Kathy Acker Notebooks
Call Number
Dates
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Kathy Acker's Notebooks consists of 35 holograph manuscripts (over 1400 handwritten pages) and over 500 typescript pages dating from 1968 - 1974. Acker's manuscripts include numerous aborted projects, concrete poems, drafts of unsent correspondence, dream descriptions, early diaries, examinations of memory and reality, literary experiments, and writing exercises, while her bound and unbound typescripts include both works by other writers, as well as original works and typescript versions of pieces contained in her notebooks.
Biographical Note
Kathy Acker (née Karen Lehmann; April 18, 1947 – November 30, 1997) was an American experimental novelist, performance artist, playwright, postmodernist, punk poet, and sex-positive, feminist essayist and writer. Acker was strongly influenced by poets of the Black Mountain School, William S. Burroughs, David Antin, French critical theory, philosophy and pornography.
Born and raised in New York City, Acker came to be closely associated with the punk movement of the 1970s and 1980s that influenced much of the culture in and around Manhattan. Acker studied classics as an undergraduate at Brandeis University with other students who became well-known, such as Angela Davis, and aspired to write novels. Acker transferred to the University of California at San Diego, where she worked with David Antin and Jerome Rothenberg, receiving her bachelor's degree in 1968. She completed two years of graduate work at the City University of New York in Classics, specializing in Greek, but left before earning a degree. While still in New York she worked as a file clerk, secretary, stripper, and porn performer. During the 1970s she often moved back and forth between San Diego, San Francisco and New York.
In 1979, Acker won the Pushcart Prize for her short story "New York City in 1979". During the early 1980s she lived in London, where she wrote several of her most critically acclaimed works. After returning to the United States in the late 1980s, she worked as an adjunct professor at the San Francisco Art Institute, and as a visiting professor at Roanoke College, the California Institute of Arts, the University of Idaho, and the Universities of California at San Diego and at Santa Barbara.
Blood and Guts in High School (1984) is considered Acker's breakthrough work, as it is one of her most extreme explorations of sexuality and violence. Borrowing from, among other texts, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Blood and Guts details the experiences of Janey Smith, a sex addicted and pelvic-inflammatory-disease-ridden urbanite who is in love with a father who sells her into slavery. Many critics criticized it for being demeaning toward women, and Germany banned it completely. Acker published the German court judgment against Blood and Guts in High School in Hannibal Lecter, My Father (1991).
Acker produced a considerable body of novels, wrote pieces for a number of magazines and anthologies, and also had notable pieces printed in issues of RE/Search, Angel Exhaust, monochrom, and Rapid Eye. Towards the end of her life, Acker had a measure of success in the conventional press; the Guardian published several of her articles, including an interview with the Spice Girls, which she submitted just a few months before her death. Three volumes of her non-fiction have been published and re-published since her death. In 2002, New York University staged Discipline and Anarchy, a retrospective exhibition of her works, while in 2007, Amandla Publishing re-published Acker's articles for the New Statesman from 1989 to 1991, and in 2008, London's Institute of Contemporary Arts held an evening of her films.
The Kathy Acker Papers (1972-1997) are housed at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, at Duke University in Durham, NC (http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/acker/).
Published Works
Politics (1972)
Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula By the Black Tarantula (1973)
I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac: Imagining (1974)
Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec (1978)
Florida (1978)
Kathy Goes To Haiti (1978)
N.Y.C. in 1979 (1981)
Great Expectations (1983)
Algeria: A Series of Invocations Because Nothing Else Works (1984)
Blood and Guts in High School (1984)
Don Quixote: Which Was a Dream (1986)
My Death My Life by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1986)
Literal Madness: Three Novels (Reprinted 1987)
Wordplays 5: An Anthology of New American Drama (1987)
Empire of the Senseless (1988)
In Memoriam to Identity (1990)
Hannibal Lecter, My Father (1991)
My Mother: Demonology (1994)
The Stabbing Hand (Guest Appearance on song by Oxbow, reissues of album Let Me Be a Woman) (1995)
Pussycat Fever (1995)
Dust. Essays (1995)
Pussy, King of the Pirates (1996)
Bodies of Work: Essays (1997)
Portrait of an Eye: Three Novels (Reprinted 1998)
Redoing Childhood (2000) (Spoken Word, KRS 349)
Rip-Off Red: Girl Detective (Published 2002 from 1973 Manuscript)
Arrangement
The Kathy Acker Notebooks are arranged alphabetically by title. These titles were either provided by Acker or are inferred by the object's contents. Titles that appear in quotation marks reflect a specific arrangement of words that are physically present on the object, while titles that appear in brackets indicate suggested titles and, or connections to other works.
In the case that a record includes more than one date expression, the listing will begin with its earliest. If a record is physically undated, approximate ranges are provided. These records are noted "undated" and followed by a "circa" estimate determined by the range represented by related works.
Scope and Contents
The following description was provided by Between The Covers Rare Books, Inc . (http://www.betweenthecovers.com)
Kathy Acker's Notebooks consists of 35 holograph manuscripts (over 1400 handwritten pages) and over 500 typescript pages dating from 1968 - 1974. These records trace Acker's personal and professional life while studying at the University of California at San Diego under philosopher and social theorist Herbert Marcuse, to her place among the New York literary underground, specifically revolving around The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church, and related avant-garde art scenes.
Among the manuscripts are work that developed into her first three books,Politics (1972), The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula (1973), I Dreamt I Was A Nymphomaniac: Imagining (1974), and the partial manuscript of her fourth book, The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec (1978). In addition, the manuscripts include pieces that developed into the posthumously published work Rip-Off Red: Girl Detective, and The Burning Bombing of America (2002), and the manuscript for her unpublished work, "Kathy Alexander: I Become Jane Eyre Who Rebelled Against Every One," (1973), which was her first attempt at appropriating a classic text. These manuscripts include numerous aborted projects, concrete poems, drafts of unsent correspondence, dream descriptions, early diaries, examinations of memory and reality, literary experiments, and writing exercises in which Acker explores identity, sexual desires versus sexual exploitation, the reality of history / memory in comparison to subjective truth, and the subversion of narrative with discordant sexual images and intrusive anarchist elements. Acker also refers to the New York poet community in which she was involved, including Alan Sondheim and Andrei Codrescu, mentor David Antin and his wife the artist Eleanor Antin, as well as Anne Waldman, Bernadette Meyer, Diane Wakoski, Hannah Weiner, Larry Fagan, Jerome Rothenberg, Ken Friedman, and Tom Veitch.
Acker's bound and unbound typescripts preserve a variety of documentation, including the collected works of others, in addition to original works and typescript versions of pieces contained in her notebooks. These typescripts were likely produced for and during Acker's graduate education, prepared for submission to the literary magazines which she contributed to during the early 1970s, and for her own poetry readings. These records include several notable texts including two versions of the posthumously published piece, The Destruction of the U.S., the Burning Bombing of America and the still unpublished "Continuing Saga of Drugs and War: Stripper Disintegrated," alongside a range of long and short form, diary-like and dream-descriptive, poetic works and short stories.
Subjects
Genres
Topics
Places
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions. Please contact the Fales Library & Special Collections for more information and to schedule an appointment, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by Kathy Acker, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); Kathy Acker Notebooks ; MSS 434; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
The Kathy Acker Notebooks were purchased from Between The Covers Rare Books, Inc., in 2015.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers.
About this Guide
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"Arthur Miller, Williams-Glass Menagerie", undated, circa 1971 - 1972, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Yellow Paper King Memo Book
Features: "Diary II, Poems III, Appendix," "Only Dreams & Unaccountable Dreams"
[Assorted Motown Lyrics], undated, circa 1971 - 1972, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript
"Between The Covers Rare Books: Kathy Acker Early Manuscript Archive" Catalogue, 2015, inclusive
"Concrete Poems", undated, circa 1971 - 1972, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Brown & Red Art Sketch Spiral Book
Features: "Mantras 1 - 4," "Midnight, Lesbian, Angelic, Holy," "Myself, Lesbian, Holy, Angelic"
"Death Portraits 1.Visions, Diaries In Protection Of Self Death", undated, circa 1972, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, National Spiral Notebook
Features: "a black angel comes…" & "jewels, old horses trampling thru windows" from Politics (1972)
[Diaries]: "Very Tired", undated, circa 1971, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript Collection [Photocopies]
[Diary]: "days and days of anxiety", undated, circa 1971, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Green Pen-Tab Wire Bound Theme Book
"Diary of the World, Diaries", 1971 December 8, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, University Spiral Note Book
Features: 14 pages of handwritten "diary" entries; 90 pages of handwritten notes & translations of Greek text; description of visit from David & Eleanor Antin
"Diary: Warmcatfur", 1972 January, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript Collection with Editing Notation
Features: "Key Word Lesbian" & other diary-like, short works
"Diary: Warm Cat Fur / Lesbian II", 1972 January 19, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Nu-Bound Concealed Wire Notebook
Features: "Political Poems," "The Cat Family," & diary-like short works
"Dreams In Night, for the Painters of Decadence & for Harriet Golden", undated, circa 1972, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Pink Barnes & Noble Bookstores Spiral Notebook
Features: Ink sketches, diary-like short works about her relationship with poet Larry Fagan
"Ex Libris: Morda / Diary Poems Dreams, right after: what I can remember", 1971 March 9, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, National Note Board Spiral Notebook
Features: Long & short dream description, diary-like "poems" ; relationship with Lenny Newfield
"Gold Songs For Jimi Hendrix", undated, circa 1971 - 1972, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript with Ink Drawings
Features: Long form poem; This also appears in holograph manuscript form in "The Creation (diaries)," [Box 4, Folder 13]
"Heidegger, K. Acker, Antigone", 1972 March 10 - December 29, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, National Eye-Ease Spiral Notebook
Features: Ink sketches, long and short form diary-like works, discussions of dreams, entomology, poetry; "Journal for Lenny" ; "I tell him my desire…" & "I come into the room" from Politics (1972)
I Dreamt I Was A Nymphomaniac Imagining. Traveler's Digest Editions: New York, NY. [With Illustrations by Michael McClard], 1980, inclusive
[I Dreamt I Was A Nymphomaniac Imagining: I], 1974 May, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Collegewire Composition Spiral Book with Editing Notation
Features: "Amuse Myself, Elegance / I Become A Nymphomaniac! Memory," short form diary-like works that develop into [I]: "Desire Begins" ; "The CIA Papers: Diary"
[I Dreamt I Was A Nymphomaniac Imagining: I], 1974 May, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript
Features: "The CIA Papers: Diary, The Case of the Disappearing Teahouse"
[I Dreamt I Was A Nymphomaniac Imagining: II], 1974 June, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Collegewire Composition Spiral Book with Editing Notation
Features: "3 by Scorpion-Spider" ; "A Tale Of Revolution Ecstasy And Love by Peter Gordon" ; short form diary-like works that develop into [II]: "I Find An Object For My Desire"
[I Dreamt I Was A Nymphomaniac Imagining: III], undated, circa 1974, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Collegewire Composition Spiral Book with Editing Notation
Features: Short form diary-like work that develops into [III]: "Peter's Story"
[I Dreamt I Was A Nymphomaniac Imagining: IV & VI], undated, circa 1974, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Citadel Wiremaster Spiral Note Book with Editing Notation
Features: "Dykes 1" / "Part II, Tales of San Francisco, 1. Coke," short form diary-like works that develop into [IV]: "San Francisco And…" & [VI]: "Dykes"
[I Dreamt I Was A Nymphomaniac Imagining: IV & V], undated, circa 1974, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Citadel Wiremaster Spiral Note Book with Editing Notation
Features: "Tales Of SF, Distrust," short form diary-like works that develop into [IV]: "San Francisco And…" & [V]: "Distrust"
[I Dreamt I Was A Nymphomaniac Imagining: VI], undated, circa 1974, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Citadel Wiremaster Spiral Note Book with Editing Notation
Features: "Dykes #1 & #2," short form diary-like works that develop into [VI]: "Dykes"
"Images And Dreams", 1972 Autumn, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Orange Dri-Point Theme Spiral Book
Features: "Destruction of Own Writing," "Records of Daily Life #1: Homage to Leroi Jones," "Refining the Sensuality of Language," "Writing Asystematically," Poetic Exercises on Repetition
"I was with another woman", undated, circa 1971 - 1972, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Yellow National Canary Paper Spiral Notebook
Features: Short form diary-like and dream description works
"Jane Eyre I", 1973 October 23 - November, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Citadel Wiremaster Spiral Note Book with Editing Notation
Features: "I. Childhood, II. School: I Remake My Training," "Anarchists Take Over World," "Disintegration Of U.S., Diary of Ideas" "Drag: The Dance," "Poems / TCLOTBT.Series II" [The Childlike Life Of The Black Tarantula] & "The Criminal Career Of Kathy Alexander," "The Translator I: Basic Ideas"
"Jane Eyre II", 1973 October; 1974 January 17 - June 1, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Citadel Wiremaster Spiral Note Book; 3 Typescripts with Editing Notation
Features: "A.M. Fine: Dedicated to the destruction of all memories and societies by including the memories of everyone in me," "Memory I," "Ode to NY," "On Desire," "Rip-Off Red In NY," "The Color of Raw Velvet," "Various Memory Experiments, 1 - 3"
[Jane Eyre]: "Kathy Alexander: I Become Jane Eyre Who Rebelled Against Every One, By The Black Tarantula", 1973 November, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Typescript with Editing Notation
[Jane Eyre]: "Kathy Alexander: I Become Jane Eyre Who Rebelled Against Every One, By The Black Tarantula", 1973 November, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Typescript with Editing Notation [Photocopies]
"Kathy Acker and Melvyn Freilicher Discuss The Role of Sex in the Fascist Society", [no year] April 25, circa 1970 - 1980s, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Handdrawn Flyer
Features: Advertisement for discussion & poetry at the University of California at San Diego, Literature Department & CPB
"Lesbian Portrait / Harriet", 1971 July, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Pen-Tab Spiral Note Book with Editing Notation
Features: "II. Family Portrait," "2nd for Lynn Lonidier," "He photographs her sitting alone in a café," "I'm lying in bed with her," "Part Of The New World," "She tried her best to kill me," short form diary-like works that did & did not develop into Politics (1972)
"Lesbian Portrait(s)", 1971 July, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Delah Spiral Note Book with Editing Notation
Features: "Lesbian," Concrete Poetry on Front & Back Covers; "Flower(s)," "For Lynn Lonidier," "Jerry's Leaving," "Poems 7/71," "Portrait," "Portraits of Sexual Lives," short form diary-like poetic works
[Lesbian] "Portraits", 1971 July, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript with Editing Notation [Originals & Photocopies]
[Lesbian] "Portraits", 1971 Summer, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript with Editing Notation [Originals & Photocopies]
"Memory Experiments I", 1974 February - April, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript with Editing Notation
Features: "Various Memory Experiments I" with "1. Intention: change," "2. Breaking Through Memories To Desires"
"Memory Experiment[s]: II", 1974 March 5 - May, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Collegewire Spiral Composition Book with Editing Notation
Features: "Fuck art: go back to writing porno. Fuck Originality: COPY PORNO," References to Poetry Project artists & others - Andrei Codrescu, Alan Sondheim, Bernadette Meyer, Bill McKay (St. Mark's Newsletter), David Antin, Diane Wakoski, Gerald Malanga, Ken Friedman (Fluxus, Something Else Press), Tom Veitch; "Time As Modes of Consciousness," short form diary-like and dream description works; personal and professional experiences that conceptually mirror previous work Politics (1972)
"Memory [Experiments] II: (extra notes)", 1974 February 1 - 21, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, National Spiral Notebook with Editing Notation
Features: "Breaking Through Memories Into Desire," References to Alan Sondheim, Bernadette Mayer, St. Mark's Church, short form diary-like and dream description works; personal and professional experiences; translation exercises & schemas
"Memory [Experiments] III", 1974 March 5 - 20, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Collegewire Spiral Composition Book with Editing Notation
Features: "Breaking Through Memories Into Desire," "[Overtly] Structuring Memory By Desire," References to Alan Sondheim, WBAI Radio Performance, Village Voice critic Tom Johnson; short form diary-like and dream description works about personal and professional experiences
"Movie Buzz" by Leonard Neufeld, undated, circa 1974, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript with Editing Notation [Photocopies]
"Poems", 1971 May - June, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript [Originals & Photocopies]
Features: References to Leonard Neufeld; Short form diary-like works about personal and professional experiences mirroring "Lesbian Portraits" works
"Poems / Diary", undated, circa 1971, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Pen-Tab Wire Bound Theme Book with Editing Notation
Features: Ink sketches, short form diary-like and dream description works about personal and professional experiences that were developed to form Politics (1972)
"Revolutionary Diary Of An Anarchist", undated, circa 1968 - 1971, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript, Poem with Editing Notation
[Rip-Off Red: Girl Detective], undated, 1973, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Blue Spiral Composition Book with Editing Notation
Features: "The Adult Adventures of Rip-Off Red: A Story That Makes No Sense At All," edits, deletions & drafts for manuscript published by Grove Press in 2002; Unsent correspondence to Michael Davidson
"Rip-Off Red: Girl Detective: I", 1972 April 10 - 1973 May 26, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, University of California at San Diego, National Spiral Notebook with Editing Notation
Features: "Chapters I - X," "Part II: The Diary Of A Murderer, Chapter VII On Fantasy," edits, deletions & drafts for manuscript published by Grove Press in 2002
"Rip-Off Red: Girl Detective: II", 1973 June, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, University of California at San Diego, National Spiral Notebook with Editing Notation
Features: "Continued, Chapters X - XIV," "Dream & Fantasy," "Part III: The Search for the Truth," edits, deletions & drafts for manuscript published by Grove Press in 2002
"Rip-Off Red: Girl Detective: IV", 1973, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, University of California at San Diego, National Spiral Notebook with Editing Notation
Features: "Chapter XX, The Intrusion of Truth into Fantasy," edits, deletions & drafts for manuscript published by Grove Press in 2002
[Rip-Off Red: Girl Detective]: "I Become A Revolutionary", undated, circa 1973, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript with Editing Notation
Features: "Hot," "Wanting Women and Desperate Men"
"Stripper Disintegration: Drugs and War", 1973 February - March, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript with Editing Notation [Originals & Photocopies]
Features: "A Short Narration Of War And Drugs," "Dream: Private," "End Of Chaos," "Queens Of The Darkest Night: My Childhood," "Stripper Pornography," "Strippers's Chaos Dirge," "The Beginning Of The Drug Dream," "The Continuing Saga Of War And Drugs, Part I: Stripper Disintegration," "The Death Of Nixon, The Ghosts Begin To Speak," "The Death of the Rich People"
"suicidal depression [by] sharon", undated, circa 1968 - 1974, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Unsent Correspondence Fragment from "Sharon"
The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec By Henri Toulouse Lautrec. TVRT Press & Printed Matter: New York., 1978, inclusive
[The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec By Henri Toulouse Lautrec]: "The Black Tarantula Toulouse Lautrec: A", undated, circa 1974, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Vernon Royal University Note Book with Editing Notation
Features: Edits, deletions, notes that develop into "Chapter 1: "The Case of the Murdered Twerp," "Chapter 2: "Longing For Better Things," "Chapter 3: "The Desperation of the Poor"
[The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec By Henri Toulouse Lautrec]: "The Black Tarantula Toulouse Lautrec: B", undated, circa 1974, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Vernon Royal University Note Book with Editing Notation
Features: Edits, deletions, notes that develop into "Chapter 3: The Desperation of the Poor" & "Chapter 4: The Creation of the World, Part I-IV" ; "Is Being A Whore Enough?" "The Creation Of The World," "The Lousy Judge," "The Mice's Song"
The Childlike Life of The Black Tarantula by The Black Tarantula. TVRT Press & Printed Matter: New York, NY., 1978, inclusive
"The Childlike Life Of The Black Tarantula: [Chapter I], A Minor Work, In Praise of Murderesses", undated, circa 1973 June, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, University of California at San Diego, National Spiral Notebook with Editing Notation
Features: Edits, deletions, notes that develop into "Chapter I: Some Lives of Murderesses, A Document" ; Mathematician August De Morgan's Laws Notation [30 Pages]
[The Childlike Life Of The Black Tarantula: Chapters I - IV], "The Black Tarantula Drives Herself Insane: Document", 1973 June 13, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, University of California at San Diego, National Spiral Notebook with Editing Notation
Features: Edits, deletions, notes that develop into "Chapter I: Some Lives of Murderesses, A Document," "Chapter II: A Point-To-Point Comparison," "Chapter III: I Move to San Francisco," "Chapter IV: I Become Helen Seferis"
[The Childlike Life Of The Black Tarantula: Chapters V - VI], "I Reveal The Real Story Of My Childhood!!", undated, circa 1973 September, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Collegewire Spiral Composition Book with Editing Notation; 1 Unbound Typescript
Features: Edits, deletions, notes that develop into "Chapter V: I Explore My Miserable Childhood. I Become William Butler Yeats," "Chapter VI: The Story of My Life, I Become Marquis de Sade" ; Loose Typescript, "The Childlike Life Of The Black Tarantula #6" Synopsis / Book Back Cover Mock-Up
"The Childlike Life Of The Black Tarantula: Secret Document #1", undated, circa 1973, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript with Editing Notation
Features: "I write down my unconscious fantasy world," short form diary-like works;"Structuristem Number Eight: Grid Sentences" Instructions & Handwritten Chart
"The Creation (diaries)", 1972 Autumn, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Holograph Manuscript, Pink Dri-Point Theme Spiral Book with Editing Notation
Features: "Gold: Songs For Jimi Hendrix," [this work also appears in unbound, typescript form in Box 1, Folder 13], "Household Objects: Breaking Up, Falling In Love, Description Of Life In NY," "Jerry, Paul, Elly, Bruce," "Sun Is Round," "The Emotions Of Everyone In America Journal, Black Jewel Cats," "What I Do And Why I Do It: The Process of Creation," short form diary-like, meditation, and poetic works
[The Creation (diaries)]: "Breaking Up", undated, circa 1972 Autumn, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript
Features: Long form poetic work; This also appears in holograph manuscript form in "The Creation (diaries)," [Box 4, Folder 13]
"The Destruction Of The US: The Burning Bombing Of America", 1971 Summer - 1972, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Bound Typescript Collection, Black Spring Binder with Editing Notation
Features: "The Destruction Of The US: The Burning Bombing Of America," Flyer for Acker poetry reading, artwork by Harriet Golden; Over twenty long & short form diary-like, dream description essays & poetic works, "Diary Dreams In Night: For the Painters of Decadence for Harriet Golden," "For Lynn Lonidier," "Poems: 5/71 - 7/71," "Portraits," "Portraits: Visions,""Sequence," "Silk For Lenny"
"The Golden Woman: Ode to Beautiful Women #1, #2, #3", undated, circa 1968 - 1972, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Unbound Typescript with Editing Notation
Features: Short form poetic works
"Works Done", 1968 Spring - 1972 May, inclusive
Scope and Contents
1 Bound Typescript Collection, Cream-Colored Spring Binder with Gilt Rule on Board; Editing Notation
Features: Over twenty long & short form diary-like, dream description essays & poetic works; "Abstract Essay Collaged With Dreams," "A Ghost Story," "Communist Aesthetics," "Information Sexual Ecstasy Revolution III," "Last Poem," "Narration Of The New World," "Narrative (for Ed Klima)," "Personal Life," "Poems for Tamar 6, 7, & 8," "Political Desire: Something Beautiful For Margie," "Pornographic Poems," "Silk For Lenny," "The Betrayal Of Friends," "The Destruction Of The U.S., The Burning Bombing Of America," "The New Life," "The Parts of the Mind and How They Work," "The Worship Of Beauty Of Angels," "Velvet Awareness," "Violet Women"
