- Paperback
- Publisher: Pantheon Books (Feb 1992)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679740236
- ISBN-13: 978-0679740230
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,377,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Reprints three originally self published novels in one volume; - The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula - I Dreamt I was a Nymphomaniac: Imagining; - The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec by Henri Toulouse Lautrec. These novels constitute a series of dreamlike and lucid stories in which the narrator switches gender and sexuality at every turn in the search for identity.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
I become a murderess. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I become a murderess. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a wonderful introduction to Acker...to all the major themes, motifs and techniques she would continue to explore through the rest of her life. I've had trouble with her work in the past, but these 3 short novels pulled me into her mindset enough to get a handle on what she is about and made me want to re-read her later work. These works are highly experimental, using a fractured collage technique and jarring jump-cuts to new points of view, so they are not for the relaxing subway ride home. Also contains a high exploration of gender roles, sexual identity, sexual deviancy that is touching and thoughtful, but may insult or frighten more conservative readers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Wonderful Introduction to Acker
2 Sep 1999
Format:Paperback
This is a wonderful introduction to Acker...to all the major themes, motifs and techniques she would continue to explore through the rest of her life. I've had trouble with her work in the past, but these 3 short novels pulled me into her mindset enough to get a handle on what she is about and made me want to re-read her later work. These works are highly experimental, using a fractured collage technique and jarring jump-cuts to new points of view, so they are not for the relaxing subway ride home. Also contains a high exploration of gender roles, sexual identity, sexual deviancy that is touching and thoughtful, but may insult or frighten more conservative readers.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
I wouldn't begin here with Acker.
1 Jan 2003
Format:Paperback
I'm afraid that had I read these novels first, I might have been too frightened to progress to the more mature novels (_Blood and Guts in High School_ is my favorite). Still, these books make thought-provoking reading.
For me, the least successful of the three was the _The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula by the Black Tarantula_. Call this one three stars. In BT, Acker takes scenes from the lives of famous murderesses and from pornographic novels and inserts herself into them. Interesting idea, but too much repetition. It felt too much like a formal experiment.
My favorite was _I Dreamt I was a Nymphomanic: Imagining_. I found it really sweet for Acker, although the chapters were a little too disjointed for comfort. For me, her best work tempers the anger with a kind of dreamy happiness, and this is one of her best works.
_The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec by Henri Toulouse Lautrec_ has been anthologized elsewhere. It's definitely worth a read (Lautrec as a lonely woman in a whorehouse) or a re-read if (like me) you'd read it before.
I got a lot more out of reading these early works having read the other novels. I could appreciate where she was going in a way that I'm not certain that I could have had I read them cold. Start with Blood and Guts or _Empire of the Senseless_ if you're an Acker newbie.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
a journey into murder, sex, and gender
7 Mar 1997
Format:Paperback
Three stories which venture into madness, murderesses, and sex. One of the more sucessful parts develops when Acker interweaves her personal history and historical accounts of murderesses
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
