Harmony Korine's Fractured Autofiction Explores American Violence

Harmony Korine's book 'Craques, coupes et meutes raciales' is a fragmented autofictional work composed of handwritten notes, suicide letters, lists, and bad jokes. The book is divided into three parts: 'Craques coupes et meutes raciales', 'Le vilain petit métèque', and 'Comme un turc à Stockholm'. Each page stands alone, rejecting linear progression. The text finds unity in its violent themes—sexual perversion, incest, homophobia, and ethnic atrocities—mirroring a disordered, manic-depressive America. Korine, known for films like 'Gummo' and 'Julien Donkey-Boy', presents aborted narratives and Fénéon-like anecdotes rather than developed stories. The book flaunts its fractures, erasures, and doodles, cultivating an unfinished aesthetic. It includes sordid celebrity rumors, such as 'John Ford sniffed coke and fucked obese black women'. The work is described as decerebrated, fascinating, and perverse literature. The review was published in artpress in January 2002 by Laurent Goumarre.