Empire of the Senseless (Picador Books)

by Kathy Acker

Alexandra Kleeman (Introduction) and Kleeman (Introduction)

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Book cover for Empire of the Senseless

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Originally published in 1988, Empire of the Senseless marked a turning point in Acker's wild, inimitable style. Considered one of her more accessible works, here Acker candidly addresses her lifelong obsessions: childhood and trauma, language and sexuality, criminality and corruption, oppression and rebellion.

Abhor (part human, part robot) and her lover Thivai (a pirate) traverse Paris in a dystopian future, in search of a mysterious drug that Thivai needs in order to maintain his ability to love. Navigating the chaotic city, they encounter mad doctors, prisoners, bikers, sailors, tattooists, terrorists, and prostitutes, while a band of Algerian revolutionaries take over, and the C. I. A. plots to thwart them all.

Sexually explicit, graphically violent, Empire of the Senseless resists the desensitizing of cultural consciousness and the disintegration of interpersonal communication. A timeless, prescient parable, it speaks profoundly to our social and political history as well as our present reality.

  • ISBN13 9780802128355
  • Publish Date 15 May 2018 (first published 1 January 1988)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
  • Format Paperback
  • Pages 240
  • Language English