Academonia

by Dodie Bellamy

Fiction. Cultural Writing. Essays. A series of essays, ACADEMONIA is also an epic narrative of survival against institutional deadening and the proscriptiveness that shoots the young writer like poison darts from all sides. Here Bellamy, "explores the prickly intersection among these [institutional] spaces as it moves through institutions such as the academy, the experimental writing communities of the Bay Area, feminist and sexual identities, and group therapy. Continuing the work that she began in The Letters of Mina Harker pushing memoir and confession out of its safety zones and into its difficulties, this book provokes as it critiques and it critiques and yet at the same time manages to delight with its hope"-Juliana Spahr.

Genres: Nonfiction, Poetry, Essays

144 pages

First published June 30, 2006

About the author

Dodie Bellamy is an American novelist, nonfiction author, journalist and editor. Her work is frequently associated with that of Dennis Cooper, Kathy Acker, and Eileen Myles. She is one of the originators in the New Narrative literary movement, which attempts to use the tools of experimental fiction and critical theory and apply them to narrative storytelling.

She ist married to Kevin Killian.

Reviews

[Imogen · Rating 5 out of 5]

After hearing her name a million times, I finally got ahold of one of Dodie Bellamy's books! It felt like... um, not like coming home, because that's a pretty boring way to put something. But it made sense to me; the whole thing is a meditation on the discomfort/awkwardness that comes from the necessity of writing experimental- or "experimental"- fiction. It makes sense that she's the lady one who hangs out with Dennis Cooper and Kevin Killian and those folks. I'm trying to think of a way to say "she does kind of a lady version of what they do" that doesn't sound kind of, like, grounded on bullshit assumptions of what a "lady version" f something would be, but she does spend time interrogating exactly that subject- what it's like to be the mostly straight woman who grew up as a writer among queer men writing in a style they came up with. Ish. Anyway, she is funny and bad ass and smart and I bought a ton of her other books from Small Press Distribution when I finished this one. W000t.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

this has been part of my 'women who give a big fuck you to the avant-garde's rejection of of personal experience' reading binge--it's been quite satisfying.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dodie Bellamy has freed me.

[mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

tbd

[Marcelo · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are so lucky to have Dodie Bellamy.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my new year's resolutions is to read more of this experimental, "new narrative" stuff.

not all of these essays/poems/poetic stories are 100% masterpieces, but enough of them knock it out of the fucking park for me to say that academonia is one of my favorites of the year. there's an essay about cats, for example, that is THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER READ ABOUT OWNING A PET EVER. i mean, i can't think of other great literary works of pet ownership offhand - so that might not be saying much - but it's still a substantial achievement. bellamy has a brilliant knack for combining everyday thoughts and experimental techniques without seeming either willfully obscure or boringly literal. she's especially good when discussing mundane details like cat puke or what it feels like to lie next to a friend during yoga class.

i don't read as much self-consciously "challenging" fiction as i used to. on the one hand, this is because i find that flashy techniques don't always convince me the way they used to (which is often for good reason - at age 35, i've watched my share of mediocre thinkers hide behind a wall of theory). but on the other hand, i suspect a kind of complacency or normative prejudice within myself when i look at my recent bookshelf. academonia takes the grand experiments i loved when first discovering avant garde art-making and approaches them with an accute bullshit-odometer capable of separating the gimmicky from the profound. bellamy's writing pivots toward the technique that best suits her specific inquiry with little concern about how esoteric or literal or confessional or intimidating the results may be. there's a fearlessness to her approach that i find addictive. i finished this book wanting more.

[Piper Selden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creative writing meets the Academy in this unconventional collection of essays. Personal and professional intersect in surprising and sometimes uncomfortable ways. Questions Bellamy poses: How does the writer figure out how to write? How does she balance the writing life with the personal? How will she claim her content among censorious voices (Academy, colleagues, friends, family, even the self)? Can the avant-garde create forms that speak to political and spiritual crisis? Can desire exist in a world of networking structures? To the keepers of the status quo, what is so scary about experimental writing? A book that leaves the reader asking questions and thinking critically about what it means to be a working writer.

[Tina Dalton · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing. It's freaky and weird, but also SO amazing. In class I'm studying a genre called New Narrative. It's not necessarily poetry, but something called poetic prose. New Narrative seeks to mess with the boundaries between the different parts of the author's life. Its all about ugly feelings and "operatic suffering." Basically, they try to write about the most intimate and embarrassing aspects of their life, or life in general. Sex, humiliations, bulimia, sex, sex, sex. I wouldn't recommend this for your everyday leisurely read, but it is an eye-opening experience and I felt it quite refreshing to read someone whose narrative is so unfettered.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

another on my list of mlk weekend medocino beach books . reading this book i worry for my naeve, pre-mfa self. little self whispers- don't do it child - don't go in front of those in power with agendas for writing. who knows. i also appreciate her account of the language of bulemia which got me to thinking on the language of anorexia . i think when i was 'anorexic' i was most creative / wrote the most expansively. though at this moment, i think the language of anorexia looks like this :

[Blake Nemec · Rating 4 out of 5]

These experimental essays refuse submission to academia, in every way. The first essay uses Lady Jane Grey, the character who got her head chopped off, as an anecdote to her precarious relationship to academia.
It is vulnerable, smart, clear and like all New Narrative, stitched with controversies of other New Narrative usual suspects, like Robert Gluck.
A must read for anyone wondering what New Narrative tenets are.

[Tracy Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I realized it was a memoir, I really appreciated her insight with her essays. Although, my favorite was definitely her short story Sexspace, and wish there were others more like it within the book.

[Ronald Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scary smart, witty and thoroughly enjoyable read.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the best pick-me-up for a queer weirdo (I won’t say who) in the throes of graduate writing program semester one. Oh Dodie Bellamy, I’m glad you exist.

[Ryan Ananat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly reccommended.

[Jesse Rice-Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and precise

[Ashraya]

This book was great and I think I will read it forever and ever amen.