Maggie Nelson and Chris Kraus on confessional writing – books podcast | Books

Since its publication in 1997, Chris Kraus’s novel I Love Dick has become something of a feminist classic. As the book arrives in the UK, Kraus came to the studio to discuss her story of a 39-year-old failed video artist – also called Chris – who falls madly in love with an academic called Dick. She talked about how the world has changed over the last two decades, and why her blunt honesty has struck such a chord with fourth-wave feminists.

Maggie Nelson combines memoir, philosophy, poetry and gender theory in The Argonauts, the story of her love for the fluidly-gendered artist Harry Dodge. She talked about the politics of language and the meaning of marriage, motherhood and family in a world beyond traditional gender roles.

Reading list

I Love Dick by Chris Kraus (Profile)
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson (Melville House)