Kathy Acker
author profile
born
April 18, 1947
died
November 30, 1997
gender
female
place of birth
New York, The United States
genre
Literature & Fiction
influences
Black Mountain School, William S. Burroughs, David Antin, French critical theory, fast food, pornography
about this author
Born of German-Jewish stock, Kathy Acker was brought up by her mother and stepfather (her natural father left her mother before Kathy was born) in a prosperous district of NY. At 18, she left home and worked as a stripper. Her involvement in the sex industry helped to make her a hit on the NY art schene, and she was photographed by the newly fashionable Robert Mapplethorpe. Preferring to be known simply as 'Acker' (the name she took from her first husband Robert, and which she continued to use even after a short-lived second marriage to composer Peter Gordon), she moved to London in the mid-eighties and stayed in Britain for five years.
Acker's writing is as difficult to classify into any particular genre as she herself was. She write...more
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avg rating: 3.66
| 1,796 ratings
| 196 reviews
| 38 distinct works
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7 fans
More books by Kathy Acker…
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Blood and Guts in High School: A Novel by Kathy Acker avg rating 3.60 — 457 ratings — published 1978 8 editions |
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Empire of the Senseless by Kathy Acker avg rating 3.67 — 207 ratings — published 1988 5 editions |
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Pussy, King of the Pirates by Kathy Acker avg rating 3.53 — 199 ratings — published 1996 3 editions |
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Great Expectations by Kathy Acker avg rating 3.51 — 185 ratings — published 1982 8 editions |
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Don Quixote: Which Was a Dream by Kathy Acker avg rating 3.76 — 138 ratings — published 1986 7 editions |
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My Mother: Demonology by Kathy Acker avg rating 3.89 — 87 ratings — published 1994 4 editions |
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In Memoriam to Identity by Kathy Acker avg rating 3.72 — 86 ratings — published 1990 6 editions |
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Portrait of an Eye: Three Novels - The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula by the Black Tarantula, I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac - Imaging, the Adult Life Toulouse by Kathy Acker avg rating 3.65 — 82 ratings — published 1992 3 editions |
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Literal Madness by Kathy Acker avg rating 3.95 — 55 ratings — published 1987 2 editions |
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Essential Acker: The Selected Writings of Kathy Acker by Kathy Acker avg rating 3.95 — 43 ratings — published 2002 |
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upcoming events
No scheduled events.
"i am a limitless series of natural disasters and all of these disasters have been unnaturally repressed."
— Kathy Acker (Pussy, King of the Pirates)
— Kathy Acker (Pussy, King of the Pirates)
"Death is another bar which lies several steps below the normal world. I'm at its threshold, but not yet in it. Its doorway id doorless."
— Kathy Acker (Pussy, King of the Pirates)
— Kathy Acker (Pussy, King of the Pirates)
tags:
death
5 people liked it
"Love goes away when your mind goes away and then you're someone else."
— Kathy Acker (Blood and Guts in High School)
— Kathy Acker (Blood and Guts in High School)
topics mentioning this author
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Fiction: * Dark Fiction MUST Reads | 98 | 259 | 3 days ago, 01:04PM |




















