on reading ‘i love dick’
chris kraus should most certainly be invited to participate in the doubt2.org project. i would love to see her write a doubt manifesto. although to be honest, reading ‘i love dick’ is turning out to be far more unsettling than i expected. and it’s entirely possible that something as humble, and misguided, as our little investigation would not be interesting to her at all.
‘i love dick’ is certainly a brave work, but terribly claustrophobic. it is a text that is dripping with doubt – both the good kind, and the stultifying kind. kraus laments the failure of a film project with a stinging, begrudging acceptance. this gets me thinking about the relationship between doubt and failure – there’s a big one for the doubters on doubt2 to chew on — any thoughts dear reader? use of the comments box is mandatory upon reading this post.
perhaps its a chicken and egg situation? which comes first, the doubt or the failure?
i need a reading group. can we please form a doubt reading group in 2007?
“Who’s Chirs Kraus?” she screamed. “She’s no one! She’s Sylvere Lotringer’s wife! She’s his ‘Plus-One’!” No matter how many films she made or books she edited, she’d always keep being seen as no one by anyone who mattered so long as she was living with Sylvere.
“It’s not my fault!” Sylvere yelled back.
But she remembered all the times they’d worked together when her name had been omitted, how equivocal Sylvere’d been, how reluctant to offend anyone who paid them. She remembered the abortions, all the holidays she’d been told to leave the house so Sylvere could be alone with his daughter. In ten years, she’d erased herself (116-117).