The Fear of Kathy Acker

The first complete edition of this notorious novel which maps the 1980s anarchic underground of Los Angeles.Published in excerpts over almost four decades, Jack Skelleys secretly legendary novel is at once an homage to the thrillingly inventive spirit of Kathy Ackers cut-up novels and a definitive history of LAs underground culture of the mid-1980s. Composed in bursts, Fear of Kathy Acker depicts Los Angeles through the eyes of a self-mocking narrator. Shifting styles and personae as he moves between Venice and Torrance, punk clubs and shopping malls, Disneyland and Dodger Stadium, Jack Skelley pushes the limits of language and identity while pursuingmuch as Kathy Acker dida quixotic literary mix of discipline and anarchy. In this adrenalized, cosmic, and comic chronicle of Los Angeles, Skelleys real life friends make cameo appearances alongside pop archetypes from Madonna to Billy Idol. This first-ever complete edition of the book includes new essays, playlists, and a map of the 1980s Los Angeles in which its manic protagonist lives and loves.