"Quan Barry embarks on discursive inquiry in Controvertibles. She lifts familiar cultural moments out of their usual settings and repositions them in front of new, disparate backdrops, endeavoring to understand the essence of modern experience. Doug Flutie's famous Hail Mary pass and Rutger Hauer's role in Blade Runner are contextualized within the Tibetan Book of the Dead, while an ultrasound reading acts as a meditation on the limits of critical theory. Samantha Smith, the Shroud of Turin, Igor Stravinsky, Bob Beamon's world-record-setting long jump, the largo from Handel's Xerxes, the resurrection of Lazarus, the Salem Witch Trials, and the groundbreaking 1984 Apple Computer Super Bowl commercial are just some of the people and objects Barry uses to explore the multifaceted nature of being."--BOOK JACKET.