Valerie SolanasValerie Solanas
The authoritative biography of the 60s countercultural icon who wrote SCUM Manifesto, shot Andy Warhol, and made an unforgettable mark on feminist history.
Too drastic, too crazy, too "out there," too early, too late, too damaged, too much'Valerie Solanas has been dismissed but never forgotten. She has become, unwittingly, a figurehead for women's unexpressed rage, and stands at the center of many worlds. She inhabited Andy Warhol's Factory scene, circulated among feminists and the countercultural underground, charged men money for conversation, despised "daddy's girls," and outlined a vision for radical gender dystopia.
Known for shooting Andy Warhol in 1968 and for writing the polemical diatribe SCUM Manifesto, Solanas is one of the most famous women of her era. SCUM Manifesto'which predicted ATMs, test-tube babies, the Internet, and artificial insemination long before they existed'has sold more copies, and has been translated into more languages, than nearly all other feminist texts of its time.
Shockingly little work has interrogated Solanas's life. This book is the first biography about Solanas, including original interviews with family, friends (and enemies), and numerous living Warhol associates. It reveals surprising details about her life: the children nearly no one knew she had, her drive for control over her own writing and copyright, and her elusive personal and professional relationships.
Valerie Solanas reveals the tragic, remarkable life of an iconic figure. It is 'not only a remarkable biographical feat but also a delicate navigation of an unwieldy, demanding, and complex life story' (BOMB Magazine).
Fahs presents this biography of Valerie Solanas, touching on her interactions with feminism, counterculture, psychosis, and her manifesto SCUM. The first chapter covers her childhood and early adulthood up to age thirty, drawing out what is known about her family life, young pregnancies, radicalism in her university years, and early writing career. Chapter two explores the backstory and event of her infamous shooting of Andy Warhol. The book discusses how Solanas was massively influential, and yet always held herself deliberately apart from the radical feminism of the early 1970s, and devotes a great deal of space to her psychiatric evaluation, institutionalization, and perceptions of her mental state from those around her post-shooting. The last chapter covers her self-publishing of SCUM, gradual loss of hope, and slow individual and cultural decline in her final years. Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
Presents the life and philosophies of Valerie Solanas, a feminist extremist who outlined in her "SCUM Manifesto" her vision for a radical gender dystopia and who shot Andy Warhol in 1968.
The electrifying story of the woman who wrote SCUM Manifesto and shot Andy Warhol.
The authoritative biography of the 60s countercultural icon who wrote SCUM Manifesto, shot Andy Warhol, and made an unforgettable mark on feminist history.
Too drastic, too crazy, too "out there," too early, too late, too damaged, too much—Valerie Solanas has been dismissed but never forgotten. She has become, unwittingly, a figurehead for women's unexpressed rage, and stands at the center of many worlds. She inhabited Andy Warhol's Factory scene, circulated among feminists and the countercultural underground, charged men money for conversation, despised "daddy's girls," and outlined a vision for radical gender dystopia.
Known for shooting Andy Warhol in 1968 and for writing the polemical diatribe SCUM Manifesto, Solanas is one of the most famous women of her era. SCUM Manifesto—which predicted ATMs, test-tube babies, the Internet, and artificial insemination long before they existed—has sold more copies, and has been translated into more languages, than nearly all other feminist texts of its time.
Shockingly little work has interrogated Solanas's life. This book is the first biography about Solanas, including original interviews with family, friends (and enemies), and numerous living Warhol associates. It reveals surprising details about her life: the children nearly no one knew she had, her drive for control over her own writing and copyright, and her elusive personal and professional relationships.
Valerie Solanas reveals the tragic, remarkable life of an iconic figure. It is “not only a remarkable biographical feat but also a delicate navigation of an unwieldy, demanding, and complex life story” (BOMB Magazine).
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- New York : Feminist Press, at the City University of New York, 2014.
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