When Monsters Speak: A Susan Stryker Reader

by Susan Stryker, McKenzie Wark (Editor)

Susan Stryker is a foundational figure in trans studies. When Monsters Speak showcases the development of Stryker’s writing from the 1990s to the present. It combines canonical pieces, such as “My Words to Victor Frankenstein,” with her hard to find earlier work published in zines and newsletters. Brought together, they ground Stryker’s thought in 1990s San Francisco and its innovative queer, trans, and S/M cultures. The volume includes an introduction by editor McKenzie Wark, who highlights Stryker’s connections to developments in queer theory, media studies, and autotheory while foregrounding Stryker’s innovative writing style and scholarly methods. When Monsters Speak is an authoritative and essential collection by one of the most important and influential intellectuals of our time.

Genres: Nonfiction, Transgender, Queer, LGBT, Theory, Essays, Feminism

208 pages, Hardcover

Published July 30, 2024

About the author

Susan O'Neal Stryker is an American professor, author, filmmaker, and theorist whose work focuses on gender and human sexuality. She is an associate professor of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Arizona, and is the director of the university's Institute for LGBT Studies. She has served as a visiting professor at Harvard University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Simon Fraser University. She is an openly lesbian trans woman who has produced a significant body of work about transgenderism and queer culture.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Andrew Kornfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my fave theorists. part one was the most compelling for me and i enjoyed reading her reflections on my words to victor frankenstein (one of the best pieces of writing ever tbh) in part three.

[Sunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

despite my severe allergy to jargon, and despite my hatred of academia, Stryker somehow makes it bearable

[tin · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You are as constructed as me; the same anarchic Womb has birthed us both. I call upon you to investigate your nature as I have been compelled to confront mine. I challenge you to risk abjection and flourish as well as have I. Heed my words, and you may well discover the seams and sutures in yourself."

It’s a gift to read a whole collection by a single person, and particularly one as prolific and varied as Stryker, as the glimpse into her world becomes kaleidoscopic.

I found myself especially struck by the deep earnestness of her voice across all audiences and kinds of writing; the vulnerability, anger, love, and longing for more from this world and from our own communities comes through powerfully. For those of us still searching for the name by which to call ourselves, Stryker leads by example, claiming ungovernability and precision of language in the same breath. I found these writings particularly poignant as Stryker deals with the trans exclusion and separatist sects within the queer community; conversations that unfortunately remain prevalent today, to which Stryker’s voice captures both the longevity of this injustice and sound arguments and rage to those who ought to have read Stryker’s work when it came out the first time around. Another gift of this collection is reading Stryker reflect on her own work over time; how the field has shifted and her own noticing of moments like her relation to race where she is able to acknowledge misstep or harmful perpetuation. I am moved to hear from our queer elders, to know that the world still moves them as they continue to move it. I will hold onto “My Words” for a long time; it’s alchemical magic equal parts bodily and spiritual continues to stir inside me.

"Though I cannot escape its power, I can move through its medium. Perhaps if I move furiously enough, I can deform it in my passing to leave a trace of my rage."

[Ellen Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides a look into Susan Stryker’s early auto-theoretical fiction based on the BDSM Bay Area scene in the 80s/90s as she was simultaneously going through the beginning processes of publicly transitioning in academia. Then the book shifts to broader theory works taking a more academic tone through a collection of works that sought to feel out some of the edges of trans theory/studies as an emerging analytical lens in academia separated from medicine and psychology. The last section contains one of Stryker’s most well known works My Words to Victor Frankenstein as well as a couple reflections separated by years after the fact on the lasting impact of that piece. Overall a great read in exploring some of the subjugated ‘taboo’ methods of learning through embodiment such as an exploration of kink, BDSM, and other sexual body practices as a site to “learn how to take yourself apart and put yourself back together again” (Conversation with McKenzie Wark and Susan Stryker at CUNY about When Monsters Speak” on YouTube).

[ira · Rating 4 out of 5]

when it’s good it’s sublime when it has embarrassing racial blind spots well… we can’t all of us be perfect

[Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read 🫀

[Jake Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

literally life changing

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stryker’s writing gives me strength and fortitude when things seem dire (which appears to be more and more often Re trans).