Flamboyance by Jack Parlett

Flamboyance - a quality often underestimated or dismissed - offers a way of being in the world, and in his fascinating book, Jack Parlett argues for its value in everybody's lives as an empowering and creative force, illuminating the ways in which flamboyance is a fundamental aspect of human conduct that both marks and transcends difference. Taking in an eclectic array of examples, from the orange flowers of Dungeness to a Parisian gay bar, and populated by such figures as Oscar Wilde, James Baldwin, Elton John, Amy Winehouse and Chappell Roan, this is a book about flamboyant art and the art of flamboyance. And having both aspired to it and rejected it, Jack also recounts his personal relationship to flamboyance while also finding new meanings of the word, exploring its surprises and contradictions, and reconnecting with its radical power.