Product Description

This new edition provocatively places SCUM as a classic among The Communist and other radical manifestos.

SCUM Manifesto was considered one of the most outrageous, violent and certifiably crazy tracts when it first appeared in 1968. Valerie Solanas, the woman who shot Andy Warhol, self-published this work just before her rampage against the king of Pop Art made her a household name and resulted in her confinement to a mental institution. But the Manifesto, for all its vitriol, is impossible to dismiss as just the rantings of a lesbian lunatic. In fact, the work has indisputable prescience, not only as a radical feminist analysis light-years ahead of its time—predicting artificial insemination, ATMs, a feminist uprising against under-representation in the arts—but also as a stunning testament to the rage of an abused and destitute woman.

The focus of this edition is not on the nostalgic appeal of the work, but on Avital Ronell's incisive introduction, "Deviant Payback: The Aims of Valerie Solanas." Here is a reconsideration of Solanas's infamous text in light of her social milieu, Derrida's "The Ends of Man" (written in the same year), Judith Butler's Excitable Speech, Nietzsche's Übermensch and notorious feminist icons from Medusa, Medea and Antigone, to Lizzie Borden, Lorenna Bobbit and Aileen Wournos.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #352585 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 96 pages

Review
A stylish new hardcover edition from Verso....recent world events suggest the book's time has come. -- A.S. Hamrah, Boston Globe, 30 May 2004

Her anger is a raw, seductive call to arms for any woman scorned. -- Rachel Kramer Bussel, The Village Voice, 21 June 2004

Verso has published a top-of-the-line, sexy new edition....Verso's SCUM Manifesto is a chic little object. -- Claire Dederer, The Nation, 14 June 2004

About the Author
Valerie Solanas (1936-1988) wrote "Up Your Ass," a play; appeared in I, A Man, a film by Andy Warhol; and then shot Andy Warhol in 1968. She was sent to a psychiatric hospital and released after three years. Avital Ronell, a professor of German and Comparative Literature and the chair of the German Department at New York University, is the author of Stupidity, Crack Wars, Finitude's Score, The Telephone Book and Dictations.

Customer Reviews

Scummy Dross of the Movement
Enjoyment of Valerie Solanas' infamous SCUM MANIFESTO is completely dependent upon how you approach it. When I first read it, I had no idea of Solanas' other, more lethal activities, and took it to be a modern day social critique in the mode of Swift's brilliant A MODEST PROPOSAL. Taken this way - with a few shovels full of salt - Solanas' work shines as a hilarious work of satire. Unfortunately, when one becomes acquainted with the TRUE Solanas, it becomes sadly obvious that she means every single hateful, spiteful word she fills this tiny little pamphlet with. That knowledge doesn't make the humor any less entertaining, but it does add a harder edge to the proceedings than otherwise.

Reading through the SCUM MANIFESTO, it's fairly evident that Solanas was determined to hate Man, at a cost of all common sense. Her ideas are stupefyingly ridiculous - the sort you'd expect from a mind literally curdling in rage - and though I won't ruin any surprises for those who've yet to read, believe me when I say you simply can't help but laugh at her many of her anti-man assertions. Even so, throughout it all, her keen-edged fury is almost palpable and literally wafts off the pages in a pungent rush of angry words and ideas, distinct evidence of her talent as a writer. And yet, the innate foolishness of it all is inescapable. Try as you might to see this as work of high satire, Solanas meant this as God's Own Truth, a call to arms for her fellow feminists. That one fact makes completion of the SCUM MANIFESTO a bittersweet thing indeed, leaving the reader with a distinctly bad taste in his or her mouth, and pity for the poor, furious woman who wrote this angry little pamphlet.

How sad.

Hmmm
I have to speak carefully here because my reviews so far on this book have been censored away somewhere (I'm not sure why). There's no question that this short, intense pamphlet is very interesting (harmless review so far, right?) Valerie Solanos is famous for having shot Andy Warhol, and on the whole I don't believe in reading books by criminals. Why encourage them? On the other hand, VS has long since passed away. The facts of her life (shooting people, being a prostitute, living on the streets, studying psychology at college) are important to consider because otherwise it might be easy to toss this thing off as a joke (it's actually very very funny in my opinion) when of course, it's serious and potentially (I suppose) harmful.

An interesting thing to consider is: how would it be if the genders were reversed and we had instead (and this is, I think, where I have to choose my words carefully) and man who proposed to eliminate women from the earth, and then gave reasons why. I console myself by thinking that this manifesto would still be funny and absurd and disturbing and thought provoking.

I have never got much into the whole anarchy thing before, but I think that it's interesting and intelligent to consider it, and especially to clarify why you might be against such a path of action.

This pamphlet describes what Valerie Solanos believes in. I do not question her sincerity, given her history. I must say, when I consider the world that she must have perceived from her position and her experiences; then it is possible to see why an intelligent and brave woman could reach such conclusions (although I heartily disagree with them of course). I strongly recommend this book, because it's very much outside the normal way of writing and thinking. It pushes the boundaries (of thinking, I mean, not of acting), and that's good, right?

Also, it's very short.

An insult to feminism?
Before you see the 4 stars and discard my review as another naive "Go Girl!" piece, understand that (although I liked the book) I strongly disagree with the author's theories.
When I think of feminism (and I know many will disagree) I think of strong women fighting for equality. EQUALITY, as in equal rights and no better gender. Solanas called herself a "superfeminist" (and is hailed by many as some sort of heroine) but her sexist attitudes and intolerant nature make her an insult to the cause.

This book is witty, bitter and an enjoyable read, but I view it in the same way as I'd view a racist, homophobic or xenophobic text - I realise that it's the product of a disturbed mind. Her life of prostitution and being abused by men explains her bitterness towards them, but it's no excuse for her violent hatred towards the entire male gender. As many reviewers have pointed out, if the roles had been reversed (a man writing about killing all women) it would never have been published, and would be considered extremely sexist: why should it be any different for a female author?

For the said supporters who seem to understand nothing of her politics: Sure, it's full of good quotes to use when your boyfriend's being an [jerk], but you can't seriously support her idea of a perfect world (devoid of all men) Not only are her theories blatantly discriminative, violent, intolerant and (what I consider to be) antifeministic; he idea of a perfect world just isn't practical.