Description

Book Synopsis

''New York City is very peaceful and quiet, and the pale grey mists are slowly rising, to show me the world''

Pip switches identities, sexes and centuries in this punk, fairytale reimagining of Charles Dickens''s original Great Expectations. Both familiar and unfamiliar, our orphaned narrator is transplanted to New York City in the 1980s; becoming, by turns, a sailor, a pirate, a rebel and an outlaw, through adventures incorporating desire, creativity, porn, sadism and art. This ribald explosion of literature, sex and violence shows the literary anarchist Kathy Acker at her most brilliant and brave.

''Acker''s most accomplished experimental work'' The Village Voice

''A postmodern Colette with echoes of Cleland''s Fanny Hill'' William S. Burroughs



Trade Review
Acker's most accomplished experimental work... As she says in Great Expectations, 'A narrative is an emotional moving.' It should be, but she's one of the few people writing today who manage to blend that kind of warmth, gutsiness, and skill. -- Sally O’Driscoll * The Village Voice *
Acker's most ambitious, most exciting and masterful novel to date... The novel is as revolutionary in form as it is in content. -- Steve Abbot * Poetry Flash *

Great Expectations

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    A Paperback / softback by Kathy Acker

    £9.49

    Includes FREE delivery

    RRP £9.99 – you save £0.50 (5%)

    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Wed 21 Oct 2026.

    5 in stock

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      Book details

      Publisher Penguin Random House Group
      Imprint Penguin Classics
      Published 5 July 2018
      ISBN-13 9780241352144
      978-0241352144
      ISBN-10 0241352142
      Also in:
      Contemporary Fiction

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      ''New York City is very peaceful and quiet, and the pale grey mists are slowly rising, to show me the world''

      Pip switches identities, sexes and centuries in this punk, fairytale reimagining of Charles Dickens''s original Great Expectations. Both familiar and unfamiliar, our orphaned narrator is transplanted to New York City in the 1980s; becoming, by turns, a sailor, a pirate, a rebel and an outlaw, through adventures incorporating desire, creativity, porn, sadism and art. This ribald explosion of literature, sex and violence shows the literary anarchist Kathy Acker at her most brilliant and brave.

      ''Acker''s most accomplished experimental work'' The Village Voice

      ''A postmodern Colette with echoes of Cleland''s Fanny Hill'' William S. Burroughs



      Trade Review
      Acker's most accomplished experimental work... As she says in Great Expectations, 'A narrative is an emotional moving.' It should be, but she's one of the few people writing today who manage to blend that kind of warmth, gutsiness, and skill. -- Sally O’Driscoll * The Village Voice *
      Acker's most ambitious, most exciting and masterful novel to date... The novel is as revolutionary in form as it is in content. -- Steve Abbot * Poetry Flash *

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