Philosophy for Spiders
On the Low Theory of Kathy Acker
Duke University Press · Print & ebook · September 28, 2021
It's time to recognize Kathy Acker as one of the great postwar American writers.
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- Who it’s for
- McKenzie Wark reads Kathy Acker’s writing as a philosophy of bodies, others, cities, and technology.
- Themes
- Trans readings of Kathy Acker, Philosophy of the body, The body, others, and technology
- Genres
- Queer Literary Criticism, Transgender Studies, Women Authors Criticism
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Start with this bookAbout this book
It's time to recognize Kathy Acker as one of the great postwar American writers. Over the decades readers have found a punk Acker, a feminist Acker, a queer Acker, a kink Acker, and an avant-garde Acker. In Philosophy for Spiders, McKenzie Wark adds a trans Acker. Wark recounts her memories of Acker (with whom she had a passionate affair) and gives a comprehensive reading of her published and archived works.
Continue reading
Wark finds not just an inventive writer of fiction who pressed against the boundaries of gender but a theorist whose comprehensive philosophy of life brings a conceptual intelligence to the everyday life of those usually excluded from philosophy's purview. As Wark shows, Acker's engagement with topics such as masturbation, sadism, body-building, and penetrative sex are central to her distinct phenomenology of the body that theorizes the body's relation to others, the city, and technology.
Acker’s Body Philosophy
McKenzie Wark reads Kathy Acker’s writing as a philosophy of bodies, others, cities, and technology.
Come here for
- A trans reading of Kathy Acker’s published and archived work
- Wark’s memories of Acker and their affair
Expect
- Close attention to Acker’s fiction and conceptual thought
- Discussion of masturbation, sadism, body-building, and penetrative sex
Where it sits
| Transgender Studies | 34% |
|---|---|
| Queer Literary Criticism | 25% |
| Women Authors Criticism | 18% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Queer Literary Criticism
- Transgender Studies
- Authors
- McKenzie Wark
- Publisher
- Duke University Press
- Published
- September 28, 2021
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Trans readings of Kathy Acker · Philosophy of the body · The body, others, and technology
- Reading lane
- Queer Literary Criticism