Bodies of Work: Essays [Paperback]

Kathy Acker (Author)

Book Description

Series: Essays | Publication Date: May 1, 1996

With enervating experimentation but touching directness, postmodern novelist Acker (Portrait of an Eve, 1992; My Mother: Demonology, 1993; etc.) explores art, politics, and being in her first essay collection. Subjects are various, ranging from William Burroughs to Goya to San Francisco; many of the pieces have been published previously (prefaces to books, articles in Marxism Today, the Critical Quarterly, etc.). Despite the variety of subjects and sources, the collection is neatly structured: Essays are grouped agreeably by subject-'On Art and Artists,' 'The City,' 'Bodies of Work.' Though Acker says she aims to 'destroy' the essay form, she does more of what the form openly invites--to tinker and confess. For example, she interweaves stories into a piece on artist Nayland Blake and applies Wittgenstein's 'language games' to bodybuilding: 'In a gym, verbal language or language whose purpose is meaning occurs, if at all, only at the edge of becoming lost.' But she also reveals her current weightlifting goals and describes a childhood desire to be a pirate. Not surprisingly, her most accessible works are those written for a wide audience, particularly an illuminating essay for the Village Voice on film director Peter Greenaway and a moving piece for the MMLA on copyright in the age of the Internet. In all, these essays are serious and reflective of a discontented mind bent on deconstruction. Some may find dreary her tale of patriarchy, dualism, and linearity of time; her elliptical tales and stark sentences may lack immediate clarity. For sure, her essays aren't casually authoritative like Updike's or reassuringly religious like Dillard's. Read Acker when you're patient and don't want to be comforted--or even satisfied. An unthreatening introduction to a vexing writer.-Kirkus

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

With enervating experimentation but touching directness, postmodern novelist Acker (Portrait of an Eve, 1992; My Mother: Demonology, 1993; etc.) explores art, politics, and being in her first essay collection. Subjects are various, ranging from William Burroughs to Goya to San Francisco; many of the pieces have been published previously (prefaces to books, articles in Marxism Today, the Critical Quarterly, etc.). Despite the variety of subjects and sources, the collection is neatly structured: Essays are grouped agreeably by subject--``On Art and Artists,'' ``The City,'' ``Bodies of Work.'' Though Acker says she aims to ``destroy'' the essay form, she does more of what the form openly invites--to tinker and confess. For example, she interweaves stories into a piece on artist Nayland Blake and applies Wittgenstein's ``language games'' to bodybuilding: ``In a gym, verbal language or language whose purpose is meaning occurs, if at all, only at the edge of becoming lost.'' But she also reveals her current weightlifting goals and describes a childhood desire to be a pirate. Not surprisingly, her most accessible works are those written for a wide audience, particularly an illuminating essay for the Village Voice on film director Peter Greenaway and a moving piece for the MMLA on copyright in the age of the Internet. In all, these essays are serious and reflective of a discontented mind bent on deconstruction. Some may find dreary her tale of patriarchy, dualism, and linearity of time; her elliptical tales and stark sentences may lack immediate clarity. For sure, her essays aren't casually authoritative like Updike's or reassuringly religious like Dillard's. Read Acker when you're patient and don't want to be comforted--or even satisfied. An unthreatening introduction to a vexing writer. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

"'Scarified sensibility, subversive intellect, and predatory wit make her a writer like no other' New York Times 'Acker may be the true mother of Brat Pack writers like Bret Easton Ellis, but there isn't disgust in her work... Transgression is never disgust - it is a way of surviving' Jeanette Winterson 'There's a haunting method to Acker's "madness": a rough, raw, erudite wail against the postmodern loss of meaning and emotion' Kirkus Reviews 'From the fringes, an outsider, Kathy Acker penetrated the heart of American culture with a superb and wicked intellectual force we had seen before' Sapphire" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852424257
• ISBN-13: 978-1852424251
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,968,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars On the Attack, June 11, 2001

By 

Mikel Parent (Waltham, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bodies of Work: Essays (Paperback)

Acker is well known for her curious brand of W.S. Burroughsian hypertextual fiction. However, in this essay collection, Acker experiments with the realm of non-fiction and pushes the essay to its limits. Her writing here is just as political, transgressive, and outrageous as it is in her novels. Acker takes on a wide breadth of subject matter including the importance of Peter Greenaway's films and the ideological underpinnings of fairytales. What makes Acker a cut above the rest of the postmoderns known for shock is the same thing that made Burroughs so great, a razor sharp intellect. A must for Acker-ites and a good place to start for those who want a glimpse into the interests that inform Acker's fiction. Bodies of Work is also a useful and concise essay collection for anyone interested in art, politics, and culture in the postmodern frame.

1.0 out of 5 stars Not a good sample, March 19, 2011

By 

Tia Laura "Mistress Literati" (Swampland, LA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bodies of Work (Paperback)

If you aren't familiar with Kathy Acker, I wouldn't recommend this as your introduction to her. If you enjoy Acker's fiction, I wouldn't recommend this book. Acker's fiction is irreverant, fun and thought provoking. This collection of her interviews and academic-style essays, however, just comes across as awkward. There's little to no connection between the essays collected here and Acker herself says in the introduction that she doesn't like this collection.

There are a few essays in this collection that are interesting to look at, but they can be found online for free instead of dealing with everything else in this collection.