What do you think?
Rate this book
Up Your Ass or From the Cradle to the Boat or The Big Suck or Up from the Slime, & A Young Girl's Primer on How to Attain to the Leisure Class
"This play was lost in 1967, banished to the nether regions of Andy Warhol's New York studio, the Factory. It was found again quite some years later under some lighting equipment in a silver trunk belonging to Billy Name. The Andy Warhol Museum has (or had) it on display. Several people now own copies...
"Excerpt from the dedication:
'I dedicate this play to Me;
a continuous source of strength and guidance, and without whose unflinching loyalty, devotion and faith, this play could never have been written.
Additional acknowledgements: Myself-
For proofreading, editorial comment, helpful hints, criticism and suggestions and an exquisite job of typing.
I -
for Independent research into men, married women and other degenerates...'
"The main character is Bongi Perez. She is a hustler and a panhandler. She is also a lesbian. Bongi Perez says: 'I'm so female, I'm subversive.'
She loiters around the street, making money, cruising broads ('lowdown, funky broads'), and generally spouting witticisms and pontificating on the pitfalls of an American male dominated society. She encounters various characters as she goes about her day. One such character is Ginger who catches Bongi's eye as she's searching around the sidewalk for a misplaced turd she needs for a dinner party that she's hosting for two male friends later. Bongi asks Ginger if she's going to serve her guests the turd. Ginger replies, 'You're impossible! I assure you I have no intention, whatsoever, of serving my guests a turd. The turd's for me. Everybody knows that men have much more respect for women who are good at lapping up shit.' Another character is Mrs. Arthur Hazlitt, a housewife who ends up strangling her child with his super glue erection(I shudder to think). These are only two in what seems to be a whole plethora of personalities who have exchanges of one sort or another with Bongi."
(Taken from http://everything2.com/title/Up%2520Y...)
In 2000, 35 years after being written, the drama premiered on stage in San Francisco, CA. (taken from http://search.sfweekly.com/2000-01-19...)
"Excerpt from the dedication:
'I dedicate this play to Me;
a continuous source of strength and guidance, and without whose unflinching loyalty, devotion and faith, this play could never have been written.
Additional acknowledgements: Myself-
For proofreading, editorial comment, helpful hints, criticism and suggestions and an exquisite job of typing.
I -
for Independent research into men, married women and other degenerates...'
"The main character is Bongi Perez. She is a hustler and a panhandler. She is also a lesbian. Bongi Perez says: 'I'm so female, I'm subversive.'
She loiters around the street, making money, cruising broads ('lowdown, funky broads'), and generally spouting witticisms and pontificating on the pitfalls of an American male dominated society. She encounters various characters as she goes about her day. One such character is Ginger who catches Bongi's eye as she's searching around the sidewalk for a misplaced turd she needs for a dinner party that she's hosting for two male friends later. Bongi asks Ginger if she's going to serve her guests the turd. Ginger replies, 'You're impossible! I assure you I have no intention, whatsoever, of serving my guests a turd. The turd's for me. Everybody knows that men have much more respect for women who are good at lapping up shit.' Another character is Mrs. Arthur Hazlitt, a housewife who ends up strangling her child with his super glue erection(I shudder to think). These are only two in what seems to be a whole plethora of personalities who have exchanges of one sort or another with Bongi."
(Taken from http://everything2.com/title/Up%2520Y...)
In 2000, 35 years after being written, the drama premiered on stage in San Francisco, CA. (taken from http://search.sfweekly.com/2000-01-19...)
61 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1965
14 people are currently reading
977 people want to read
About the author
Valerie Solanas
6 books233 followersValerie Jean Solanas was an American radical feminist writer best known for shooting the artist Andy Warhol in 1968. She wrote the SCUM Manifesto, an essay on patriarchal culture advocating the creation of an all-female society.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
Read
May 23, 2022C’est drôle et caustique, la préface de Wendy Delorme apporte un éclairage vraiment bienvenu au texte (et à Solanas en général) et ça se lit en 30 min au soleil. J’approuve sainement.
April 19, 2018
It is incredible how relevant it is today.
October 3, 2018
BONGI: Very fucky world we live in. My only consolation’s that I’m me – vivacious, dynamic, single and a queer.
In this world men treat women like they are practically brain dead. They also sexually assault them while giving them back handed compliments. The dialogue and captures Solanas' disgust with men.
RUSSELL: A son to carry my name down through the ages – Fizzlebaum! I’d give anything to be able to give birth, the crowning achievement, what every woman’s aching for.
BONGI: I’m not.
I swear all of Bongi's responses were on point! Solanas paints men as blind idiots who crave women in every way possible while also treating them like garbage. This was hilarious. Everything was spot on.
ARTHUR: Oh, I don’t know. If he didn’t have one, he might grow up and be a faggot or something.
BONGI: That’d be just as well; let the guys ram each other in the ass and leave the women alone.
In this world men treat women like they are practically brain dead. They also sexually assault them while giving them back handed compliments. The dialogue and captures Solanas' disgust with men.
RUSSELL: A son to carry my name down through the ages – Fizzlebaum! I’d give anything to be able to give birth, the crowning achievement, what every woman’s aching for.
BONGI: I’m not.
I swear all of Bongi's responses were on point! Solanas paints men as blind idiots who crave women in every way possible while also treating them like garbage. This was hilarious. Everything was spot on.
ARTHUR: Oh, I don’t know. If he didn’t have one, he might grow up and be a faggot or something.
BONGI: That’d be just as well; let the guys ram each other in the ass and leave the women alone.
September 19, 2022
The people that get it, get it and the people that don’t, don‘t - basta.
November 5, 2022
3.5, rounded up.
There’s an incredible scene in this around dinner with two pretentious assholes and a sex worker that is so insanely modern it’s eerie. It’s perfect satire of trad liberalism that has somehow looped back around in recent years.
The rest is Solanas’s narcissistic ramblings with herself: a confident, gender-less being and the role-aware others. Despite it feeling like Solanas vs an exaggerated “other,” I get what she’s going for, and respect it immensely as feminist text. I mean, wouldn’t you shoot Andy Warhol over this? ...Maybe not, but she starts the script impassioned.
You can feel the anger in this, and while her mental break was soon to follow it’s self-publication, Solanas is right many times in this pile of trash. We can agree it's worth something under there.
There’s an incredible scene in this around dinner with two pretentious assholes and a sex worker that is so insanely modern it’s eerie. It’s perfect satire of trad liberalism that has somehow looped back around in recent years.
The rest is Solanas’s narcissistic ramblings with herself: a confident, gender-less being and the role-aware others. Despite it feeling like Solanas vs an exaggerated “other,” I get what she’s going for, and respect it immensely as feminist text. I mean, wouldn’t you shoot Andy Warhol over this? ...Maybe not, but she starts the script impassioned.
You can feel the anger in this, and while her mental break was soon to follow it’s self-publication, Solanas is right many times in this pile of trash. We can agree it's worth something under there.
August 29, 2025
I would love to see Valerie solanas translated to Malayalam for the sheer pleasure of watching the Victorian moralists , who dominates the Malayalam literary world, getting offended .
May 15, 2023
mixed feelings about this one, akin to Kathy Acker. weird, queer, unapologetic, repulsive, political, satirical. it was a lot for such a short play. maybe a bit too punk for me.
August 23, 2023
It’s like, not good, but we love Valerie anyway
Read
April 16, 2024Sotto acidi¿
January 1, 2025
Intéressant mais honnêtement trop meta pour moi. À relire en anglais parce que je pense que la tradal ne lui rend pas justice.
1/5
1/5
February 12, 2025
This is what living in bushwick feels like
June 20, 2022
Bonzi est lesbienne, travailleuse du sexe et pauvre. A la rue, elle regarde se succéder les passant-es, qui parfois lui donnent la réplique. Les femmes qu'elle interpelle grossièrement l'ignorent la plupart du temps et ne font que passer, mais d'autres personnages s'attardent. Au fil de conversations parfois absurdes, toujours ironiques, l'autrice met en lumière la violence de l'hétéropatriarcat.
J'ai trouvé cette lecture grinçante. Certains passages font rire, mais dans l'ensemble elle m'a surtout donné envie de m'insurger avec le personnage de Bonzi/avec Solanas. Les hommes que Bonzi rencontre sont tous imbus d'eux-mêmes, impatients de vanter leurs prouesses sexuelles et d'obtenir les faveurs du personnage. Leur sexisme éhonté n'est tolérable que parce que Bonzi se moque ouvertement d'eux, d'une façon très libératrice. J'ai d'ailleurs trouvé particulièrement drôle de les voir s'offusquer quand Bonzi leur annonce que le sexe, c'est son travail, et qu'il a un tarif. Bien sûr, puisqu'ils sont de tels dieux du sexe, pourquoi les ferait-elle payer ?
Mais le personnage le plus douloureusement insupportable est sans doute Ginger. Ginger, qui vient à la rencontre de Bonzi en lui expliquant qu'elle recherche sa "crotte", parce qu'elle avait l'intention de la manger le soir même au dîner devant ses invités masculins. Pour Ginger, il est essentiel de retrouver sa crotte, parce que, comme elle le dit, les hommes préfèrent les femmes capables de "manger de la merde" (en anglais, un des sens de "to eat shit" est de se soumettre, d'accepter d'être inférieur). Tout au long de leur conversation, Ginger expose les mille et une façons dont elle s'abaisse au quotidien face aux hommes, dans sa famille, dans son couple, sur son lieu de travail, pour ne surtout pas bousculer un système qui les avantage. Les répliques de Bonzi fusent pour railler la place étriquée où les années 60 relèguent les femmes et là encore, ouf, heureusement que son ironie intervient pour frapper là où ça fait mal.
J'ai trouvé le rythme très soutenu et entraînant, même si la symbolique de certaines scènes ne m'a pas toujours paru évidente. C'est la difficulté de lire une pièce sans représentation je pense, il manque un petit quelque chose pour que l'expérience soit totale. Ca ne m'a pas empêché d'apprécier le ton et le style de l'autrice. J'ai par contre trouvé très riche la préface de Wendy Delorme, qui donne quelques clefs de lecture intéressantes et réinscrit le texte dans son contexte de parution. Sans cela, le texte m'aurait sans doute paru beaucoup moins abordable. Sa traduction et les notes expliquant ses choix devant certaines expressions difficiles à retranscrire en français sont également très précieuses.
Je connaissais Solanas de nom et j'avais l'intention de lire SCUM Manifesto quand j'en aurais l'occasion, mais je ne m'attendais pas à tomber sur cette pièce d'abord. Elle m'a donné un nouvel aperçu de l'engagement de l'autrice et m'a confirmé mon envie d'en lire davantage.
Merci à NetGalley et aux éditions Mille et Une Nuits de m'avoir permis de découvrir ce texte !
J'ai trouvé cette lecture grinçante. Certains passages font rire, mais dans l'ensemble elle m'a surtout donné envie de m'insurger avec le personnage de Bonzi/avec Solanas. Les hommes que Bonzi rencontre sont tous imbus d'eux-mêmes, impatients de vanter leurs prouesses sexuelles et d'obtenir les faveurs du personnage. Leur sexisme éhonté n'est tolérable que parce que Bonzi se moque ouvertement d'eux, d'une façon très libératrice. J'ai d'ailleurs trouvé particulièrement drôle de les voir s'offusquer quand Bonzi leur annonce que le sexe, c'est son travail, et qu'il a un tarif. Bien sûr, puisqu'ils sont de tels dieux du sexe, pourquoi les ferait-elle payer ?
Mais le personnage le plus douloureusement insupportable est sans doute Ginger. Ginger, qui vient à la rencontre de Bonzi en lui expliquant qu'elle recherche sa "crotte", parce qu'elle avait l'intention de la manger le soir même au dîner devant ses invités masculins. Pour Ginger, il est essentiel de retrouver sa crotte, parce que, comme elle le dit, les hommes préfèrent les femmes capables de "manger de la merde" (en anglais, un des sens de "to eat shit" est de se soumettre, d'accepter d'être inférieur). Tout au long de leur conversation, Ginger expose les mille et une façons dont elle s'abaisse au quotidien face aux hommes, dans sa famille, dans son couple, sur son lieu de travail, pour ne surtout pas bousculer un système qui les avantage. Les répliques de Bonzi fusent pour railler la place étriquée où les années 60 relèguent les femmes et là encore, ouf, heureusement que son ironie intervient pour frapper là où ça fait mal.
J'ai trouvé le rythme très soutenu et entraînant, même si la symbolique de certaines scènes ne m'a pas toujours paru évidente. C'est la difficulté de lire une pièce sans représentation je pense, il manque un petit quelque chose pour que l'expérience soit totale. Ca ne m'a pas empêché d'apprécier le ton et le style de l'autrice. J'ai par contre trouvé très riche la préface de Wendy Delorme, qui donne quelques clefs de lecture intéressantes et réinscrit le texte dans son contexte de parution. Sans cela, le texte m'aurait sans doute paru beaucoup moins abordable. Sa traduction et les notes expliquant ses choix devant certaines expressions difficiles à retranscrire en français sont également très précieuses.
Je connaissais Solanas de nom et j'avais l'intention de lire SCUM Manifesto quand j'en aurais l'occasion, mais je ne m'attendais pas à tomber sur cette pièce d'abord. Elle m'a donné un nouvel aperçu de l'engagement de l'autrice et m'a confirmé mon envie d'en lire davantage.
Merci à NetGalley et aux éditions Mille et Une Nuits de m'avoir permis de découvrir ce texte !
January 15, 2018
um ... I had to read this for uni ... and I hated it. The content is shocking, so shocking that at times it was funny, but this play is unbelievable, in a bad way.
October 10, 2020
Whoooosh.
Bright, witty and immensely relevant.
Bright, witty and immensely relevant.
April 26, 2021
It's fun to see SCUM Manifesto as a play mocking sexism, liberal feminism, etc. The only pity that TERFism and overall essentialism spoil such witty and irreverent satire.
October 6, 2025
WIE wil hier met mij een adaptatie van opvoeren voor de parade 2026 (oid)?
Valerie Solonas is zo lesbisch en boos dat het enkel kan leiden tot hardop grinniken.
Bongi: So you’re serving them a turd.
Girl: You’re impossible. I assure you I have no intention, whatever, of serving my guests a turd. The turd’s for me. Everybody knows that men have much more respect for women who’re good at lapping up shit. Say, would you like to join for dinner?
Valerie Solonas is zo lesbisch en boos dat het enkel kan leiden tot hardop grinniken.
Bongi: So you’re serving them a turd.
Girl: You’re impossible. I assure you I have no intention, whatever, of serving my guests a turd. The turd’s for me. Everybody knows that men have much more respect for women who’re good at lapping up shit. Say, would you like to join for dinner?
Read
April 21, 2025hilarious. a young girls’ primer is a banger of a short story
August 16, 2025
RUSSELL: You don’t know what a female is, you desexed monstrosity.
BONGI: Quite the contrary, I’m so female I’m subversive.
BONGI: Quite the contrary, I’m so female I’m subversive.
Read
September 15, 2025Completely unserious and also very very serious.
August 26, 2024
Excellente pièce de théâtre ! Drôle, satirique ! Cependant !!! TW : violence sur mineur à la fin de l’ouvrage donc âme sensible s’abstenir.
Ça reste radicale et franchement accessible
Ça reste radicale et franchement accessible
March 4, 2025
Amalgamated Asswatchers of America
June 8, 2022
Un piece de théâtre misandre et hilarante. Je n’ai jamais lu de textes plus ironique et sarcastique que ceux de Solanas. Si seulement autre chose (avec le Scum Manifesto) avait survécu !
Je conseille, pour celleux qui veulent découvrir la misandrie et la « folie » de Solanas, de commencer par la lecture du Scum.
C’est personnellement dans ce sens que je les ai lus, et la pièce s’en retrouve d’autant plus claire et drôle quand on sait ce qu’il y a dans la tête de l’autrice.
Le sarcasme s’allie parfaitement à l’absurde dans cette pièce qui m’a fait mourir de rire tout le long.
Je conseille, pour celleux qui veulent découvrir la misandrie et la « folie » de Solanas, de commencer par la lecture du Scum.
C’est personnellement dans ce sens que je les ai lus, et la pièce s’en retrouve d’autant plus claire et drôle quand on sait ce qu’il y a dans la tête de l’autrice.
Le sarcasme s’allie parfaitement à l’absurde dans cette pièce qui m’a fait mourir de rire tout le long.
Read
July 27, 2022Lire Solanas, c’est toujours un mix de sentiments surprenants. On rie de son ironie et de sa répartie, on réfléchit de ses propositions extrêmes, et aussi et surtout comme l’écrit Wendy Delorme en préface, on « grince des dents ». On grince des dents parce que c’est écrit en 1960 et que dans certains extraits, rien ne va. Mais on grince aussi des dents parce qu’elle écrit des réalités féroces.
Lire Solanas pour moi c’est essentiel, même si ça met une énorme claque dans les dents.
Lire Solanas pour moi c’est essentiel, même si ça met une énorme claque dans les dents.
Read
December 26, 2022Andy Warhol didn’t do it, I have to.
December 27, 2024
LOVE LOVE LOVE omg lachen gieren brullen maar ook ZO SCHERP
Ook de eerste pagina
“I dedicate this play to: ME”
Work
Ook de eerste pagina
“I dedicate this play to: ME”
Work
July 19, 2023
Caustic and Cantankerous but Charming nonetheless.
While Valerie Solanas is best known for her attempted assassination of Andy Warhol and her controversial SCUM Manifesto, less are aware of her play, 'Up Your Ass'.
The work is extremely contemptuous of marriage, men, and motherhood. In addition, Solanas DESPISES what we may call 'Pick-Mes' today and Ginger in the play is a representation of that. It is very funny and clever.
That being said, as someone who wants to find a husband and have children someday, I obviously disagree with her core philosophy, though that is far from the reason why I docked a star. The real reason is that I just do not think this would be a very good play. I tried to picture it played live in a way that wasn't treacherous, but my imagination failed me. So it was a quick and easy read, but as a play I think it would just be screened on a tele in like the Secession or something. That's not a bad thing, it's just not my preferred taste.
I loved the foreword because it humanized Solanas. She is often reduced to and dismissed because of her inherited illness of paranoid schizophrenia, but I think it's important to note that her works--as the Solanas scholars state--are written with much intentionality involved. She had a difficult life but she was always very brave.
Funny quotes include:
-When she thanks "me, myself, and I" in the dedication section
-GINGER: "I must admit my poetry has a certain purity--pure feeling, uncluttered by a single thought, attitude or idea. Then the conversation got really deep and existential--we discussed freedom and what marvelous freedom it is to be free for sex." BONGI: "And free from it."
-GINGER: "I have virile, potent, and sophisticated interests-I adore positions of intercourse, Keynesian economics and I can look at dirty pictures for hours on end."
-GINGER: "She has penis envy. She should see an analyst. I'd recommend mine...he's the famed authority on women and the leading exponent of the doctrine that labor pains feel good."
-The entire section on CREATIVE HOMEMAKING (p100-p101).
-ARTHUR: "We have an affair every Tuesday and Saturday night from 12.00-12.02 and sometimes an afternoon quickie. We had one this afternoon, but I coughed and I missed it."
While Valerie Solanas is best known for her attempted assassination of Andy Warhol and her controversial SCUM Manifesto, less are aware of her play, 'Up Your Ass'.
The work is extremely contemptuous of marriage, men, and motherhood. In addition, Solanas DESPISES what we may call 'Pick-Mes' today and Ginger in the play is a representation of that. It is very funny and clever.
That being said, as someone who wants to find a husband and have children someday, I obviously disagree with her core philosophy, though that is far from the reason why I docked a star. The real reason is that I just do not think this would be a very good play. I tried to picture it played live in a way that wasn't treacherous, but my imagination failed me. So it was a quick and easy read, but as a play I think it would just be screened on a tele in like the Secession or something. That's not a bad thing, it's just not my preferred taste.
I loved the foreword because it humanized Solanas. She is often reduced to and dismissed because of her inherited illness of paranoid schizophrenia, but I think it's important to note that her works--as the Solanas scholars state--are written with much intentionality involved. She had a difficult life but she was always very brave.
Funny quotes include:
-When she thanks "me, myself, and I" in the dedication section
-GINGER: "I must admit my poetry has a certain purity--pure feeling, uncluttered by a single thought, attitude or idea. Then the conversation got really deep and existential--we discussed freedom and what marvelous freedom it is to be free for sex." BONGI: "And free from it."
-GINGER: "I have virile, potent, and sophisticated interests-I adore positions of intercourse, Keynesian economics and I can look at dirty pictures for hours on end."
-GINGER: "She has penis envy. She should see an analyst. I'd recommend mine...he's the famed authority on women and the leading exponent of the doctrine that labor pains feel good."
-The entire section on CREATIVE HOMEMAKING (p100-p101).
-ARTHUR: "We have an affair every Tuesday and Saturday night from 12.00-12.02 and sometimes an afternoon quickie. We had one this afternoon, but I coughed and I missed it."
September 17, 2024
-Riktigt sketen översättning
-Fet introduktion!
-Kom in i boken och började tycka om den vid sida 81
Innan dess meh
-Guldkant för att a young girls prime var med då jag vant mig vid det smärtsamma faktum att denna inte skulle gå att få tag på men ikke sa nikke
upp i röven på dig är homofobiskt och queeraktivistiskt på samma gång- aldrig har jag läst något liknande. Valerie är av en egen sort. Det går aldrig att förutse vad som ska komma. Detta är en konst i sig och jävligt underhållande. Älskar humorn även om den är totalt grotesk i perioder. Nog detta som utgör charmen.
Även om jag såklart är emot allt transhat som hon uttrycker som i denna boken var brutalt. Flera minuspoäng för detta.
-Fet introduktion!
-Kom in i boken och började tycka om den vid sida 81
Innan dess meh
-Guldkant för att a young girls prime var med då jag vant mig vid det smärtsamma faktum att denna inte skulle gå att få tag på men ikke sa nikke
upp i röven på dig är homofobiskt och queeraktivistiskt på samma gång- aldrig har jag läst något liknande. Valerie är av en egen sort. Det går aldrig att förutse vad som ska komma. Detta är en konst i sig och jävligt underhållande. Älskar humorn även om den är totalt grotesk i perioder. Nog detta som utgör charmen.
Även om jag såklart är emot allt transhat som hon uttrycker som i denna boken var brutalt. Flera minuspoäng för detta.
Read
February 13, 2025“I'm so female I'm subversive” amin
manifestoda bahsettiği fikirlerin çoğu burada da kendini gösteriyor. aradan geçen altmış yıla rağmen kendimle ilişkilendirebildiğim yönü beklediğimden fazla maalesef ama manifestodan sonra okuduğum için direkt, pek şaşırtmadı. yine geçen bunca zamana rağmen komik bulduğum yerler de oldu. tiyatro metinlerini her türlü okur, çokluk da severim zaten ama özgünlüğüyle aralarında sıyrılan bir metin.
manifestoda bahsettiği fikirlerin çoğu burada da kendini gösteriyor. aradan geçen altmış yıla rağmen kendimle ilişkilendirebildiğim yönü beklediğimden fazla maalesef ama manifestodan sonra okuduğum için direkt, pek şaşırtmadı. yine geçen bunca zamana rağmen komik bulduğum yerler de oldu. tiyatro metinlerini her türlü okur, çokluk da severim zaten ama özgünlüğüyle aralarında sıyrılan bir metin.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews