Clit Notes: A Sapphic Sampler

by Holly Hughes

Obie Award–winning performance artist and playwright Holly Hughes takes the reader on a personal tour across America with visits to Michigan’s Mystery Spot, the floor of the U.S. Senate, and New York’s WOW Cafe, where notions of theater and femaleness are taken apart and put back together.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Queer, Lesbian, Fiction, LGBT

214 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

American lesbian performance artist.

Reviews

[Soph Nova · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would rate this 3.5 stars if I could - it was a bit bumpy in terms of the readability on the page across performance scripts. That being said, it’s a fascinating cultural artifact from the culture wars of the 90’s, which was the last time that art was truly dangerous in America.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holly Hughes is a master of the monologue and the one-liner, which means her solo pieces always have plenty of zingers and her plays always come with meaty parts. A self-described bad girl, she's lost none of her power to shock -- or enlighten -- with the passing of the years, and her intro, conclusion, and stage directions in "Clit Notes" are all just as wise and wild as the noir-inflected scripts themselves. I miss seeing her onstage.

[Selaserviette · Rating 3 out of 5]

It can't not feel a bit like theoretical ethnography - the WOW stuff does, ultimately, smack so thoroughly of its moment - but that's not to say that it's dismissible as mere symptom: you don't understand all the things it's doing as smoothly and simply as you'd expect you would. Or maybe you do: I don't. That said, the title play did go down smoother: I'm a product of my time. Some things you have to reverse-engineer, and others are just effortlessly a big mood.

[Katelen]

I feel like even though I don't completely understand what it made me feel, it blew my mind.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 performance art pieces written and performed during the 80's and 90's when the NEA was coming under attack for giving grants for pornography. I liked how she explains the reasons why the pieces were written and gives the personal story behind each piece. Some of the pieces I liked especially Clit Notes where she tells her story and her relationship with her dad. Some of the pieces made no sense to me and I struggled through Dress Suits for Hire. I liked her prose and turn of phrase. I enjoyed how she'd use a different meaning than what was first read.

This book is as relevant now as it was when it was written. I can see the groundwork being laid down then for what is happening today with bring religion into the political arena. It is interesting to see and think what is happening in the U.S. between then and now.

[Ellie]

I could take or leave the first 4 plays, but you simply must read the final play "Clit Notes," the play the book is brilliantly named after. It is a witty monologue about the narrator's coming out process, family relations, and involvement in performance art. The writing is clever, balancing jest and tragedy, occasionally surreal (like we would expect less from Holly Hughes), and at times even poetic. The plotting is layered and flows nicely, even when it seems a bit long at times.

I especially felt that the first section of "Clit Notes", up until the first Fade To Black, is the second lesbian monologue I always wanted to see in the Vagina Monologues. If anyone ever decides to perform that, I simply must know!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knowing Holly pretty well before I bought her book made this autobiography/collection of published piecesall the more interesting. Reading it, I felt like I was back in her classroom and listening to a revealing lecture. It made me miss her a heck of a lot. Also, I enjoyed taking the book into public places and letting strangers see the cover.

[Ryan Juno · Rating 4 out of 5]

That last play. Going on about man hatred, if I could preach it--I would. Easily.

I don't hate men. She doesn't hate men. No one hates anyone. BUT could we get off our high horses and talk about how men dominate our culture. Let's start having those conversations.