2006), faculty profile of author.

WritersNet,http://www.writers.net/ (November 17, 2006), author's self-profile.