Blood and Guts in High School: A Novel“Kathy Acker’s writing is virtuoso, maddening, crazy, so sexy, so painful, and beaten out of a wild heart that nothing can tame. Acker is a landmark writer.” —Jeanette Winterson, New York Times–bestselling author A masterpiece of surrealist fiction, steeped in controversy upon its first publication in 1984, Blood and Guts in High School is the book that established Kathy Acker as the preeminent voice of post-punk feminism. With 2017 marking the 70th anniversary of her birth, as well as the 10th year since her death this transgressive work of philosophical, political, and sexual insight—with a new introduction by Chris Kraus—continues to become more relevant than ever before. In the Mexican city of Merida, ten-year-old Janey lives with Johnny—her “boyfriend, brother, sister, money, amusement, and father” —until he leaves her for another woman. Bereft, Janey travels to New York City, plunging into an underworld of gangs and prostitution. After escaping imprisonment, she flees to Tangiers where she meets Jean Genet, and they begin a torrid affair that will lead Janey to her demise. Fantastical, sensual, and fearlessly radical, this hallucinatory collage is both a comic and tragic portrait of erotic awakening. “The girl in this story had more agency and voice than any girl I’d ever read or would read in my entire life.” —Lydia Yuknavitch, national bestselling author of Thrust “No writer I know is more audacious than Kathy Acker, whose anarchic wit drives a thoroughgoing attack on conventions and complacencies of all sorts. Not unlike Gertrude Stein in her day, Acker gives us a different way to look at the uses to which language is put.” —Lynne Tillman, author of Men and Apparitions |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 41
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... Father who she regards as her " boyfriend , brother , sister , money , amusement and father . " These pages the last to be composed - were written in the wake of her and Gordon's separation in September 1978 : " Mr. Smith was trying to ...
... Father who she regards as her " boyfriend , brother , sister , money , amusement and father . " These pages the last to be composed - were written in the wake of her and Gordon's separation in September 1978 : " Mr. Smith was trying to ...
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... father for everything and regarded her father as boyfriend , brother , sister , money , amusement , and father . Janey Smith was ten years old , living with her father in Merida , the main city in the Yucatan . Janey and Mr Smith had ...
... father for everything and regarded her father as boyfriend , brother , sister , money , amusement , and father . Janey Smith was ten years old , living with her father in Merida , the main city in the Yucatan . Janey and Mr Smith had ...
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... Father ( thinking . Confusion's beginning ) : I don't know . Janey : I'm not crazy . ( Realizing he's madly in love with the other woman . ) I don't mean to act like this . ( Realizing more and more how madly in love he is . Blurts it ...
... Father ( thinking . Confusion's beginning ) : I don't know . Janey : I'm not crazy . ( Realizing he's madly in love with the other woman . ) I don't mean to act like this . ( Realizing more and more how madly in love he is . Blurts it ...
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A Novel Kathy Acker. Father ( ignorant of this huge mess ) : We just slept together for the first time tonight . Janey : You told me you were just friends like me and Peter ( Janey's stuffed lamb ) and you weren't ... father My cunt red ugh .
A Novel Kathy Acker. Father ( ignorant of this huge mess ) : We just slept together for the first time tonight . Janey : You told me you were just friends like me and Peter ( Janey's stuffed lamb ) and you weren't ... father My cunt red ugh .
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A Novel Kathy Acker. Father : I know , Janey . Janey ( she hasn't won that round ; she threw betrayal in his face and he didn't totally run away from it ) : Are you going to move in with Sally ? ( She asks the worst possibility . ) Father ...
A Novel Kathy Acker. Father : I know , Janey . Janey ( she hasn't won that round ; she threw betrayal in his face and he didn't totally run away from it ) : Are you going to move in with Sally ? ( She asks the worst possibility . ) Father ...
Contents
The Scorpions | |
Outside high school | |
The mysterious Mr Linker | |
Translating | |
A journey to the end of the night | |
In Egypt the | |
A second of time | |
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Common terms and phrases
Acker anymore asked beautiful beaver Bill Blood and Guts body boomp boomp Café Catullus cause cock cooky cops crazy cunt dead death Dimwit dreams East River East Village ERICA JONG everything eyes Ezafe Fat Lady Father feel Fritzy gaol garbage Genet girl grey hand happening hate Hawthorne hell Hester hippy horrible huge hurt inside Janey Janey's Jean Genet Kathy Acker kill knew Knockwurst legs live look Lousy Mindless Salesgirl menstrual extraction Merida mind never night pain President Carter prison rock-n-roll Sahih scared scream shit Slave Trader sleep slum snow someone stick stinks stop streets SUCK ME SUCK talk about Sally Tangier tell there's thing tiny told turned walk walls want to fuck what's whore wild woman women است این پنجره جانی خانه سیاه هست