Kathy Acker

Born 1948 · Died 1997

From New York City, New York, United States · Nationality: United States · Writes fiction and nonfiction

American feminist writer

Quotes

“At a certain point I realized that the “I” doesn’t exist. So I said to myself: If the “I” doesn’t exist, I have to construct one, or maybe even more than one.”
Interview with Sylvere Lothringer 1991
“You create identity, you’re not given identity per se. What became more interesting to me wasn’t the I, it was text because it’s texts that create the identity.”
Hannibal Lecter, My Father 1991
“We come crawling through these cracks, orphans, lobotomies; if you ask me what I want, I’ll tell you. I want everything. Whole rotten world come down and break. Let me spread my legs.”
Pussy, King of the Pirates 1996
“Every day a sharp tool, a powerful destroyer, is necessary to cut away dullness, lobotomy, buzzing, belief in human beings, stagnancy, images, and accumulation.”
Blood and Guts in High School
“Women need to become literary “criminals”, break the literary laws and reinvent their own, because the established laws prevent women from presenting the reality of their lives.”
Bodies of Work 1996

Books by Kathy Acker in order

Books by Kathy Acker in the order they were published, from Adult Life of Toulouse (1975) to Kathy Acker : The Last Interview (2019).