''I Love Dick'' is an epistolary novel with autofiction elements by American artist and author Chris Kraus. It was published in 1997 by

Semiotext(e) Semiotext(e) is an independent publisher of critical theory, fiction, philosophy, art criticism, activist texts and non-fiction. History Founded in 1974, ''Semiotext(e)'' began as a journal that emerged from a semiotics reading group led by Syl ...

. ''I Love Dick'' merges fiction and memoir formats to explore the writer's psycho-sexual obsession with the eponymous "Dick", a media theorist and sociologist whose last name is never given over the course of the text, despite other art world personalities appearing as themselves. Critics hailed it as both "radical" and "gossipy". The book announced Kraus' particular brand of "confessional literature" that she herself described as "lonely girl phenomenology". American writer Rick Moody called it "one of the most explosive, revealing, lacerating and unusual memoirs ever committed to the page". ''I Love Dick'' is written as a series of love letters written to an addressee who is derived from the real-life cultural critic

Dick Hebdige Dick Hebdige (born 1951) is an English media theorist and sociologist, and a professor emeritus of art and media studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he taught from 2004 to 2021. His work is commonly associated with ...

. Hebdige described the novel as a violation of his privacy. "Dick"'s sporadic presence in "Chris Kraus"'s life changes her thinking about her marriage (to philosopher and Semiotext(e) founder " Sylvère Lotringer") and to her work, as well. ''The Guardian'' described the novel as "a cult

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

classic" despite its poor reception on release in 1997. In 2016, Joey Soloway adapted the novel as a

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

, produced by Amazon Studios. The first season was released on May 12, 2017. It was directed by Joey Soloway and stars Kathryn Hahn and

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. Known for various roles, including leading man characters, Bacon has received numerous accolades such as a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Bacon made his featu ...

Notes

References

External links

N+1 Magazine write-up.

''I Love Dick.'' The MIT Press.

"I Love Poets: An Interview with Chris Kraus." The Poetry Foundation.

Yale Daily News. Write-up.

"Chris Kraus: The Noir of Dubya, the blankness of suburbia and bringing Baudrillard to sing in the Nevada Desert." Dazed Digital
1997 American novels American novels adapted into television shows Semiotext(e) books {{1990s-epistolary-novel-stub