Valerie Solanas
Back of the Book
The authoritative biography of the 60’s countercultural icon who wrote SCUM Manifesto, shot Andy Warhol, and made an unforgettable mark on feminist history.
Too drastic, too crazy, too out there, too early, too late, too damaged, too much—Valerie Solanas has been dismissed but never forgotten. She has become, unwittingly, a figurehead for women's unexpressed rage, and stands at the center of many worlds. She inhabited Andy Warhol's Factory scene, circulated among feminists and the countercultural underground, charged men money for conversation, despised daddy's girls, and outlined a vision for radical gender dystopia.
Known for shooting Andy Warhol in 1968 and for writing the polemical diatribe SCUM Manifesto, Solanas is one of the most famous women of her era. SCUM Manifesto—which predicted ATMs, test-tube babies, the Internet, and artificial insemination long before they existed—has sold more copies, and has been translated into more languages, than nearly all other feminist texts of its time.
Shockingly little work has interrogated Solanas's life. This book is the first biography about Solanas, including original interviews with family, friends (and enemies), and numerous living Warhol associates. It reveals surprising details about her life: the children nearly no one knew she had, her drive for control over her own writing and copyright, and her elusive personal and professional relationships.
We Love It Because
To be able to enter Solanas’s world beyond SCUM Manifesto - so genuinely humorous and full of eerie foresight—is a privilege that in and of itself makes The Defiant Life so intriguing. To be able to look into the life that produced gems like “the male has a negative Midas Touch—everything he touches turns to shit” and compelling concepts worth acknowledging, like “in actual fact, the female function is to explore, discover, invent, solve problems crack jokes, make music—all with love. In other words, create a magic world”—is made into a thoroughly gripping and propulsive read through Fahs’s voice, which Solanas herself might have adored. This investigation into Solanas becomes, therefore, an enactment and an acknowledgement of the truth in Solanas’s statements in SCUM about the female function to just be a thoroughly interesting and joyful person.
Memorable Passage
Confident, funny, and brash, the piece details the sexual pursuits of a no-nonsense city girl who casually makes money selling conversation and sex in order to free up time to write and pursue her own interests. She may indeed be “flat on her back” in this story, but not without a heavy dose of wit, snakiness, and vengeance. As Harron wrote, “The persona Valerie adopts here-confident, cool, swinging, in charge-is an idealized self, the version of herself she most wanted to be.
About Valerie Solanas
Valerie Solanas (1936–1988) was an American radical feminist, writer, and activist whose life and work challenged societal norms and left an indelible mark on the feminist movement. Born in New Jersey, Solanas gained notoriety for her controversial SCUM Manifesto, where she advocated for the overthrow of the patriarchal system and the creation of an all-female society. Her most infamous act was her attempted assassination of artist Andy Warhol in 1968. Despite the tragic trajectory of her life, marked by mental health struggles and homelessness, Solanas's legacy endures as a complex and provocative figure in feminist history. While her actions were extreme and divisive, Solanas is worth knowing for her contributions to feminist discourse and the questions her life raises about the intersections of mental health, activism, and the ongoing struggle for gender equality.
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