These modestly printed chapbooks are precursors to, and excerpts from, Acker’s better known but out of print 1978 version of The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec. The work takes the form of a cut-up novel in which Acker draws sources from pop-culture, contemporary politics, and Marxist critical theory. With its roots in 1920s Dada literary experimentation, the cut-up novel was popularized by William S. Burroughs and the Situationists. Acker’s interpretation of the form employs the affair of James Dean and a nine-year-old Janis Joplin as the “perfect American love affair,” the reinterpreted plot of Rebel Without a Cause, Henry Kissinger’s political dominance in the 1970s and fake reports from the National Enquirer. Acker interlaces seething cultural critique couched in humorous Hollywood gossip and sexual debauchery. This complete set is extremely rare, as this series was often issued in parts and handed out to friends or sold by subscription before Acker gained international attention as an influential postmodern playwright and feminist writer.
This set of six booklets include:
How Love Can Lead Youngsters to Murder
The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec (The Future)
The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec (The Case of the Murdered Twerp)
The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec (Longing for Better Things)
The Life of Johnny Rocco
Stop It, Ted!
From the Library of art critic and writer Edit DeAk.
