Kathy Acker
Kathy Acker was an influential American writer and avant-garde artist, born in 1947 into a wealthy Jewish family in New York. Growing up in conflict with her family, she found solace in writing, which became a significant form of expression for her. By the age of eighteen, Acker was self-supporting, even working as an erotic dancer, and she became an active participant in the dynamic St. Mark's poetry scene during the 1960s. Her literary pursuits were shaped by the radical ideas of the beatnik and Black Mountain Poets, leading her to explore unconventional themes of language, sexuality, and identity rather than conforming to mainstream counterculture movements.
Throughout her career, Acker wrote various forms of literature, but she is best known for her novels, including "Blood and Guts in High School" and "My Mother: Demonology." Her innovative storytelling techniques incorporated elements from film and music, demonstrating a unique non-linear approach. After spending time in London, where she encountered both acclaim and controversy, Acker returned to New York but ultimately settled in San Francisco. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, she opted for alternative treatments and passed away in 1997. Acker's provocative style earned her both criticism and admiration, and she is often viewed as a significant figure within the postmodern literary landscape.
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Kathy Acker
- Born: April 18, 1947
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: November 30, 1997
- Place of death: Tijuana, Mexico
Biography
Kathy Acker was born in 1947 into an affluent German American Jewish family in New York. She grew up in extreme conflict with her family of origin, so much that she described times spent alone in her room as “the only time I could have any freedom or joy.” Writing was part of this joy.
By age eighteen she was self-supporting, working for a time as an erotic dancer. She found and participated in the St. Mark’s poetry scene which flourished in New York City in the 1960’s. The clash between these two environments both isolated and energized her. Acker wanted to explore the frontiers of language, thought, and sexuality, not build a new, coherent society, so the hippie and feminist countercultures of the era had little appeal for her.
Acker did take university courses in Boston and California, but her work was most influenced and shaped by the remnants of the beatnik and the Black Mountain Poets. She moved to San Francisco in the early seventies. Some of her work began to be published by small and underground presses. She wrote a variety of forms—poetry, plays, rock lyrics, and performance readings— but most of her works are considered novels. She married Peter Gordon, an experimental composer. She also drew on filmmaking and musical techniques, using montage, dubbing, and non-linear time in her fiction.
In California, she taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, where the “wild girls” inspired her with new possibilities for awareness of one’s body. She rode a motorcycle and tried new exercises like rolfing. In the mid- eighties, she moved to London. She loved Britain, a place where her reputation as a cult celebrity had preceded her, and where a real regard for writers and books still existed. Unfortunately, Harold Robbins threatened to sue her British publisher because, using an approach of “riffing off” frequent in her work, she had rewritten and satirized a scene from one of his books.
She herself could see nothing wrong with this practice, but with no backing from her publisher, she had to apologize, and returned to New York. The art scene she’d known there before had been ruined by AIDS and commercialism. Ultimately she returned to San Francisco, to settle in at the Phoenix, a rock- and-roll hotel with unique ambience..
In 1996, diagnosed with breast cancer, she had a double mastectomy. Refusing radiation and chemotherapy as follow-up treatments, she died in an alternate treatment center in Mexico on November 30, 1997.
Acker’s best-known works include the novels Blood and Guts in High School and My Mother: Demonology. Her books are classified as science fiction for their fantastic content, but their techniques have only a tangential relationship to most science fiction. Like other avant-garde artists, Acker was strongly criticized, both for the “shocking” depictions in her fiction, and for its incoherence. At the same time, many admired her courage and imagination. Often considered the next generation’s William Burroughs, the role was cut short as she died in the same year as did Burroughs.