My Impossible Soul
The Metamodern Music of Sufjan Stevens
Will be published approx. on 5. February 2026
Book
Hardback
272 pages
979-8-216-36554-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book is the first edited collection dedicated to the work of "canonically" metamodern multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens.
Contributors critically examine Stevens' output and impact across the relevant fields of musicology, literature, queer theory, performance studies, religious studies, and cultural studies. The volume provides the first international and interdisciplinary analysis of the music, lyrics, performance process and cultural impact of Sufjan Stevens, through the framework of metamodernism.
Contributors critically examine Stevens' output and impact across the relevant fields of musicology, literature, queer theory, performance studies, religious studies, and cultural studies. The volume provides the first international and interdisciplinary analysis of the music, lyrics, performance process and cultural impact of Sufjan Stevens, through the framework of metamodernism.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
549 gr
ISBN-13
979-8-216-36554-9 (9798216365549)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Tom Drayton | Joshua Kalin Busman | Maren Haynes Marchesini
My Impossible Soul
The Metamodern Music of Sufjan Stevens
E-Book
02/2026
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€100.99
Available for download
Tom Drayton | Joshua Kalin Busman | Maren Haynes Marchesini
My Impossible Soul
The Metamodern Music of Sufjan Stevens
E-Book
02/2026
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€100.99
Available for download
Persons
Tom Drayton is Senior Lecturer in Theatre at The University of East London, UK.
Joshua Kalin Busman is Associate Professor of Music and Assistant Dean of the Esther G. Maynor Honors College at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, USA.
Maren Haynes Marchesini holds a PhD in ethnomusicology and studies Christian music, ritual, ethics, and identity formation in contexts ranging from American megachurches to progressive and post-Christian organizations.
Greg Dember is an independent researcher and co-founder of the popular culture website, What Is Metamodern?. He is the author of Say Hello to Metamodernism: Understanding Today's Culture of Ironesty, Felt Experience and Empathic Reflexivity (2024).
Joshua Kalin Busman is Associate Professor of Music and Assistant Dean of the Esther G. Maynor Honors College at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, USA.
Maren Haynes Marchesini holds a PhD in ethnomusicology and studies Christian music, ritual, ethics, and identity formation in contexts ranging from American megachurches to progressive and post-Christian organizations.
Greg Dember is an independent researcher and co-founder of the popular culture website, What Is Metamodern?. He is the author of Say Hello to Metamodernism: Understanding Today's Culture of Ironesty, Felt Experience and Empathic Reflexivity (2024).
Content
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgements
"Words are Futile Devices": An Introduction
Tom Drayton (The University of East London, UK) & Greg Dember (independent scholar)
PART I: FAITH
1. "I Heard a Voice in My Mind": Sacred Self-Protagonizing and the Oscillations of American Evangelicals
Joshua K. Busman (University of North Carolina at Pembroke, USA)
2. A Metamodern Analysis of Spirituality Through Music in Sufjan Stevens' Cover of Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells"
Libby Myers (Griffith University, Australia)
PART II: LOVE
3. "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross": Sufjan Stevens - in Search of (Queer) Faith
Ka Ki Samuel Wan (Robert Menzies College, Australia)
4. "Saying It Out Loud Is Hard": Sufjan Stevens, Queer Interpretation and Fan Reception
Heather Salus (independent scholar)
5. "Make Me an Offer I Cannot Refuse:" New Sincerity and the Hermeneutics of Platitude in Sufjan Stevens' The Ascension
Paria Rahmani (University of North Texas, USA)
PART III: AMERICANA
6. America, My Beloved: "A Picture of the Scenery" in Sufjan Stevens' National Mythology
Tanya Jones (Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Australia)
7. "Christmas in July": A Musicological Analysis of Metamodernist Impulses in Sufjan Stevens' Christmas Collections
Daniel White (University of Huddersfield, UK)
8. Sufjan Stevens and the Metamodern Holiday
Michael Blouin (Milligan University, USA)
PART IV: DEATH
9. The Persistence of the "Murdering Ghost": Sufjan Stevens and the Hauntology of (Im)Possibilities
Debakanya Haldar (University of Florida, USA)
10. Genuflecting Ghost: Sufjan Stevens' Javelin as Metamodern Mystical Memento Mori
Joel Mayward (George Fox University, USA)
11. Sufjan Stevens' Impossible Soul: Metamodern Intimacy, Polysubjectivity, and Plausible Deniability
Maren Haynes Marchesini (independent scholar)
About the Contributors
Index
Acknowledgements
"Words are Futile Devices": An Introduction
Tom Drayton (The University of East London, UK) & Greg Dember (independent scholar)
PART I: FAITH
1. "I Heard a Voice in My Mind": Sacred Self-Protagonizing and the Oscillations of American Evangelicals
Joshua K. Busman (University of North Carolina at Pembroke, USA)
2. A Metamodern Analysis of Spirituality Through Music in Sufjan Stevens' Cover of Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells"
Libby Myers (Griffith University, Australia)
PART II: LOVE
3. "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross": Sufjan Stevens - in Search of (Queer) Faith
Ka Ki Samuel Wan (Robert Menzies College, Australia)
4. "Saying It Out Loud Is Hard": Sufjan Stevens, Queer Interpretation and Fan Reception
Heather Salus (independent scholar)
5. "Make Me an Offer I Cannot Refuse:" New Sincerity and the Hermeneutics of Platitude in Sufjan Stevens' The Ascension
Paria Rahmani (University of North Texas, USA)
PART III: AMERICANA
6. America, My Beloved: "A Picture of the Scenery" in Sufjan Stevens' National Mythology
Tanya Jones (Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Australia)
7. "Christmas in July": A Musicological Analysis of Metamodernist Impulses in Sufjan Stevens' Christmas Collections
Daniel White (University of Huddersfield, UK)
8. Sufjan Stevens and the Metamodern Holiday
Michael Blouin (Milligan University, USA)
PART IV: DEATH
9. The Persistence of the "Murdering Ghost": Sufjan Stevens and the Hauntology of (Im)Possibilities
Debakanya Haldar (University of Florida, USA)
10. Genuflecting Ghost: Sufjan Stevens' Javelin as Metamodern Mystical Memento Mori
Joel Mayward (George Fox University, USA)
11. Sufjan Stevens' Impossible Soul: Metamodern Intimacy, Polysubjectivity, and Plausible Deniability
Maren Haynes Marchesini (independent scholar)
About the Contributors
Index