Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
2002
Weight: 9.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving at Joe's Coffee Shop in EAV
I was first introduced to this book by one of my best friends in high school, Chris B., who was completely enthralled with it. I read it, and I was not overcome with the same love/passion/zest for it as he was. I want to say there was a theater production of it showing in town around that time. Is that possible?
Long after I had forgotten about it, it popped up on my college syllabus. I wish I could remember the class name, because it was an attention grabber, and it was taught by a very intelligent and patient woman. It was about freak shows and disability. I wish I could say I thought about it all along but, honestly, I never thought about freak shows or had even seen one, so had not even begun to analyze them in terms of what they mean for disability activism, disability studies, or the effect they have on our bodies. Re-reading this book with that in mind brought a lot of new stuff up in regards to the book. I was far away from the time of trying to bond with Chris B and ready to analyze more deeply.
No matter when or why I read it, I always had conflicting emotions. Let me know what you think!
2002
Weight: 9.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving at Joe's Coffee Shop in EAV
I was first introduced to this book by one of my best friends in high school, Chris B., who was completely enthralled with it. I read it, and I was not overcome with the same love/passion/zest for it as he was. I want to say there was a theater production of it showing in town around that time. Is that possible?
Long after I had forgotten about it, it popped up on my college syllabus. I wish I could remember the class name, because it was an attention grabber, and it was taught by a very intelligent and patient woman. It was about freak shows and disability. I wish I could say I thought about it all along but, honestly, I never thought about freak shows or had even seen one, so had not even begun to analyze them in terms of what they mean for disability activism, disability studies, or the effect they have on our bodies. Re-reading this book with that in mind brought a lot of new stuff up in regards to the book. I was far away from the time of trying to bond with Chris B and ready to analyze more deeply.
No matter when or why I read it, I always had conflicting emotions. Let me know what you think!
Now I am so curious about freak shows and disability. Recently I have been collecting some old sideshow photographs, mainly tattooed ladies, which isn't disability, but I have become fascinated by historic sideshows. I will have to do some more reasearch about this.
ReplyDeleteI have some really good books on it if you are ever interested, mostly from that class!
ReplyDelete