Kathy Acker was born on April 18, 1947 in New York city. She is best described as an experimental novelist, a postmodernist and a sex-positive feminist writer. Kathy’s most famous and best-selling novel is titled ‘Blood and Guts in High School’. This book takes Janey on a journey to New York from Merida, Mexico. Janey decides to leave after she discovers that her father, who is also her boyfriend finds companionship in another woman and no longer wants her around.
I am currently reading this book, and I find it extremely hard to believe that the main character, Janey Smith is only ten years old. I find it sort of unrealistic that a ten-year-old is able to identify and perform other people’s sexual desires. Also, the complexity of Janey’s thoughts do not match the one’s of the ten-year-olds that I know. ‘Blood and Guts in High School’ is unlike any other book I have ever read before. From my perspective, the issues of the different types of sexuality (incest and prostitution) are discussed without any censors or boundaries. This book also comes complete with illustrations of sexual body parts, sexual activity, a map of Janey’s dreams, and Persian poems that are also written by Janey. With the success of ‘Blood and Guts in High School’, critics claimed that Kathy plagiarized from a variety of authors, perhaps the most well-known was Charles Dickens. An interesting fact is that Germany and South Africa completely Banned this book, due to it’s pornographic nature.
Kathy Acker was born into a wealthy Jewish family. Although I found very little about her family, it is known that Kathy’s father abandoned his family before Kathy was born, and Kathy’s mother committed suicide (date unknown). Around her late teens, Kathy worked as a stripper and a show girl in order to support herself through university. It is clear that Kathy’s experiences in the sex industry have an influenceon her writing. Janey, the protagonist in ‘Blood and Guts in High School’ seems to be addicted to sex, and has a pelvic inflammatory disease. Kathy went to the University of California in San Diego, where she received her Bachelor’s degree. She also did two years of post-graduate work at the City University of New York.
I found it interesting that not all feminist critics like Kathy’s work. In fact, some critics claim that Kathy’s use of violent sexual imagery leads readers to degrade and objectify women.
In April 1966, Kathy was diagnosed with breast cancer. Coincidentally, Janey from ‘Blood and Guts in High School’ was also diagnosed with Cancer. After an unsuccessful surgery, Kathy refused traditional treatment for cancer and turned to acupuncturists, psychic healers, and Chinese herbalists. After a year and a half from being diagnosed with cancer, Kathy died in Tijuana, Mexico at an alternative cancer clinic.
