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A staggeringly unique and insightful exploration of the anus, challenging us to move away from paranoid phallocentric critical examination, towards inclusion.

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´A serious work of theory.´
The Guardian

´Jonathan Allan has come up with a whole theory of the arsehole.´
Dazed and Confused
In a resolute deviation from the governing totality of the phallus, Reading from Behind offers a radical reorientation of the anus and its role in the collective imaginary.

It exposes what is deeply hidden in our cultural production, and challenges the authority of paranoid, critical thought.

A beautiful work that invites us beyond the rejection of phallocentricism, to a new way of being and thinking about sex, culture and identity.

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Introduction: No Wrong Doors: An Entryway

1. Anal Theory, or Reading from Behind

2. Orienting Virginity

3. Topping from the Bottom: Anne Tenino´s Frat Boy and Toppy

4. Orienting Brokeback Mountain

5. Spanking Colonialism

6. Unlocking Delmira Agustini´s ´El Intruso´

7. Shameful Matrophilia in Do¤a Herlinda y su hijo

8. Vengeful Vidal

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´Allan´s work is, in a sense, groundbreaking ... opening up a whole new field of study ... Allan´s book should be required reading.´
The Independent

´A serious work of theory, exploring the backside as a site of humiliation and disgust.´
The Guardian

´Assholes are like opinions: Everyone has them - but no one has more opinions on assholes than Jonathan Allan.´
VICE

´Jonathan Allan has come up with a whole theory of the arsehole.´
Dazed and Confused

´Looks at the subject of the ´booty´ with remarkable enthusiasm.´
Attitude

´Entertaining and informative.´
Merrill Cole, author of The Other Orpheus: A Poetics of Modern Homosexuality

´A remarkably fresh and original contribution to contemporary queer studies. I am confident that, with Reading from Behind , Allan will emerge as a widely respected critical voice of his generation.´
David William Foster, author of Sexual Textualties: Essays on Queer/ing Latin American Writing

´Allan reorients studies of anality.´
Todd Reeser, author of Masculinities in Theory

´Readers outside the academy will be rewarded with a fine example of textual analysis-and, possibly, a new appreciation of the anus as the most democratic and empowering of our body parts.´
Literary Review of Canada
The Independent

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