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Icon
“In this collection commissioned by Amy Scholder, nine original essays explore the specific and personal impact of cultural icons.” —Publishers Weekly Whose poster hung on your wall as a teenager? Whose record did you wear out? Whose life story could you not resist? Fascination works in mysterious ways—it can be born out of inspiration, or repulsion, or both. In these daring essays, some of the most provocative writers of our time offer a private view on a public figure. In the process, they reveal themselves in beautiful and unexpected ways, blurring the line between biography and memoir. Original essays include Introduction by Amy Scholder, Mary Gaitskill on Linda Lovelace, Rick Moody on Karen Dalton, Johanna Fateman on Andrea Dworkin, Danielle Henderson on bell hooks, Hanne Blank on MFK Fisher, Kate Zambreno on Kathy Acker, Justin Vivian Bond on Karen Graham, Jill Nelson on Aretha Franklin, and Zoe Pilger on Mary Gaitskill “A smart plunge into fandom’s sober fringe.” —Wayne Koestenbaum, author of My 1980s and Other Essays
202 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 15, 2014
5 people are currently reading
344 people want to read
About the author
Amy Scholder
19 books8 followersAmy Scholder was the editorial director of the Feminist Press for six years. She has also served as editor-in-chief of Seven Stories Press, US publisher of Verso, founding co-editor of HIGH RISK Books/Serpent’s Tail, and editor at City Lights Books. Over the years, she has published the work of Sapphire, Karen Finley, June Jordan, Kate Bornstein, Kathy Acker, David Wojnarowicz, Joni Mitchell, Jill Johnson, Kate Millett, Elfriede Jelinek, Muriel Rukeyser, Laurie Weeks, Justin Vivian Bond, Virginie Despentes, Ana Castillo, and many other award-winning authors. She lives in New York and Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 7, 2015
I loved this book. Like any book of essays some are better than others but one sign of a good book is when i start making notes about other things i have to read or music i need to find. Now I need to read bell hooks (from margin to center), read kathy acker again, listen to Karen Dalton (who i had never heard of), revisit Andrea Dworkin, and re-read Mary Gaitskill. Actually the essay on Mary Gaitskill was the weakest for me, the author didn't have the same reading of the story she kept revisiting as I did; and for some reason continually referenced her OWN book (which completely put me off reading it). The story she kept referencing was "A Romantic Weekend" from Bad Behavior (which apparently was published in 1988. i remember reading it in my high school's library. i am very very creaky old) The story concerns a couple on a sort of BDSM 'dirty weekend' or whatever, and they are clearly both playing roles that are just slightly off for the enactment of a successful affair. The icon writer reads the female lead as 'self abasing' and even as a teenager i totally saw her as the stronger of the pair--the one who couldn't finally subvert herself into this relationship, and saw her role in the relationship as a compromise she couldn't make because she's disapointed with the man's performance as the dominant. Anyway. I love Gaitskill, she is one of my favourites for sure. She's one of those writers where you feel like you have a relationship with their work, I read her so early and eagerly in my development as a reader; and re-read her over the years and was just as affected every time.
Where was I? Oh yes, Icon--excellent. Perfectly captures the way you become obsessed with the details of an artist you idealize, and how you mull them over, and make them part of your worldview. Very satisfying book. At the start the editor is talking about her obsession with the Manson girls, and how she couldn't read enough about them (having also read Helter Skelter as a teen OMG i can relate) The writer is Amy Scholder and she says "I would look for details of the girls' lives, hoping to make sense of my fascination. But often, when I'd scratch the surface I'd only find more surface. Public figures easily become symbols, ideas, icons. But the fascination doesn't diminish. What I've come to realize is that in looking for them, I look for myself as well."
Where was I? Oh yes, Icon--excellent. Perfectly captures the way you become obsessed with the details of an artist you idealize, and how you mull them over, and make them part of your worldview. Very satisfying book. At the start the editor is talking about her obsession with the Manson girls, and how she couldn't read enough about them (having also read Helter Skelter as a teen OMG i can relate) The writer is Amy Scholder and she says "I would look for details of the girls' lives, hoping to make sense of my fascination. But often, when I'd scratch the surface I'd only find more surface. Public figures easily become symbols, ideas, icons. But the fascination doesn't diminish. What I've come to realize is that in looking for them, I look for myself as well."
December 7, 2014
This is a really interesting collection of essays by authors writing about their icons while also writing about themselves.
All of the essays are well written and fascinating, but some worked better for me than others - my favourite was Mary Gaitskill writing about Linda Lovelace which I found challenging and also awesome, because you know, it's Mary Gaitskill who is the best writer in the world.
Other essays that stood out for me were Johanna Fateman on Andrea Dworkin (want to read some dworkin now), Danielle Henderson on bell hooks (yep, also need to read more hooks) and Justin Vivian Bond on Karen Graham (particulary liked Justin's mantra - "keep it pretty, keep it shallow, keep it moving").
I could read stuff like this forever.
All of the essays are well written and fascinating, but some worked better for me than others - my favourite was Mary Gaitskill writing about Linda Lovelace which I found challenging and also awesome, because you know, it's Mary Gaitskill who is the best writer in the world.
Other essays that stood out for me were Johanna Fateman on Andrea Dworkin (want to read some dworkin now), Danielle Henderson on bell hooks (yep, also need to read more hooks) and Justin Vivian Bond on Karen Graham (particulary liked Justin's mantra - "keep it pretty, keep it shallow, keep it moving").
I could read stuff like this forever.
January 19, 2015
Editor Amy Scholder, longtime editor of two of my favorite presses (Feminist Press and Seven Stories Press), invites us to take a look into the smarter side of celebrity obsession in her newest collection of essays, Icon. From the age of six, watching her mother cry over Judy Garland’s death, growing up with an obsession with the Manson family’s girls, talking to a friend and colleague about the women’s love of Amy Winehouse only to discover the person had only ever heard a single Winehouse song, Scholder says “I’ve always thought that the weirdest thing about celebrity culture is the level of intimacy we feel with people we don’t know.”
Celebrity worship is something I’ve been struggling with a lot lately – not so much that I’m on the side of worship, but I’m in a place where I struggle to allow myself to admire people I’ve yet to met no matter how big a fan I am of their music or their writing or their social activism, etc. There’s something about creative output – it ultimately shows a person’s BEST. It’s easy to become obsessed with that best part of them and forget that surrounding it is this messy, slightly above average, human like the rest of us.
Luckily, the authors of Icon’s essays have moved beyond sophomoric love affairs with celebrities the way people grow out of creating Taylor Swift fan blogs or dedicating Twitter accounts to Kim Kardashian. Theirs is mainly an academic love; a love of the, importantly, output of the celebrities rather than a shameless obsession of the person themselves.
A short summary of the authors involved / the icons profiled: Mary Gaitskill waxes poetic on the mysterious Linda Lovelace, and herself is later admired by Zoe Pilger. Riot Grrrl Johanna Fateman of Le Tigre outlines her personal plans to write an entirely separate book about tough and gritty Andrea Dworkin. Jill Nelsons (author of Sexual Healing) reflects on her startings of sexual freedom as narrated through Aretha Franklin’s song “Respect.” Rick Moody, cited music laymen fanatic thanks to his book On Celestial Music, again takes an in depth look on Karen Dalton. Hanne Blank (A Girl’s Gotta Eat) wonders whether or not her icon MFK Fisher’s food writing and acclaim will ever be something she herself can achieve without Fisher’s thin privilege. Danielle Henderson (creator of Feminist Ryan Gosling) talks about the moment of reading bell hooks when feminism finally felt like a space open for her as well. Trans-author Justin Vivian Bond remembers how as a teen she would project herself and her own chances to create the beautiful life she craved onto Este Lauder model Karen Graham. Green Girl author Kate Zambreno wanders through New York, seeking for the Edie Sedgwicks running their nylons through the town, the Kathy Acker’s taking a stand.
What really makes Icon work is the way each author takes on explaining their icon, what they meant and how they’ll live on. Some authors, like Rick Moody and Mary Gaitskill, take a straight biographical look into their icons. Danielle Henderson and Zoe Pilger harldy look into the lives of their icons at all, focusing solely on the way their written words touched their lives. Johanna Fateman, Jill Nelson and Justin Vivian Bond trace the connections between themselves and their icons, where their stories connect and what their icons have taught them. Hanne Blank does almost the opposite, at first professing her love for MFK Fisher, then realizing the advantages given to Fisher because of her beauty are mountains she herself may never be able to overcome. Kate Zambreno, perhaps most uniquely of all, holds a written séance with Kathy Acker, attempting to talk to her icon, to learn how the women avoiding selling in to literary boredom and stale publishing.
Celebrity worship is messy. As many of the authors admit, even our greatest heroes say things and do things we can’t agree with. Even our icons let us down. The fact of the matter is, our heroes, whether they be the same icons represented here or even the authors of the essays themselves, are all messy people, only more accomplished than us.
Celebrity worship is something I’ve been struggling with a lot lately – not so much that I’m on the side of worship, but I’m in a place where I struggle to allow myself to admire people I’ve yet to met no matter how big a fan I am of their music or their writing or their social activism, etc. There’s something about creative output – it ultimately shows a person’s BEST. It’s easy to become obsessed with that best part of them and forget that surrounding it is this messy, slightly above average, human like the rest of us.
Luckily, the authors of Icon’s essays have moved beyond sophomoric love affairs with celebrities the way people grow out of creating Taylor Swift fan blogs or dedicating Twitter accounts to Kim Kardashian. Theirs is mainly an academic love; a love of the, importantly, output of the celebrities rather than a shameless obsession of the person themselves.
A short summary of the authors involved / the icons profiled: Mary Gaitskill waxes poetic on the mysterious Linda Lovelace, and herself is later admired by Zoe Pilger. Riot Grrrl Johanna Fateman of Le Tigre outlines her personal plans to write an entirely separate book about tough and gritty Andrea Dworkin. Jill Nelsons (author of Sexual Healing) reflects on her startings of sexual freedom as narrated through Aretha Franklin’s song “Respect.” Rick Moody, cited music laymen fanatic thanks to his book On Celestial Music, again takes an in depth look on Karen Dalton. Hanne Blank (A Girl’s Gotta Eat) wonders whether or not her icon MFK Fisher’s food writing and acclaim will ever be something she herself can achieve without Fisher’s thin privilege. Danielle Henderson (creator of Feminist Ryan Gosling) talks about the moment of reading bell hooks when feminism finally felt like a space open for her as well. Trans-author Justin Vivian Bond remembers how as a teen she would project herself and her own chances to create the beautiful life she craved onto Este Lauder model Karen Graham. Green Girl author Kate Zambreno wanders through New York, seeking for the Edie Sedgwicks running their nylons through the town, the Kathy Acker’s taking a stand.
What really makes Icon work is the way each author takes on explaining their icon, what they meant and how they’ll live on. Some authors, like Rick Moody and Mary Gaitskill, take a straight biographical look into their icons. Danielle Henderson and Zoe Pilger harldy look into the lives of their icons at all, focusing solely on the way their written words touched their lives. Johanna Fateman, Jill Nelson and Justin Vivian Bond trace the connections between themselves and their icons, where their stories connect and what their icons have taught them. Hanne Blank does almost the opposite, at first professing her love for MFK Fisher, then realizing the advantages given to Fisher because of her beauty are mountains she herself may never be able to overcome. Kate Zambreno, perhaps most uniquely of all, holds a written séance with Kathy Acker, attempting to talk to her icon, to learn how the women avoiding selling in to literary boredom and stale publishing.
Celebrity worship is messy. As many of the authors admit, even our greatest heroes say things and do things we can’t agree with. Even our icons let us down. The fact of the matter is, our heroes, whether they be the same icons represented here or even the authors of the essays themselves, are all messy people, only more accomplished than us.
May 17, 2015
Not even the Danielle Henderson essay on bell hooks could save this for me.
June 9, 2016
Some good, some better, some bad. All of them introducing me to new ideas, writers, music, nail on the head hitting lines, etc.
August 11, 2024
This was an absolutely fantastic reading experience. The crossover of some of my favourite folks introducing me to some of their favourite folks, people that they deem iconic, was pretty badass.
Mary Gaitskill talking about Linda Lovelace and then Zoe Pilger talking about Mary Gaitskill was next level and I didn't know that I needed that in my life. Hanne Blank on M.F.K. Fisher was really interesting and I love reading writers getting super META about the books and authors that changed, shaped their lives and reading experience over years and how they internalized that and spit that out back to the community to readers everywhere. Even deeper what happens when their perceptions change on those icons who reveal themselves to be flawed or layered in ways that they weren't expecting. It's candy if you like that sort of stuff.
Danielle Henderson talking about bell hooks, put me in its crosshairs. It literally took me out, I felt so seen and just it's crazy how so many people can have the same experience learning about someone recognizing that there's someone in the world who's already discussed the multitudes of feelings you're feeling and they've studied it and they've given you a framework for it and way to look into it that examines who your entire being is in the world. It's next level. This is possibly one of my favourite books now and it's definitely one of the best books I've read this year.
LASTLY, Kate Zambreno! Whom I love! Talking about someone I'm not that familiar with, but whom I now want to know everything about, Kathy Acker. Zambreno's Icon, the person that she talks to in the air, in the mirror, in her writing - as she tries to shape a life narrative or document a reality. That was an education. They saved that for last and it GAVE. It's still giving what it needs to give. I can see myself returning to this book again and again and again.
Mary Gaitskill talking about Linda Lovelace and then Zoe Pilger talking about Mary Gaitskill was next level and I didn't know that I needed that in my life. Hanne Blank on M.F.K. Fisher was really interesting and I love reading writers getting super META about the books and authors that changed, shaped their lives and reading experience over years and how they internalized that and spit that out back to the community to readers everywhere. Even deeper what happens when their perceptions change on those icons who reveal themselves to be flawed or layered in ways that they weren't expecting. It's candy if you like that sort of stuff.
Danielle Henderson talking about bell hooks, put me in its crosshairs. It literally took me out, I felt so seen and just it's crazy how so many people can have the same experience learning about someone recognizing that there's someone in the world who's already discussed the multitudes of feelings you're feeling and they've studied it and they've given you a framework for it and way to look into it that examines who your entire being is in the world. It's next level. This is possibly one of my favourite books now and it's definitely one of the best books I've read this year.
LASTLY, Kate Zambreno! Whom I love! Talking about someone I'm not that familiar with, but whom I now want to know everything about, Kathy Acker. Zambreno's Icon, the person that she talks to in the air, in the mirror, in her writing - as she tries to shape a life narrative or document a reality. That was an education. They saved that for last and it GAVE. It's still giving what it needs to give. I can see myself returning to this book again and again and again.
May 11, 2019
Icons on icons. Where the factual, the subjective, and the confessional merge to form a whole.
February 10, 2022
Very fun and easy read! Read in less than a week. Highly recommend!
December 26, 2024
Punchy series of thoughtful and witty essays
July 25, 2023
This is not a new book and in fact I got it because it is difficult to find writing by Kathy Acker at my library, but I am glad I did. I learned so much and picked up some interesting people that I don't know I would have run across another way: the musician Karen Dalton, for one. This is worth a read both for the people as topics and for the other work by the authors of the essays.
May 12, 2015
"I began to imagine how other writers might respond, given the chance to write about their icons, and asked some of my favorites to contribute to this book. The answers were totally unpredictable. I am stunned by the emotional intensity they have each brought to this project. I've always thought that the weirdest thing about celebrity culture is the level of intimacy we feel with people we don't know. These contributors explore the depths of such haunted relationships with disarming grace, and in the process, reveal themselves." p.14
This collection of essays has been on my shelf for months. I couldn't even remember why I had requested it from the library. Finally, I realized I had been looking for something to read that Kate Zambreno had written. Unfortunately, her essay on Kathy Acker was my least favorite. However, I may have never found this book without her participation in this project.
I have given this collection three stars because my reaction to these essays was mixed. I really couldn't read Zambreno's and Gaitskill's subject was a real surprise. I haven't thought about Linda Lovelace in decades.
However, I would have been sad not to meet both Danielle Henderson and Justin Vivian Bond. Both of them told me about their icon, but more importantly they told me about their lives. Our lives will never be similar and I want to know about people whose lives are so different from mine.
Most importantly, I got reintroduced to Hanne Blank. I had read her book, Virgin: The Untouched History and I got very bored. However, her essay on MFK Fisher deserves five stars. I wanted it to keep going. I learned some things about Fisher, and I learned more about Blank. Most importantly I learned a lot about myself.
What she had to say about being a fat woman who is interested in food pointed out some of my prejudices. I am saddened by what I learned about myself, but grateful for the insights Blank helped me understand. I hope I can remember not to be so judgmental.
I did not know all of these people's names or history before I started these essays. I am very glad to have met some new people and become reaquainted with some old friends. This collection has an intriguing theme and the authors made the most of it.
If you like meeting new people, learning about authors that you may have missed or thinking about popular culture and celebrities, these essays are for you.
This collection of essays has been on my shelf for months. I couldn't even remember why I had requested it from the library. Finally, I realized I had been looking for something to read that Kate Zambreno had written. Unfortunately, her essay on Kathy Acker was my least favorite. However, I may have never found this book without her participation in this project.
I have given this collection three stars because my reaction to these essays was mixed. I really couldn't read Zambreno's and Gaitskill's subject was a real surprise. I haven't thought about Linda Lovelace in decades.
However, I would have been sad not to meet both Danielle Henderson and Justin Vivian Bond. Both of them told me about their icon, but more importantly they told me about their lives. Our lives will never be similar and I want to know about people whose lives are so different from mine.
Most importantly, I got reintroduced to Hanne Blank. I had read her book, Virgin: The Untouched History and I got very bored. However, her essay on MFK Fisher deserves five stars. I wanted it to keep going. I learned some things about Fisher, and I learned more about Blank. Most importantly I learned a lot about myself.
What she had to say about being a fat woman who is interested in food pointed out some of my prejudices. I am saddened by what I learned about myself, but grateful for the insights Blank helped me understand. I hope I can remember not to be so judgmental.
I did not know all of these people's names or history before I started these essays. I am very glad to have met some new people and become reaquainted with some old friends. This collection has an intriguing theme and the authors made the most of it.
If you like meeting new people, learning about authors that you may have missed or thinking about popular culture and celebrities, these essays are for you.
February 9, 2015
I didn't read the Kindle edition, actually, but that's apparently the only listing for this book on Goodreads. And while we're on the subject, I didn't read the whole book, actually, either, but I read most of it, and I'm glad I did. High points include Johanna Fateman's essay on Andrea Dworkin (contrarians rule), Hanne Blank's essay on MFK Fisher (even if you're not a Fisher fan, and I'm not), and Justin Vivian Bond's captivating essay on Karen Graham. Mary Gaitskill's disturbing essay on Linda Lovelace is also compelling, and Kate Zombreno's séance with Kathy Acker has its moments, too.
If you're an obsessive freak prone to hero worship (table for one, please!), or even if you're not, if you're remotely intrigued by any of these authors, or their subjects, then Icon is worth your time.
If you're an obsessive freak prone to hero worship (table for one, please!), or even if you're not, if you're remotely intrigued by any of these authors, or their subjects, then Icon is worth your time.
June 27, 2016
Wow, this is the summer of strong women writers for me, one book after another of amazing work. This anthology started my reading binge. A great idea, to ask people the editor knew were strong writers to write on somebody they considered an icon from the 60s/early 70s. So you get a historical overview, possibly learn about some people you missed along the way, as well as a sampling of some really strong current talent. The editor does a great job of organizing the material as well, front-loading the book with what are arguably the 2 best-written essays, so it starts off with a bang. This is another short book, no reason not to pick it up and read it.
October 20, 2015
I want to give this five stars and two stars so I'll give it three—Gaitskill on Lovelace and Zambreno on Acker (both, always) pulling the major weight of the collection and of the stars.
Lots of criticism for the essay ON Gaitskill maybe just skip that one
Lots of criticism for the essay ON Gaitskill maybe just skip that one
September 22, 2015
Some essays were better than others, but I'd like to think of this as a sampler of the writing both by interesting feminist scholars and an introduction to both what an icon is to different people and the backstory of the actual icon herself.
December 28, 2014
Some essays were great, some were just ok. The ones I liked were Johanna Fateman on Andrea Dworkin, Hanne Blank on MFK Fisher, Danielle Henderson on bell hooks, and Zoe Pilger on Mary Gaitskill
February 24, 2015
Johanna Fateman on Andrea Dworkin and Kate Zambreno on Kathy Acker were the standouts for me.
December 27, 2015
Some essays I loved, others I liked just okay, but a fun read overall.
September 26, 2016
There are a few interesting essays in here but most of them are variations on "hi I like this icon now buy my book"
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews