Time to talk about another 5 fantastic authors that I categorize under Transgressive Fiction according to their style and themes, how they use the power of writing to transgress the norms of their society and culture. Today we will talk about Kola Boof, Tama Janowitz, Vicki Hendricks, Monica Drake, and Simone de Beauvoir.
Tama Janowitz
(April 12, 1956)
Tama Janowitz is an American novelist and a short story writer who is often referenced as one of the main "brat pack" authors, along with Bret Easton Ellis, and Jay McInerney.(source) Upon settling in New York City, Janowitz started writing about life there, socializing with Andy Warhol (source) and becoming well known in Manhattan literary and social circles. Her 1986 collection of short stories, Slaves of New York, brought her wider fame. (source) Janowitz has published seven novels, one collection of stories, and one work of nonfiction.
“I had a hunger for things I knew realistically I didn't actually care for.”
― Tama Janowitz
Kola Boof
Boof Egyptian, Sudanese, American novelist, and poet. She wrote several provocative books including The Sexy Part of the Bible, Flesh and the Devil, Long Train to the Redeeming Sin, and Virgins In the Beehive. Kola Boof's in her stories demonstrate how flashpoints are reached in cyberspace, the new forum for underground literature and politics, where fact and myth become indistinguishable and publicity campaigns become a kind of performance art.
Her writing has appeared in Harper’s and the story collection Politically Inspired. Her autobiography, Diary of a Lost Girl, was published in 2006. She has been interviewed by MSNBC, FOX News, and CNN; and has been featured in TV Guide, Time, the New York Post, and the New York Times. She lives between Harlem and Southern California. (source)
The Black woman is the most unprotected, unloved woman on earth...she is the only flower on earth...that grows unwatered.
Kola Boof
Hendricks was born in Covington, Kentucky, raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and moved to Florida in 1973. Her novel Cruel Poetry was a finalist for the Edgar Award in 2008. Her work has been translated into Italian, German, French, Finnish, Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese.
Hendricks has been praised as the "Queen of Noir" for rejuvenating women's crime/noir in the nineties and both extolled and denounced for her graphic use of sexual elements that distinguish neo-noir from noir of the 1930s through 1950s. This categorized her as one of the Transgressive Writers in transgressivefiction.info. To know more about her, check my interview with Vicki here.
I'd rather wear bare skin than raw silk any day.
― Vicki Hendricks, Miami Purity
Monica Drake
Monica Drake is an American fiction writer known for her novels, Clown Girl with an introduction by Chuck Palahniuk and The Stud Book. Clown Girl was a finalist for the 2007 Ken Kesey Award for the Novel through the Oregon Book Awards. It was named Best Book of 2007 by Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk in the December 2007 issue of Playboy Magazine.
When life sucks, throw yourself into art.
― Monica Drake, Clown Girl
Simone de Beauvoir
(9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986)
One of my favorite authors of all time, Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir was a French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory. (source) She was known for her 1949 treatise The Second Sex, a detailed analysis of women's oppression, and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism.
She wrote several significant novels such as She Came to Stay and The Mandarins and my very favorite and inspiration All Men Are Mortal. She was also known for her open, lifelong relationship with French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself
― Simone de Beauvoir
If you'd like to learn more about transgressive fiction and writers, check the links below.