Katherine Dunn Livres

Geek Love is the story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias set out ― with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes ― to breed their own exhibit of human oddities. There's Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family's most precious ― and dangerous ― asset.As the Binewskis take their act across the backwaters of the U.S., inspiring fanatical devotion and murderous revulsion; as its members conduct their own Machiavellian version of sibling rivalry, Geek Love throws its sulfurous light on our notions of the freakish and the normal, the beautiful and the ugly, the holy and the obscene. Family values will never be the same.

Whether you have experience drawing or are completely new to it, this exciting workshop-style book provides practical, inspiring, and creative exercises which will expand your drawing skills and provide a framework for integrating illustration with other mixed-media techniques, With a focus on drawing what you love and what is familiar, you will be led through the development of several illustration exercises, which launch from jotted notes and eventually blossom into unique mixed-media creations. You will become familiar with a wide variety of media and approaches to drawing, learn how to work through "creative blocks," and discover ways to scan and layer your illustrations using a computer.

The book explores the author's complex relationship with language, particularly the use of profanity, through the lens of her father's favorite phrase. It reflects on how such language can evoke deep emotional resonance and serve as a form of expression. Drawing parallels to her acclaimed work "Geek Love," the narrative showcases Katherine Dunn's unique style and her commitment to exploring obscenity both academically and artistically, revealing its power and beauty in communication.

"Sally Gunnar has withdrawn from the world. She spends her days alone at home, reading drugstore mysteries, polishing the doorknobs, waxing the floors. Her only companions are a vase of godfish, a garden toad, and the door-to-door salesman who sells her cleaning suplies once a month. She broods over her deepest regrets: her blighted romances with self-important men, her lifelong struggle to feel at home in her body, and her wayward early twenties, when she was a fish out of water among a group of eccentric, privileged young people at a liberal arts college. There was Sam, an unabashed collector of other people's stories; Carlotta, a troubled free spirit; and Rennel, a self-obsessed philosophy student. Self-deprecating and sardonic, Sally recounts their misadventures, up to the tragedy that tore them apart. Colorful, crass, and profound, Toad is Katherine Dunn's ode to her time as a student at Reed College, filled with the same keen observations, taboo-shirking verve, and singular characters that made Geek Love a cult classic. Daring and bizarre, Toad is a brilliant precursor to the book that would make Dunn a misfit hero--even fifty-some years after it was written, it's a refreshing take on the lives of young outsiders treading the delicate lines between isolation and freedom, love and insanity, hatred and friendship." -- Jacket flap

Focusing on the intense experiences of young Kay, the novel explores her entanglement with a cult-like organization and the consequences of her actions that lead to her incarceration. Through visceral, stream-of-consciousness writing, the story delves into the dynamics among inmates, revealing the complexities of human relationships as alliances form and pasts are shared. Inspired by Katherine Dunn's own life, this debut work is celebrated for its vivid portrayal of personal transformation and the impact of confinement on identity.

An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here. A wild, often horrifying, novel about freaks, geeks and other aberrancies of the human condition who travel together (a whole family of them) as a circus. It's a solipsistic funhouse world that makes "normal" people seem bland and pitiful. Arturo the Aqua-Boy, who has flippers and an enormous need to be loved. A museum of sacred monsters that didn't make it. An endearing "little beetle" of a heroine. Sort of like Tod Browning's Freaks crossed with David Lynch and John Irving and perhaps George Eliot -- the latter for the power of the emotions evoked.

Wie viele der großen Romane der Moderne erzählt auch dieses Kultbuch die Geschichte einer Familie. Arturo, der Fischjunge, Iphy und Elly, die siamesischen Zwillinge, das Nesthäkchen Chick und Oly, die bucklige Albino-Zwergin: die Binewskis sind die absonderlichste Verwandtschaft, die man sich vorstellen kann. Doch ihre Probleme kennen wir alle. Geschwisterliebe und -konkurrenz, die Anerkennung der Eltern, unsere Vorstellung von »Selbst« und dem »Anderen«, normal und unnormal. Dann nimmt Artys Größenwahn Überhand und der Caravan der Binewskis steuert auf eine schreckliche Katastrophe zu.