false 321951 2 With enervating experimentation but touching directness, postmodern novelist Acker (<I>Portrait of an Eve</I>, 1992; <I>My Mother: Demonology</I>, 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 <I>Marxism Today, the Critical Quarterly</I>, 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 <I>Village Voice</I> 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.-<I>Kirkus</I> 17932 1996 Bodies of Work: Essays total:32|5:17|4:11|3:3|2:1|1:0| 32 140 59 4 5 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Dec 16 14:16:14 -0800 2007 Thu Jul 03 03:56:22 -0700 2008 :
To write is to do other than announce oneself as an enclosed individual. Even the most narcissist of texts, say Nabokov's Lolita, reaches ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 1998 Wed Feb 06 13:51:47 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 06 13:54:51 -0800 2008 5 0 true false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Mar 20 19:36:30 -0700 2007 Tue Mar 20 19:37:52 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Fri Jan 30 15:15:04 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 30 15:15:09 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 11 23:06:44 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 23:06:45 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Oct 17 14:55:58 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 23:35:27 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 23:35:35 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Sep 23 22:51:24 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 22:51:24 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Sep 19 13:28:50 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 13:28:50 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Sep 17 02:21:41 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 02:21:41 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Sep 05 14:44:38 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 14:44:48 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Aug 05 10:43:40 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 10:43:40 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Aug 03 11:30:12 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 11:30:19 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Aug 30 09:42:17 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 03:20:09 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 09:42:17 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Jun 14 01:17:08 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 01:17:08 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue May 05 01:03:23 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 01:03:23 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jun 15 00:11:59 -0700 2009 Mon May 04 03:23:02 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 00:11:59 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Apr 20 04:45:44 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 20 04:45:44 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Apr 16 20:47:49 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 16 20:47:49 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Mar 27 22:10:50 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 22:11:04 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Mar 18 17:35:24 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 18 17:35:24 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=16155