In 'Eat Your Mind: The Radical Life and Work of Kathy Acker,' Jason McBride follows a writer who was easy to romanticize, hard to read, impossible to know.
tells McBride. “But the fact is, she got up every f— day and wrote. It was her religion. That’s why she was here. That’s awesome. That’s awesome for a woman. It’s awesome for a woman to say, ‘I have that,’ then deliver.”Eileen Myles, the scholar, author and UC San Diego professor emeritus, gathers up ‘Pathetic Literature’ across the centuries and curates a new genre.
McBride is a card-carrying member of the Acker cult. But he’s also ready to acknowledge her problematic moments, of which there were more than a few. Acker once called poets “the white N—s of this Earth” and described herself, being Jewish, as a “woman of color.” McBride plays interference: “Empathy has its limits; it can be misguided. All trauma is not created equal,” he writes. “But Acker herself never really acknowledged this, and refused to let it impinge on her freedom as an artist.
It’s shocking to learn that this is McBride’s first book. He’s magnanimous when it comes to Acker’s critics, and he can paint a picture of New York’s queer art scene almost as vividly as Cynthia Carr in “Fire in the Belly,” her biography of the artistAcker in Austin, Texas, in 1995. “Eat Your Mind” effectively interlaces Acker’s books with the events in her life. Even more crucially, it places her in the grand scheme of letters, tying her ideas to predecessors including Julia Kristeva and
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The fall of Kathy Hoffman is a huge warning for Arizona DemocratsOpinion: Kathy Hoffman narrowly lost her education superintendent seat. That should set off warning bells among Arizona Democrats: Don't get cocky.
Read more »
5 Pizzas That Chefs Say Are Their Favorite — Eat This Not ThatFrom gourmet classics to out-of-the-box originals, here are a couple of chefs' favorite pizzas and some tips on how to make them.
Read more »
Something Really Weird Happens When a Cane Toad Sits Down to EatContrary to popular belief, it's not possible for you to swallow your own tongue.
Read more »
Social Sightings: Five Things to Eat and Drink When It's Cold OutsideThese will warm you up.
Read more »
College food pantry works to ensure students and their families have enough to eat“We were just talking with our team about the difference in the price of a carton of eggs from when we started our budget and started planning the supplement to where things are now. It’s a dramatic difference!” macfox13
Read more »