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 Skelley's “secretly
legendary” novel is at once an homage to the thrillingly inventive
spirit of Kathy Acker's cut-up novels and a definitive history of
LA's 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 pursuing—much as
Kathy Acker did—a quixotic literary mix of discipline and anarchy.
In this adrenalized, cosmic, and comic chronicle of Los Angeles,
Skelley's “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.