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-- August 03, 2010 $3.00 Posted by Sasha at 02:14 PM | TrackBack (0) -- May 08, 2010 taking tigers Posted by Sasha at 11:29 PM | TrackBack (0) -- March 21, 2010 use as directed Posted by Sasha at 01:18 PM | TrackBack (0) -- March 15, 2010 sunshowers Posted by Sasha at 10:51 AM | TrackBack (0) -- March 08, 2010 and by the way, I also turned tricks Bonus Mondays! Here is a guest post from Elisabeth Eaves : Patti Smith �s �Just Kids,� a memoir about her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe , is full of gaps, and those gaps are full of meaning. Want to know why Smith loves Rimbaud? Want to know the dirt on Smith�s sex life? Want to know how much either of them weighed? You�ll need another book. There is scant information about Smith�s sexual activity; it takes pages and pages to confirm that she and Mapplethorpe were romantically involved. When Mapplethorpe realizes he prefers men, Smith frets mostly about Mapplethorpe�s feelings: �I didn�t derive any pleasure from seeing Robert so conflicted.� She doesn�t seem any more upset about her lover switching teams than about him putting her at risk of gonorrhea, or deciding to drop acid when meeting her parents�which is to say, not very upset at all. Is this all a whitewash? Was Smith really so unfazed, or is she simply not that self-centered? Whatever the root, her tolerance and modesty go against a rule of modern memoir writing: recount every bruise and tell us how badly each one hurt. Halfway through this book, I became convinced that Smith really didn�t care as much about Mapplethorpe�s boyfriendly deficiencies as she did about their friendship, their freedom to become who they needed to become, and�above all�their art. Not such a bad topic. It�s refreshing to read a memoirist so dedicated to telling a version of her life that is more about ideas than bedpost notches, though sad to think that only someone like Smith could push this past her editors. The New Irony: only a rock star has the moxie to be a prude now. There�s another gap, though, a flickering space that has little do with Smith and her book, and everything to do with gender expectations: Mapplethorpe�s life as a hustler is handled as yet another non-issue. He occasionally heads up to Time Square to make rent money as needed, and the reader is not invited to think much about this. Mapplethorpe was, as you know, a man. I�m trying to imagine a contemporary female writer or artist who would freely admit to turning tricks when she was young and hungry. There are those, like Tracy Quan or Annie Sprinkle , who �fess up and then make careers of writing about sex work, but I�m guessing that most who try prostitution never tell. If they did, it would be The Topic. Instead of critics saying things like �his mission was not to reveal, but to document an aspect of sexuality as art,� as Smith writes about Mapplethorpe, every story about a female artist who once turned tricks would include the phrase, �...who worked as a hooker on 42nd Street.� Posted by Sasha at 12:39 PM | TrackBack (0) -- March 04, 2010 gremlins of the page Posted by Sasha at 07:39 PM | TrackBack (0) -- February 16, 2010 blockade Posted by Sasha at 11:47 AM | TrackBack (0) -- the loft 40th anniversary Continue reading "the loft 40th anniversary" Posted by Sasha at 11:45 AM | TrackBack (0) -- February 11, 2010 snow Continue reading "snow" Posted by Sasha at 11:28 PM | TrackBack (0) -- not snow Posted by Sasha at 11:23 PM | TrackBack (0) -- January 29, 2010 it comes apart Posted by Sasha at 10:56 PM | TrackBack (0) -- January 28, 2010 seele brennt Posted by Sasha at 07:06 PM | TrackBack (0) Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs, text and music on this site are the original work of Sasha Frere-Jones, who retains the copyright for same. Do not reproduce any of these works for commercial use without permission. Search Search this site: Archives August 2010 May 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 Syndicate this site (RSS Feed) Hosted by Abstract Dynamics Powered by Movable Type 3.2...