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Valerie Solanas: The Defiant Life of the Woman Who Wrote Scum
The authoritative biography of the 60s countercultural icon who wrote SCUM Manifesto, shot Andy Warhol, and made an unforgettable mark on feminist history. Valerie Solanas is one of the most polarizing figures of 1960s counterculture. A cult hero to some and vehemently denounced by others, she has been dismissed but never forgotten. Known for shooting Andy Warhol in 1968 and for writing the infamous SCUM Manifesto, Solanas became one of the most famous women of her era. But she was also diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and spent much of her life homeless or in mental hospitals. Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto, a sui generis vision of radical gender dystopia, predicted ATMs, test-tube babies, the Internet, and artificial insemination long before they existed. It has sold more copies and been translated into more languages than nearly all other feminist texts of its time. And yet, shockingly little work has investigated the life of its author. 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 Solanas’s the children nearly no one knew she had, her drive for control over her own writing, 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).
413 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 17, 2014
32 people are currently reading
1133 people want to read
About the author
Breanne Fahs
11 books34 followersBreanne Fahs is Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University. She is the author of Performing Sex, Valerie Solanas, Out for Blood, and Firebrand Feminism, and co-editor of The Moral Panics of Sexuality, and Transforming Contagion. She is the Founder and Director of the Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality Group at Arizona State University, and also works as a Clinical Psychologist.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
August 22, 2015
A great piece of journalism about a fascinating subject. I read this book because I had always thought the SCUM Manifesto was meant to be satire, but I was never quite sure. I still don't know, but I have a lot to think about. Fahs reconstructs history, we see New York artic artistic and radical as it was in the 60s and 70s. The terror of Solanas shooting Warhol and her slow descent into paranoid schizophrenia. A sad but relevant book for understanding the history of radical feminism in the United States.
September 27, 2018
Valerie Solanas is remembered for the one event she was terrified would define her - the shooting of Pop Art legend Andy Warhol.
She also wrote a few incendiary works, the most famous being The SCUM Manifesto, a hilarious and terrifying tract against men, attacking them for all of the problems in the world, from abuse of women to capitalism and war.
Valerie was a polarising figure in her day, drifting in and out of various counterculture movements like Warhol's Factory, the East Village art and anarchist collective Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers (also known simply as The Motherfuckers), High Times magazine, and early radical feminism and "wimmins libbers."
Unfortunately, her life was also full of tragedy and horror, from incest and rape, to homelessness, prostitution, and paranod schizophrenia, Valerie never really "fit" anywhere, and was consumed with rage and fear, alienating even those who loved her.
It's a harrowing, very sad read, but Fahs tracked down and interviewed many people who knew Valerie, from family to friends to enemies - though many have long since passed. From Warhol people to early feminists, from friends and lovers, from police records to psychiatrist notes, she pieces together the life of a woman who is still in popular consciousness (see Lena Dunham as Solanas in American Horror Story: Cult in 2017, which mixes fact and fiction).
The irony is that Valerie would inevitably say that Fahs got it all wrong, because no one speaks for Valerie but Valerie.
May she rest in peace. If you are at all interested in the life of Valerie Solanas, you need to read this book.
She also wrote a few incendiary works, the most famous being The SCUM Manifesto, a hilarious and terrifying tract against men, attacking them for all of the problems in the world, from abuse of women to capitalism and war.
Valerie was a polarising figure in her day, drifting in and out of various counterculture movements like Warhol's Factory, the East Village art and anarchist collective Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers (also known simply as The Motherfuckers), High Times magazine, and early radical feminism and "wimmins libbers."
Unfortunately, her life was also full of tragedy and horror, from incest and rape, to homelessness, prostitution, and paranod schizophrenia, Valerie never really "fit" anywhere, and was consumed with rage and fear, alienating even those who loved her.
It's a harrowing, very sad read, but Fahs tracked down and interviewed many people who knew Valerie, from family to friends to enemies - though many have long since passed. From Warhol people to early feminists, from friends and lovers, from police records to psychiatrist notes, she pieces together the life of a woman who is still in popular consciousness (see Lena Dunham as Solanas in American Horror Story: Cult in 2017, which mixes fact and fiction).
The irony is that Valerie would inevitably say that Fahs got it all wrong, because no one speaks for Valerie but Valerie.
May she rest in peace. If you are at all interested in the life of Valerie Solanas, you need to read this book.
June 24, 2022
Valerie Solanas earned notoriety for two things: writing the SCUM Manifesto and shooting Andy Warhol. The author of Valerie Solanas, Breanne Fahs, says as much in the title of this biography. Then the question remains of how Solanas earned her reputation as an outlaw feminist and what became of her after she committed the crime. The secondary question of whether Solanas should even be labelled a feminist is left unanswered by Fahs but a careful reading of this thorough analysis should make the answer obvious.
As far as problematic individuals go, Solanas’s childhood was not unique. She came from a broken family and her father probably molested her, though some members of the family think that is unlikely. Teenage pregnancies, delinquency, and incarceration were issues in her teenage years. Then, like so many other misfits of that era, Solanas found herself living in Greenwich Village, but poverty and homelessness made her life a challenge and she sometimes turned to prostitution to make enough money to live.
Also like so many misfits of her age, Valerie Solanas turned to writing in hopes of making a living. The SCUM Manifesto was penned as an incendiary tract and an attack on what we now would call the patriarchy. Solanas predated contemporary feminism by at least a decade. This slim volume was an over-the-top rant, combining high camp, acerbic humor, and serous critique of American society. At one level, it is hard to take seriously, but at another level it is hard not to take seriously. Solanas’s work made a strong impression on Marcel Girodias, owner of Olympia Press, who saw it as having potential to start a new revolution in literature. But Solanas’s relationship with Girodias got marred by her creeping mental illness, paranoia, and delusions of grandeur. The stress of being homeless in lower Manhattan made her mental instability a lot worse.
Valerie Solanas then became a fixture at Andy Warhol’s scene at The Factory. She wrote a play called Up Your Ass and approached Warhol to make it into a movie. Warhol was somewhat impressed but the manuscript got misplaced and Solanas went crazy trying to get it back from him. This led to her showing up at The Factory one day and shooting Andy Warhol. There is, however, a high probability that this was meant as a publicity stunt to draw attention to her writings. In any case, the author, Breanne Fahs, portrays Solanas’s confused thinking as best as she can. By that, it is meant that trying to understand and untangle what was going through her mind is bewildering at times and even, at some points, exhausting and not worth the mental effort.
The latter part of Valerie Solanas’s life is dealt with extensively. After going in and out of mental institutions and prisons, she went to work for a radical feminist newspaper. Her relationship with other prominent feminists of the time was acrimonious. Like a harpy who swooped down from a tree, she attacked almost everyone who came near her. She hated radical feminists as much as she hated the patriarchy and she was never afraid to say why. As a reader, whatever your views on gender politics are, you have to be honest about what happened; the feminists were trying to use Valerie Solanas for their own ends and she was one person who just did not want to be owned or used by anybody whether they be feminists, publishers, artists, Warhol, people she disagreed with, or even people she agreed with.
Eventually, Valerie Solanas ended up homeless, schizophrenic, and surviving by prostituting herself on the streets of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. No matter what you might think of her, reading about somebody who was so alone and incapable of managing her life is depressing. One thing you might take away from this book is that we need to do a better job of caring for the mentally ill. Valerie Solanas was at her most productive and creative when she had a stable income, a place to live, and was under psychiatric care. Despite her confusion, anger, and dangerous thinking that was manifested through self-harm, stalking, and an attempted assassination, you can still see how she had a good side to her in her belief in justice, peace, and progress. She was, in fact, deeply altruistic and wanted to make the world a better place for everyone. Her anger and violence were defense mechanisms that were probably exaggerated because she lived in the streets. Try sleeping on a big city sidewalk for one night and see how frightening that can be, then think about what it is like for people who live most of their lives that way. Add schizophrenia into that and you have a lifetime in hell.
Breanne Fahs has to be one of the most objective-sounding writers you could encounter. She offers no extraneous commentary or analysis. She makes no attempt to tell what her opinion on Valerie Solanas or the feminist movement is. Fahs just presents the information she found in her research and lets it speak for itself. There isn’t much to say in criticism of her writing.
As for Valerie Solanas, it is fair to consider her a feminist even though she said she hated feminists and the feminist movement. The ideas she expressed in her writing may have been rudimentary but she identified some key issues that would later take precedence in gender theory in more recent times. She had to have been one of the most abrasive women who ever lived and so extreme in her personality that she might have been better off seeking out John Waters to produce her play instead of Andy Warhol. She had a wicked sense of humor too. But then the pain she felt in her life is so tragic that it feels almost wrong to look at her in a humorous light. Breanne Fahs’ Valerie Solanas is probably the only book that needs to be written about her. It is an interesting study of an interesting character but she probably didn’t achieve enough in life to merit more than one biography. This is unfortunate because she really was a brilliant woman. But Fahs’ book is so complete that another one may not be necessary anyways.
As far as problematic individuals go, Solanas’s childhood was not unique. She came from a broken family and her father probably molested her, though some members of the family think that is unlikely. Teenage pregnancies, delinquency, and incarceration were issues in her teenage years. Then, like so many other misfits of that era, Solanas found herself living in Greenwich Village, but poverty and homelessness made her life a challenge and she sometimes turned to prostitution to make enough money to live.
Also like so many misfits of her age, Valerie Solanas turned to writing in hopes of making a living. The SCUM Manifesto was penned as an incendiary tract and an attack on what we now would call the patriarchy. Solanas predated contemporary feminism by at least a decade. This slim volume was an over-the-top rant, combining high camp, acerbic humor, and serous critique of American society. At one level, it is hard to take seriously, but at another level it is hard not to take seriously. Solanas’s work made a strong impression on Marcel Girodias, owner of Olympia Press, who saw it as having potential to start a new revolution in literature. But Solanas’s relationship with Girodias got marred by her creeping mental illness, paranoia, and delusions of grandeur. The stress of being homeless in lower Manhattan made her mental instability a lot worse.
Valerie Solanas then became a fixture at Andy Warhol’s scene at The Factory. She wrote a play called Up Your Ass and approached Warhol to make it into a movie. Warhol was somewhat impressed but the manuscript got misplaced and Solanas went crazy trying to get it back from him. This led to her showing up at The Factory one day and shooting Andy Warhol. There is, however, a high probability that this was meant as a publicity stunt to draw attention to her writings. In any case, the author, Breanne Fahs, portrays Solanas’s confused thinking as best as she can. By that, it is meant that trying to understand and untangle what was going through her mind is bewildering at times and even, at some points, exhausting and not worth the mental effort.
The latter part of Valerie Solanas’s life is dealt with extensively. After going in and out of mental institutions and prisons, she went to work for a radical feminist newspaper. Her relationship with other prominent feminists of the time was acrimonious. Like a harpy who swooped down from a tree, she attacked almost everyone who came near her. She hated radical feminists as much as she hated the patriarchy and she was never afraid to say why. As a reader, whatever your views on gender politics are, you have to be honest about what happened; the feminists were trying to use Valerie Solanas for their own ends and she was one person who just did not want to be owned or used by anybody whether they be feminists, publishers, artists, Warhol, people she disagreed with, or even people she agreed with.
Eventually, Valerie Solanas ended up homeless, schizophrenic, and surviving by prostituting herself on the streets of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. No matter what you might think of her, reading about somebody who was so alone and incapable of managing her life is depressing. One thing you might take away from this book is that we need to do a better job of caring for the mentally ill. Valerie Solanas was at her most productive and creative when she had a stable income, a place to live, and was under psychiatric care. Despite her confusion, anger, and dangerous thinking that was manifested through self-harm, stalking, and an attempted assassination, you can still see how she had a good side to her in her belief in justice, peace, and progress. She was, in fact, deeply altruistic and wanted to make the world a better place for everyone. Her anger and violence were defense mechanisms that were probably exaggerated because she lived in the streets. Try sleeping on a big city sidewalk for one night and see how frightening that can be, then think about what it is like for people who live most of their lives that way. Add schizophrenia into that and you have a lifetime in hell.
Breanne Fahs has to be one of the most objective-sounding writers you could encounter. She offers no extraneous commentary or analysis. She makes no attempt to tell what her opinion on Valerie Solanas or the feminist movement is. Fahs just presents the information she found in her research and lets it speak for itself. There isn’t much to say in criticism of her writing.
As for Valerie Solanas, it is fair to consider her a feminist even though she said she hated feminists and the feminist movement. The ideas she expressed in her writing may have been rudimentary but she identified some key issues that would later take precedence in gender theory in more recent times. She had to have been one of the most abrasive women who ever lived and so extreme in her personality that she might have been better off seeking out John Waters to produce her play instead of Andy Warhol. She had a wicked sense of humor too. But then the pain she felt in her life is so tragic that it feels almost wrong to look at her in a humorous light. Breanne Fahs’ Valerie Solanas is probably the only book that needs to be written about her. It is an interesting study of an interesting character but she probably didn’t achieve enough in life to merit more than one biography. This is unfortunate because she really was a brilliant woman. But Fahs’ book is so complete that another one may not be necessary anyways.
May 11, 2020
I once heard it said that Valerie Solanas represented the lunatic fringe of the lunatic fringe of radical feminism. As is the case with a number of radical feminists from this period, Solanas was deeply troubled. Having suffered from abuse at an early age, resorted intermittently to prostitution, and suffered from obvious mental health problems for which she received little or inadequate help, she ended up shooting Andy Warhol, spending time in a psychiatric ward, and sleeping rough, her main claim to fame being a rant (well written, but impossible to take seriously) and an attempted celebrity murder. In a way, it's an argument for universal healthcare. What Fahs' biography highlights are the problems of writing about the life of an outsider, an unreliable narrator among mostly other unreliable narrators, who left few reliable records behind, except whatever was produced by the police or the hospitals Solanas passed through, if accessible. The account ends up relying on the subjective anecdotes and correspondence of those who knew the subject, or met her, who were of a colourful sort, to say the least (for example, her publisher—oh, my). The obscurity, extremity, and nebulousness of the subject would have made the project all the more challenging and fascinating, especially to someone sympathetic to Solanas. Obviously written by an admirer, but, to her credit, the author tells it warts and all.
June 28, 2015
I have to appreciate Fahs' ambition in even attempting to write a biography of someone as elusive and controversial as Valerie Solanas. Fahs contextualizes Solanas thoroughly, and is hesitant to extrapolate claims based on the small amount of available information. While this may be off-putting to some, I thought it was almost refreshingly honest, and since this is the first comprehensive biography of Solanas, one has to start from somewhere.
However, I didn't like the author's tendency to repeat herself and very dry narrative style. It felt like there was a lot of padding, both in the aforementioned repetition and in various biographical tangents about individual feminists, Warhol superstars, etc. Perhaps instead of a stand-alone biography, this would have worked better as a chapter in a book profiling multiple radical feminists.
However, I didn't like the author's tendency to repeat herself and very dry narrative style. It felt like there was a lot of padding, both in the aforementioned repetition and in various biographical tangents about individual feminists, Warhol superstars, etc. Perhaps instead of a stand-alone biography, this would have worked better as a chapter in a book profiling multiple radical feminists.
June 22, 2014
It's great to finally have this biography of Solanas. It's well-researched and engaging and really leaves it up to the reader what to take away from Solanas. Who was she? Radical feminist? Satirist? Genius? The bio wavers a bit in the sections after the shooting if Warhol with lots and lots of psychiatric reports that made my eyes swim but do shed light not only on Solanas but how we have failed (and still fail) to properly treat the mentally ill. Filled with great anecdotes, this is a great read for people who want more of Solanas' story and fills in the gaps, making her more than just the woman who shot Andy Warhol.
February 9, 2017
A comprehensive look at a troubled and unique woman. She had revolutionary ideas and lived on the fringes of society. I struggle to reconcile the fact that Valerie herself would not have wanted this book written about her. I found it good to read about a woman breaking society's expectations, and perhaps it would be better composed if there was more context to her words and actions. There definitely is some, but I would like more about the New York characters that filled many years of her life.
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August 8, 2015This book was fantastic. i couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it. We all need to remember feminism in the 70s. Valerie Solanas is a fascinating person, and this book is so well-written, the words just slide into your brain. This is the book I read for week one of the Feminist Press read-a-thon. If anyone would like to sponsor me and raise funds for the non-profit Feminist Press, here is my page:
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser...
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser...
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April 21, 2014This is an excellent biography. Fahs constructs a great biographical narrative about Solanas and her influence on early feminists. The story is both inspiring and tragic. I hope this book and other scholarship will help us to reassess Solanas.
November 10, 2014
Interesting book. Gives insight to a potentially crazy woman's thought process. A lot of history and a unique story.
September 24, 2016
4.5 stars. Really loved the middle section of the book (1968-early 1970s).
Read
August 24, 2025I am here now, reading her biography, still can not understand her totally. And because of this, she is much more lonely. See the long comments.
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怀着无比难受的情绪读完了这本书。
之前的女权群里有个朋友，她平时说话就比较以自我为中心一次说一堆。有一次她因为一个自称为女权的、相处很久的男性朋友的背叛，忽然崩溃了，在许多她所在的女权群里不断地发重复的消息。大家从尝试开导她到忍无可忍，于是我把她踢出群。
她过往和我私下的聊天不多，但还是比较喜欢和信任我的。几天后她情绪转好了，再问我能不能重新加她进群，我找了个理由拒绝了。
还有另一个朋友，她抑郁症闹着自杀的时候我去医院陪她，她开始讲自己的故事、在群里的发言也很奇怪，直到她被某个群的人网暴，我看在眼里甚至无法私信她一句支持。
见到 Valerie Solanas 的故事我也是同样的感受，可以像是激进女权主义者那样作为群体表达支持、可以作为个人远远地表达欣赏、甚至可以偶尔出借自己的屋子给她住。但是在她无差别攻击的时候还是会皱眉，在她状态不好无人理解的时候除了“建议去看心理咨询”（如果是当时的话心理咨询也是垃圾），完全无法给予也不愿意费心去尝试理解。
在我看来，Valerie Solanas的“疯”在于不被理解。未被纳入激进女权主义的进程、自由女权避之不及、普通社会大众和男性自然是更加厌恶。孤独、挫败、不被理解充斥着她大部分的人生，即使在枪击发生之后SCUM大卖，她依旧是独自一人。
作者从前言就提醒我们，不应该把枪击事件作为 Valerie 生命中最重要的事情，这样会抹掉她很多生活的复杂性。直到最后作者也没有写下一句评论，只说这是“复杂的一生”。
或许应该被记录的是，枪击案发生的诱因是她和一位女制片人没有谈拢，她拿出枪但是没有杀她，而是去找安迪沃霍尔；在向安迪开了数枪并击中之后，她还朝另一位相关的男性开枪了。
她的生活还有许多复杂的部分，比如年少时候被父亲性侵、14-15岁时生过两个孩子（一女一男）、异性性缘同性性缘出柜、与安迪有许多拉扯（非感情上）、枪击之后向安迪及其它许多男性发出过死亡威胁、因为枪击被判刑三年、多次被送进精神病院、一直有关系不错的男性好友、会接受来自女性和男性的帮助、无政府主义和共产主义者、一生贫困经常没有钱吃饭、没有尝试自杀过。
我也读过许多悲伤的故事和传记，女主们不被时代和社会理解，但都没有像 Valerie 的故事这么让我难受。
我想这是因为即使是当下的我，也无法完全理解她。
--
怀着无比难受的情绪读完了这本书。
之前的女权群里有个朋友，她平时说话就比较以自我为中心一次说一堆。有一次她因为一个自称为女权的、相处很久的男性朋友的背叛，忽然崩溃了，在许多她所在的女权群里不断地发重复的消息。大家从尝试开导她到忍无可忍，于是我把她踢出群。
她过往和我私下的聊天不多，但还是比较喜欢和信任我的。几天后她情绪转好了，再问我能不能重新加她进群，我找了个理由拒绝了。
还有另一个朋友，她抑郁症闹着自杀的时候我去医院陪她，她开始讲自己的故事、在群里的发言也很奇怪，直到她被某个群的人网暴，我看在眼里甚至无法私信她一句支持。
见到 Valerie Solanas 的故事我也是同样的感受，可以像是激进女权主义者那样作为群体表达支持、可以作为个人远远地表达欣赏、甚至可以偶尔出借自己的屋子给她住。但是在她无差别攻击的时候还是会皱眉，在她状态不好无人理解的时候除了“建议去看心理咨询”（如果是当时的话心理咨询也是垃圾），完全无法给予也不愿意费心去尝试理解。
在我看来，Valerie Solanas的“疯”在于不被理解。未被纳入激进女权主义的进程、自由女权避之不及、普通社会大众和男性自然是更加厌恶。孤独、挫败、不被理解充斥着她大部分的人生，即使在枪击发生之后SCUM大卖，她依旧是独自一人。
作者从前言就提醒我们，不应该把枪击事件作为 Valerie 生命中最重要的事情，这样会抹掉她很多生活的复杂性。直到最后作者也没有写下一句评论，只说这是“复杂的一生”。
或许应该被记录的是，枪击案发生的诱因是她和一位女制片人没有谈拢，她拿出枪但是没有杀她，而是去找安迪沃霍尔；在向安迪开了数枪并击中之后，她还朝另一位相关的男性开枪了。
她的生活还有许多复杂的部分，比如年少时候被父亲性侵、14-15岁时生过两个孩子（一女一男）、异性性缘同性性缘出柜、与安迪有许多拉扯（非感情上）、枪击之后向安迪及其它许多男性发出过死亡威胁、因为枪击被判刑三年、多次被送进精神病院、一直有关系不错的男性好友、会接受来自女性和男性的帮助、无政府主义和共产主义者、一生贫困经常没有钱吃饭、没有尝试自杀过。
我也读过许多悲伤的故事和传记，女主们不被时代和社会理解，但都没有像 Valerie 的故事这么让我难受。
我想这是因为即使是当下的我，也无法完全理解她。
Read
March 6, 2024"All she ever wanted to eat when she came down here was spaghetti. My mother would make her roast beef and gravy or anything and she'd say, 'Don't you have any spaghetti?' and my mother would say, 'All right, we'll make you some spaghetti.' As long as she had spaghetti, she didn't care."
December 16, 2016
Oh, gracious, Valerie Solanas, you were so wonderful and prophetic and bad ass and tragic. I knew I had to read this biography when A, I found out about the SCUM Manifesto and 2, heard people talking about Valerie by the way she smelled. Not bad, but her odor, people would mention her distinct and remarkable odor when speaking of her. Oh to be a human that people know by their smell! Clearly there is something very animalistic about her very being in the world. I had to read the only biography (true?) about her. Also, it was necessary research for a play I was working on. This book, though it did a great job with her early life and really attempted to be an advocate for her amidst all of the many contradictory accounts of her life, the author missed so many opportunities. Like the fact she escaped from high security mental institutions MULTIPLE TIMES was kind of mentioned as an afterthought. HOW DID SHE DO THIS??? Magic? Maybe. It’s a hard life to write an accurate description of being as how she was homeless most of the time, destroyed a lot of her own writing and others destroyed entire correspondence from her and she had only one box of possessions and fell off of existing except for when police would report her bathing in city fountains at 3AM. So, good job pulling all those threads together, Fahs. I really needed to learn about this iconic feminist drifter who fucking prophesied Viagra. I wish she could have had health care and a more sympathetic mental health evaluation than the 50s and 60s had to offer women. Who knows what else she could have prophesized.
February 8, 2018
Clearly a labor of love, Fahs does double duty here. One, she presents a full, in-depth picture of Valerie Solanas, the tortured arguably feminist (and arguably not) author famous for shooting and nearly killing Andy Warhol in 1968. Thankfully, the story neither starts nor ends there — nor should it, as Solanas was a fascinating character who led an interesting life. She was very much into her writing, particularly her 'SCUM Manifesto.' She was driven by artists' rights as much as her philosophy. Two, Fahs also plots the downfall of Solanas as she descended into schizo madness during the '70s and '80s until she died alone in April 1988. It's a sad story. I took my time reading it.
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May 30, 2014305.42092 F158 2014
September 27, 2017
I was amazed to hear that this is the only biography written about Valerie Solanis. Breanne Fahs did exhaustive research and interviewing to create this deep dive into the confusing, scattered story of the creative life of her life. It is also a slice of 1960's New York History, a peek into the Factory of Andy Warhol, and a fascinating exploration and historical document of "extreme" 1960's Feminism. It's just as valuable for the interviews, which include amazing revolutionaries in the feminist movement who navigated Valerie Solanis's chaotic but fiercely focused agenda. I honestly laughed a lot at a lot of Solanis's excerpted writing. I had no idea what a completely hilarious writer she was -
and yes, she meant to be funny, while also completely meaning everything she said. You can do both - she lived a life of paradoxes, in fact. While she wanted to "kill all men" she also gathered a "Men's Auxiliary" to support the cause (which included Andy Warhol himself). I loved the interview with the men she allowed into the movement, many of whom still were in awe of Solanis and what she accomplished. She was so much more than the woman who shot Andy Warhol and I am grateful this book was written.
and yes, she meant to be funny, while also completely meaning everything she said. You can do both - she lived a life of paradoxes, in fact. While she wanted to "kill all men" she also gathered a "Men's Auxiliary" to support the cause (which included Andy Warhol himself). I loved the interview with the men she allowed into the movement, many of whom still were in awe of Solanis and what she accomplished. She was so much more than the woman who shot Andy Warhol and I am grateful this book was written.
December 21, 2018
I enjoyed this book. But it also made me sad.
The book seems to shift from colour, to black and white and then back to colour again.
The book reserves judgement, reporting facts. We are left to make up our own minds about Valerie, her doings and her life.
I found Avital Ronell's introduction to SCUM manifesto more juicy, more telling, but it's much more targeted to literary theory.
Here's what I've learnt about Valerie:
She was writer, not a feminist...a social propagandist. She took her manifesto to the streets, to spread the word, to affect social change. She lived her writing.
She was singular. Like Kathy Acker, her writing is about freeing oneself from patriarchy. Like Kathy she is a formalist, and form follows function.
“Laughter, montage, editing”...
She wasn’t interested in money. Or meaningless work. But she was interested in publicity to further her cause, which was also to be recognized as a writer.
She had drive and focus, but this was, over time affected by her mental health, which possibly both fueled and destroyed her.
On the margins, rising from the slime...
The book seems to shift from colour, to black and white and then back to colour again.
The book reserves judgement, reporting facts. We are left to make up our own minds about Valerie, her doings and her life.
I found Avital Ronell's introduction to SCUM manifesto more juicy, more telling, but it's much more targeted to literary theory.
Here's what I've learnt about Valerie:
She was writer, not a feminist...a social propagandist. She took her manifesto to the streets, to spread the word, to affect social change. She lived her writing.
She was singular. Like Kathy Acker, her writing is about freeing oneself from patriarchy. Like Kathy she is a formalist, and form follows function.
“Laughter, montage, editing”...
She wasn’t interested in money. Or meaningless work. But she was interested in publicity to further her cause, which was also to be recognized as a writer.
She had drive and focus, but this was, over time affected by her mental health, which possibly both fueled and destroyed her.
On the margins, rising from the slime...
January 29, 2023
I read this book for school and found it to be deepdive that was brutally honest in the glee, discomfort, gratingness, and hardship of Solanas' life. The best thing that can be said about this book is that I am never sure where Valerie Solanas would like or hate it—it’s deeply truthful about her life and times, and embraces, rather than seeking to simplify, the many ambiguous and contradicting elements that made up her time on this earth. The narrative is incredibly written and pays tribute to Solanas' wild and indomitable spirit. As I was reading this I was never sure whether I deeply disliked Solanas or was overwhelmingly fond of her, but hearing the testaments of everyone who knew her made me more curious than ever. This book was an education in not just Valerie, but in American history, feminist theory, and an examination of the things that can push women to the fringes of society. I recommend it endlessly.
July 18, 2016
I read this because I was working a conference with this as a featured book/author and I forgot my own reading book (boo!). I finished it over my lunch breaks. It sucked me right in, honestly, and was a compelling narrative at times. It was clearly exhaustively researched in a way that no one has addressed the topic before. That said, there were some gaping holes in the narrative, and some repetitive episodes. Maybe inevitable given the info available. I wanted more -- more analysis, more of the author's opinion, more modern reactions to Solanas and SCUM. Maybe she was trying too hard to be unbiased -- I would have liked some more bias and contemporary context. Very informative about a specific time in the women's movement though (I also sold books to Ti-Grace at the conference. We talked about the weather).
November 25, 2021
This bio should be used as a model for all biographies. Deeply informed, deeply interested in and knowledgable about about its subject (Valerie Solanas), deeply compassionate. Serves as a history of the early years of sixties feminist movements - exposing the hypocrisies and solidarities of well-known personalities such as Ti-Grace Atkinson, Flo Kennedy... Recreates conversations and personalities of nearly everyone Valerie was in contact with, which means a lot of fabled characters in Warhol's clique, at the Factory, the Chelsea, radical movements, Valerie's fam of origin, followers (at least for a time), and on and on. Always exposing the self-serving and self-satisfying. Valerie was severely damaged via childhood, hugely intelligent, frustrated by sexism, ie, at the graduate department - she was going for a PhD and realized grants, positions etc. were reserved for men. Anyway. I loved this book. I always found Solanas sympathetic with and without the troubles. First time I read SCUM I liked it -with some guilt, more humor, and much appreciation. Sometimes it takes some crazy to make a person brave.
March 25, 2023
Solanas was not just the woman who shot Andy Warhol. She was someone who struggled with abuse, mental illness, perfectionism, and survival. Because she was so flighty and at times, paranoid, she left very little record of herself outside of letters. Fahs relies on anecdotes to construct Valerie's story--one that only Valerie had ever wanted to write. Unfortunately, Valerie is no longer here to tell her own tale, so Fahs does her best to pick up the facts and write as objectively as she can. In my opinion, Fahs succeeded with what little she had.
Solanas' life was a whirlwind at best. She struggled greatly with paranoia and perfection, convinced that her publishing rights were being taken away. And, in a way, they were. Kindness given to her was a threat, and she felt that she was spearheading a movement that would actually get shit done.
Moving beyond her attempted assassination, Fahs gives us insight on her childhood, time spent in NYC, and life after the famous shooting. Overall, such an interesting biography, and one that I think anyone who's read the SCUM Manifesto should read.
Solanas' life was a whirlwind at best. She struggled greatly with paranoia and perfection, convinced that her publishing rights were being taken away. And, in a way, they were. Kindness given to her was a threat, and she felt that she was spearheading a movement that would actually get shit done.
Moving beyond her attempted assassination, Fahs gives us insight on her childhood, time spent in NYC, and life after the famous shooting. Overall, such an interesting biography, and one that I think anyone who's read the SCUM Manifesto should read.
December 7, 2018
This biographical book written by Breanne Fahs, does a good job at portraying the life of Valerie Solanas. I love that the author portrays Valerie’s biggest life accomplishments as writing the SCUM manifesto before shooting Andy Warhol because I think that Valerie is so often recognized for her sole action of shooting Andy Warhol.
The author does a great job at telling Solanas story in an understanding manner, bringing up her childhood and traumatic events as key events that lead to her writing the SCUM manifesto. I also really love that the author incorporated quotes and small conversations that relate to Valerie’s life stories and further narrate her actions.
The reason that I’m not giving this book a 5 star review is because Valerie Solanas is a person shrouded in mystery, in this book the author does pin Valerie’s actions on her “wobbly mental health” but in reality it is impossible to truly decipher if it was her mental health of societies dismissal of her feminist values that caused her to shoot Andy Warhol.
The author does a great job at telling Solanas story in an understanding manner, bringing up her childhood and traumatic events as key events that lead to her writing the SCUM manifesto. I also really love that the author incorporated quotes and small conversations that relate to Valerie’s life stories and further narrate her actions.
The reason that I’m not giving this book a 5 star review is because Valerie Solanas is a person shrouded in mystery, in this book the author does pin Valerie’s actions on her “wobbly mental health” but in reality it is impossible to truly decipher if it was her mental health of societies dismissal of her feminist values that caused her to shoot Andy Warhol.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2021
A really fantastic biography of a woman about whom most people know one notorious thing. Fahs has a lot of compassion for Valerie, and does a great job of showing both difficult sides of the story: Valerie was a deeply troubled paranoid schizophrenic (who, the book does a great job at pointing out, is much more stable when she had government housing and income) who had delusions of persecution while at the same time she was used by Warhol, Maurice Girodias did absolutely steal her work (and her potential), and even the feminist who stood up for her after the shooting used her words and name to boost their fame, while Valerie saw none of the profits and was never taken seriously as a writer or a thinker.
November 29, 2018
Solanas was a radical feminist who shot Andy Warhol, and this book covers her life and struggle for the better part of it with mental illness that left her paranoid, obsessive and delusional. The book does its best to uncover the reality of who she was, but she still seems quite obscure at the end of it. Rather than a look at a brilliant feminist mind (which many argue she was), it covers more her mental illness, and the awful way that it ruled her life.
part-read
April 8, 2019I read some of this for general background, and to understand what was fact and what was fiction in Sara Stridsberg's novel about Solanas, The Faculty of Dreams. Fahs' book was useful, because, not only does it contain details of what's known of Solanas' life, but also other radical feminists' opinions about VS and her works. It can be found on Google Books.
February 5, 2021
Valerie Solanas is a compelling character and the bizarre story of her tragic life kept me riveted. It appears that Fahs did a tremendous amount of research and presented an objective study of Solonas. My only quibbles are that it was a bit repetitive in parts and the chronology, especially in the years immediately following the shooting of Warhol when Solonas was in and out of mental institutions and prison, was a bit disjointed and confusing (at least to me).
February 10, 2021
Everyone knows there are two parts to Valeria Solanas' life: Before she shot Andy Warhol and After she shot Andy Warhol. It was the After I wanted to hear about, and Breanne Fahs did her level best to bring it to me, although the information was limited to what was still available.
This was a great expose on Solanas and Fahs did a great job of delivering the most information I've heard to date about her life after Warhol and the tragic circumstances surrounding her final days.
This was a great expose on Solanas and Fahs did a great job of delivering the most information I've heard to date about her life after Warhol and the tragic circumstances surrounding her final days.
February 13, 2024
This was an extraordinary biography of a forgotten woman. Fahs manages to portray Solanas as a human, which is in stark contrast to how those who knew her (but loved Warhol) referred to her.
This book will provide material for my upcoming work ‘WAR-HOLE MANIFESTO’.
This book will provide material for my upcoming work ‘WAR-HOLE MANIFESTO’.
May 28, 2024
As a book, a biography, it is excellent. A great constantly interesting read.
One can feel love for the damaged subject while understanding that it is a relief that she’s not going to ring from the downstairs door in need of a place to crash.
One can feel love for the damaged subject while understanding that it is a relief that she’s not going to ring from the downstairs door in need of a place to crash.
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