Will I love I Love Dick?

I loved the courage of Chris Kraus in undertaking the writing of this semi-autobiographical novel: she was neither afraid of manifesting intellect and erudition nor of expressing female sexual desire.

The experimental style of the book, alternating between nonfiction research passages and letters of infatuation, amused me. In the 1990’s, when this book first appeared, there weren’t enough novels that expressed women’s sexuality from a female perspective, so I appreciated Chris Kraus’s pioneering efforts. 

I love I Love Dick! This is a hilarious, shocking, keenly intelligent interrogative adventure into the art world and ideas about stalking a muse and being female. The book was published in 1997 but I didn’t discover it until a decade later, so I was late to the game. In her forward, Eileen Myles describes Chris Kraus as “marching boldly into self-abasement and self-advertisement,” which is a perfect way of putting it. Shredding the veil between reality and fiction, in her relentless pursuit of Dick (a real person), Chris Kraus embraces the world, no holds barred. If you’re curious… show more.

Though recently made into a TV series, the real genius of this book lies in its language. Part prank, part autofiction, part essay, and art criticism, I Love Dick tells the story of the main character, Chris Kraus, and her husband Sylvere, as they join together to write love letters from Chris to an art historian named Dick who she has a crush on but barely knows. It is all based on fact and plays with the blurred line between fact and fiction. It is that rare book that is at once sexy and intellectual.