Review of Mary Gaitskill
www.newsweek.com/id/192457
A Walk In The Dark
Mary Gaitskill doesn't do pretty, but her new stories are still gorgeous.
Like all underground art movements, the world of "transgressive fiction" comes with a built-in defense against critical scrutiny. If you appear not to dig the genre—defined by alienated characters who often turn to the lurid comforts of weird sex, hard drugs or violence—then you might as well have joined up with the mainstream that oppresses those protagonists. But when an author executes the transgressive form well, it's worth not only celebrating, but also rescuing that book from association with sloppy, shock-happy prose. As an established literary figure with one foot in the muck, Mary Gaitskill has never shied away from the dark, kinky stuff. Her 1988 debut collection of stories, "Bad Behavior," featured the tale of an employee who consents to domination at the hands of her boss. When that story was turned into the R-rated indie film "Secretary," Gaitskill called it "the 'Pretty Woman' version" of her narrative, and she was right. Complicated, damaged friendships between adult women is also a recurring theme: "Two Girls, Fat and Thin" charts the strange connection between an S&M enthusiast and a follower of an Ayn Rand–like sect. Her most recent novel, "Veronica," takes the friendship between an ex-model who contracts hepatitis C and a woman who ultimately dies from AIDS and puts it through the acid wash of memory. You know, feel-good literature......
