angrangy's review
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Ehrlich gesagt habe ich Kathy Acker vor dem Buch noch nicht gekannt. Leider kam sie hier auch nicht sonderlich sympathisch rüber, eher egozentrisch und toxisch. Die Bewertung ihrer Person tut hier im Review aber erstmal nichts zu Sache. Chris Kraus kann nichts dafür, wie nicht-sozial Acker war. Dafür kann Kraus etwas für die Rezeption dieser feministischen Schriftstellerin. Die Erzählweise war leider etwas durcheinander, ich hätte mir einen stringenteren Faden durch die Timeline gewünscht. Es muss eine immense Arbeit gewesen sein alle damaligen Bekannten Ackers zu kontaktieren, ihre Aufzeichnungen durchzuforsten, zusätzlich zu den Archiven. Das spiegelt sich auch in den Quellenangaben wieder, die positiv zu erwähnen sind.
Tldr; ich habe mich durch diese Biographie gequält und kam einfach nicht voran.
Tldr; ich habe mich durch diese Biographie gequält und kam einfach nicht voran.
dansumption's review
3.0
25 years ago, I tried to read Blood and Guts in High School, but didn't get far. A mixture of anger, violence, sex, and angry violent sex. I was terrified and repelled by it.
Chris Kraus's biography of Kathy Acker describes the life of the woman behind this and other books which exploded onto the literary scene in the 1980s. It's not a pretty tale and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Acker comes across as needy, insecure, damaged, and constantly seeking validation. It's an interesting and rather sad read, particularly as, towards the end of her life, Acker seems to be finding a new and more fulfilling role as a teacher and mentor to younger women.
Chris Kraus's biography of Kathy Acker describes the life of the woman behind this and other books which exploded onto the literary scene in the 1980s. It's not a pretty tale and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Acker comes across as needy, insecure, damaged, and constantly seeking validation. It's an interesting and rather sad read, particularly as, towards the end of her life, Acker seems to be finding a new and more fulfilling role as a teacher and mentor to younger women.
tricky's review
4.0
I read Kathy Acker’s Blood and Guts in High School, not long after it was released in Australia and to put it mildly the book had a profound impact on me. Here was this young woman, emerging from the safe suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia, who was several worlds away from what she was reading. What was in the pages was violent, sexual, explicit drawings and covered areas that were quite simply taboo in my world at that time. It was nothing I had ever come across before and was my first real foray outside of mainstream fiction. What was illuminating to me was a woman wrote this brutal and brazen book. The very few female authors I knew at that time wrote nice fiction. Even though I regret not keeping a copy of the book, it is a novel that I recall rather vividly.
It was a nice surprise to be allowed an opportunity to read a biography on Kathy Acker’s life, as I can be honest and say I knew little about her.
Kraus commences the book with a group of Acker’s former friends trying to determine how to disperse her ashes. It is poignant as you realise that in life Acker was a formidable character and in death she continues to influence lives of those she knew.
The first time we meet the living Acker is as a 24 year old, living in New York who has hooked up with Neufeld. To fuel their writing habits they perform at a live sex show to earn money. The reason for commencing Acker’s story here is that Kraus can identify Acker as actually being there at that time. For as Kraus unpicks Acker’s life it becomes apparent that Acker was loose with the truth about her associations with people and where she was living. Kraus does try to uncover Acker’s teenage years and was able to ascertain that while at high school Acker was cavorting with the likes Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, Carolee Schneeeman and attending Jean Genet’s plays and films. Knowing this helps you understand why Acker is estranged from her family and why they may not have approved of her lifestyle choices.
Klaus and her research team do a marvellous job in tracking, plotting and pulling together Acker’s life over the next couple of decades. It must have been incredibly difficult to piece it all together. What I liked about Kraus’s research is that achieves several things. It placed you well and truly into the world Acker lived in. With the creatives, the poverty and the struggle to have your artistic voice heard. You are given a real strong sense of the major players and what it was like to be an artist. Then you have the collection of Acker’s work and how it is woven in to give further context. The linking of Acker’s writings to where she was located, what she was trying to achieve, who she was associating with is quite extraordinary. When coupled with the critical analysis of Acker’s work you are certainly given a holistic view.
I really enjoyed this book. Kraus and her team of researchers have done a really incredible job in bringing all the strands of Acker’s life and work together. Klaus has written an engaging narrative that really makes the reading compelling and honest. Towards the end when examining brand Acker I found really interesting. Posing the question as to whether the character Acker had created was a hindrance or made her iconic?
For those who are students of Acker’s work and those who were in her creative circle they will find this an invaluable book that provides both a historical and critical analysis of Acker’s life and work.
For people like me, who have encountered Acker’s work and have no other context, this book provides an in depth look at a complex woman and what drove her to be an author.
A well-researched and great character study of Kathy Acker.
It was a nice surprise to be allowed an opportunity to read a biography on Kathy Acker’s life, as I can be honest and say I knew little about her.
Kraus commences the book with a group of Acker’s former friends trying to determine how to disperse her ashes. It is poignant as you realise that in life Acker was a formidable character and in death she continues to influence lives of those she knew.
The first time we meet the living Acker is as a 24 year old, living in New York who has hooked up with Neufeld. To fuel their writing habits they perform at a live sex show to earn money. The reason for commencing Acker’s story here is that Kraus can identify Acker as actually being there at that time. For as Kraus unpicks Acker’s life it becomes apparent that Acker was loose with the truth about her associations with people and where she was living. Kraus does try to uncover Acker’s teenage years and was able to ascertain that while at high school Acker was cavorting with the likes Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, Carolee Schneeeman and attending Jean Genet’s plays and films. Knowing this helps you understand why Acker is estranged from her family and why they may not have approved of her lifestyle choices.
Klaus and her research team do a marvellous job in tracking, plotting and pulling together Acker’s life over the next couple of decades. It must have been incredibly difficult to piece it all together. What I liked about Kraus’s research is that achieves several things. It placed you well and truly into the world Acker lived in. With the creatives, the poverty and the struggle to have your artistic voice heard. You are given a real strong sense of the major players and what it was like to be an artist. Then you have the collection of Acker’s work and how it is woven in to give further context. The linking of Acker’s writings to where she was located, what she was trying to achieve, who she was associating with is quite extraordinary. When coupled with the critical analysis of Acker’s work you are certainly given a holistic view.
I really enjoyed this book. Kraus and her team of researchers have done a really incredible job in bringing all the strands of Acker’s life and work together. Klaus has written an engaging narrative that really makes the reading compelling and honest. Towards the end when examining brand Acker I found really interesting. Posing the question as to whether the character Acker had created was a hindrance or made her iconic?
For those who are students of Acker’s work and those who were in her creative circle they will find this an invaluable book that provides both a historical and critical analysis of Acker’s life and work.
For people like me, who have encountered Acker’s work and have no other context, this book provides an in depth look at a complex woman and what drove her to be an author.
A well-researched and great character study of Kathy Acker.
cate_ninetails's review
4.0
This study on the deeply troubled 'post punk plagiarist' Kathy Acker is at times as fraught as it's subject. Far from simply bestowing feminist accolades, the author delves deeper to find the privileged, opportunistic and defiantly promiscuous woman at the core of the publicly accepted image. Reading about her exploits feels at times overwhelmingly sad as she seems to struggle finding love in any form whatsoever from a string of men that she is desperate to constantly impress. The interviews from friends and exes are telling, painting the artist as woefully tone deaf, a selfish waif using or discarding people at a brisk clip and unaware or uncaring about the messes in her wake.
Sex sells, but like anything oft repeated, Acker's trademark abrasive shock humour eventually waned. She died practically alone in a Tijuana hospice, and now is barely a footnote amongst the peers of her time. That said, the importance of what Acker achieved when she was in the ascendant can't be denied. By what seems like sheer will alone, she grasped for and snatched her career with both hands. Right from the start she knew who she was and what she was meant to be and do. No matter her perceived faults, her drive is enviable and the legend that she created, immortal.
Sex sells, but like anything oft repeated, Acker's trademark abrasive shock humour eventually waned. She died practically alone in a Tijuana hospice, and now is barely a footnote amongst the peers of her time. That said, the importance of what Acker achieved when she was in the ascendant can't be denied. By what seems like sheer will alone, she grasped for and snatched her career with both hands. Right from the start she knew who she was and what she was meant to be and do. No matter her perceived faults, her drive is enviable and the legend that she created, immortal.
blankgarden's review
3.0
3,5 stars. My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2017/11/30/breaking-through-memories-into-desire/
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