In this lecture, we'll look at postmodern/punk author Kathy Acker's tremendously moving and bizarre essay, "Algeria", first published in 1984. This essay skillfully blends two tales together: a sexually frustrated and existentially destitute Acker in New York, and an oppressed Algerian people struggling to free themselves from French colonial dominance during the Algerian Revolution. This text skilfully combines postmodern literature with philosophy and politics to exemplify a feeling of nihilism in the face of overwhelming suffering while simultaneously pushing us beyond the rationality of action/response and towards pure and simple empathy. Enjoy!

Music is Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klavierstuck XI: 1 by David Tudor    • Klavierstück XI: 1  

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