Rip-Off Red, Girl Detective and The Burning Bombing of America (Acker, Kathy) - Softcover

Acker, Kathy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802139205 ISBN 13: 9780802139207

Publisher: Grove Press, 2002

Synopsis

Recently discovered and never before published, these two short novels were written in the early 1970s, at the beginning of Kathy Acker's writing career. Rip-off Red reads as a kind of Raymond Chandler for bad girls, as Acker's typical literary playfulness transforms the genre conventions of detective fiction into a book that is simultaneously a mystery and a personal, raunchy, and politically astute account of life in New York City. The Burning Bombing of America is a dystopian vision of the destruction of America, combining crypto-Socialist class critique with the visceral surreality of the Book of Revelation. Published together here, they reveal a young writer on a literary romp, imposing an original, sexy, and subversive worldview that is unmistakably Acker. They are a perfect introduction to Acker's oeuvre and essential for all Acker readers. "Kathy Acker's trancelike writing style peels away the layers of reality." -- San Francisco Chronicle "America's most beloved transgressive novelist." -- Spin "Acker is a postmodern Colette with echoes of Cleland's Fanny Hill." -- William S. Burroughs

About this title

From Booklist:

During the course of research on Kathy Acker, editors Amy Scholder and Dennis Cooper unearthed two heretofore unknown novels that Acker wrote in her twenties--Rip-Off Red, Girl Detective (1973), a sexy twist on coming-of-age tales and gumshoe fiction, and the freaky, apocalyptic The Burning Bombing of America: The Destruction of the U.S. (1972)--full-tilt tales of sex, power, derangement, and mayhem that are being released together in one book in conjunction with Acker's selected writings. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Publishers Weekly:

Fans of Kathy Acker (1948-1997) will welcome the first publication of two early short crime novels, Rip-Off Red, Girl Detective and The Burning Bombing of America, by the late postmodern author. Both are imbued with the raunchy and subversive wit typical of Acker's more mature work.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0802139205
• ISBN 13: 9780802139207
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144