Chris Kraus's Biography 'After Kathy Acker' Examines a Transgressive Literary Icon

Chris Kraus's biography 'After Kathy Acker,' published by The MIT Press in October 2017, delves into the life and work of the late postmodern writer Kathy Acker. Acker, known for her transgressive prose drawing on sex work, BDSM, illness, and family psychodrama, achieved iconic status as a countercultural hero through a nonnaturalistic, self-focused approach. Kraus, an autofiction writer famed for 'I Love Dick' (1997), employs a journalistic, even-handed tone to navigate Acker's salacious affairs with figures like Dan Graham, Len Neufeld, Peter Wollen, and Sylvère Lotringer of Semiotext(e), as well as her dramatic fallouts. The book highlights Acker's 1984 appearance on ITV's 'The South Bank Show' with Melvyn Bragg, where her glamorous image contrasted with Lower East Side poverty, reflecting 1980s alternative culture. Kraus analyzes Acker's literary techniques, particularly her inventive punctuation in 'Great Expectations' (1982), using colons to amplify thought and raw emotion. Acker's work, canonized in British academia by the early 2000s, remains shocking for its Burroughsian cutup style and visceral language. Kraus's biography meticulously researches Acker's self-mythologizing, treating her life as fiction while maintaining sympathy and occasional judgment. The hardcover is priced at $24.95.