This is a book that hurt to write—but is, theorygurl hopes, provocative in a good way.
I learn as much when I meet with the 27-year-old critic and academic over pierogies at the East Village institution Veselka. The hour we spend together is an intense one; Chu’s thoughts move at lightning speed, and she’s quick to complicate ideas and questions about her work. You’ll see as much in our chat. We talk about why we’re not supposed to take her book’s thesisseriously, the clichés of coming-out narratives, and whether or not she writes with the intent to piss people off.
There usually is some kind of theoretical concern behind the joke. I’ve learned to do the joke instead of stating the concern. Thisis a good example: “My gender is annoying and my pronouns are ugh/her?” There’s a substantial theoretical concern behind that, which is about trying to unquarantine gender from the vicissitudes of everyday life.
It came out of conversations that I was having after “On Liking Women” came out. Some were more serious, and some were more joking. I had posed three-quarters of the way through the essay this idea that male-to-female transexuality is a form of separatism. This is actually supported by something that Valerie [Solanas] says in. I then back away from that claim. I was sort of presenting it as a theological outcome of a set of assumptions and not really endorsing [it].
I have kind of limitless power over myself. I can really subject myself to anything. I don’t have to worry about offending myself. I like to offer myself up as a kind of magnetic pole to absorb negativity in many cases—to say, you know, whatever. Yes, I am unhappy. Yes, I am in pain. Yes, desire is frustrating. Yes, I don’t have a good story to tell about myself.
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