Bodies of Work

Kathy Acker is widely considered one of the most important writers of the late 20th century. While her novels have become cult classics, establishing her influence on postmodernists, feminists, performers, punks and students of literature, her essays are available only in this comprehensive collection.

Bodies of Work maps a wide-ranging cultural territory. From art and cinema, through politics, bodybuilding, science fiction and the city, they reflect and challenge the times in which we live. Matching guts with theory, anger with compassion, Acker offers original views on such subjects as diverse as the films of Peter Greenaway, the paintings of Goya, the writings of Marquis de Sade and copyright in the age of the internet. Collectively, these essays offer the reader a journey into provocation and delight.

Scarified sensibility, subversive intellect, and predatory wit make her a writer like no other’ New York Times

"Kathy Acker's trancelike writing style peels away the layers of reality.... Acker is an expert at evoking this shadowy realm of belief and emotion where the rules of cause and effect do not necessarily apply." San Francisco Chronicle