WednesdaySeptember 6th
7pm
"The spirit of Anais Nin and Georges Bataille is reborn in this wonderful book. Young Kim has written something that is much more than a memoir—a truly modern work of art." —Matthew D’Ancona
A Year on Earth With Mr. Hell is the critically acclaimed debut memoir by Young Kim. The book explores a liberated woman’s erotic experience in a clandestine affair without the clichéd political and cultural stereotypes of modern gender roles.
This book is a completely truthful and explicit account about the first ten months of a romantic affair Kim conducted with legendary punk rocker and writer, Richard Hell, starting in the winter of 2016. It is unique in that while it is a diary, in its cinematic sweep, it reads like a novel. Because it was written as the unpredictable affair unfolded, there was always great uncertainty to the realization of this “daybook-cum-docudrama.”
Known for his own erotic writing, Hell instigated the book inadvertently by asking Kim to write something sexually provocative about their first night together. What resulted was an erotic relationship fueled not only by carnal chemistry but also literary synergy. Unusually, in this instance, Hell, a man, a generation older than Kim, acted as her muse; equally unusual is for a woman to write so explicitly and honestly about sex.
Set in a Warholian swirl in the worlds of art, music, and fashion, spanning continents, the narrative is as much about Kim’s processing her grief for Malcolm McLaren (most famous for his role as the conceptualizer, art director, and manager of the Sex Pistols, as well as designing the punk style with his then-partner Vivienne Westwood), her romantic and business partner for the last 12 years of his life until his untimely death in 2010.
"I found the book so engrossing; I really did read it in one sitting. That’s kind of unheard of from me. It all takes place in a beautiful bubble of privilege, and thank god. It’s glorious to be allowed to enter into it because fuck the rest of our rotten, barren world in this moment." —Bret Easton Ellis
"Written by an Asian American woman about her intimate relationships with two iconic white male founders of the punk movement of the 1970s, Young Kim’s sexual memoir is in part a comedy of manners, in part a love story and despite itself a study of modern morality. Referring to herself in the text as “more predator than prey” Kim throws a spanner in the works of modish feminism, the authorship of porn, racial assumption, sexual politics and the threadbare myth of the rock n roll Priapus." —Michael Bracewell
"The most graphically effective sex writing I've read in a long time. The same material as fiction wouldn't have such an immediate and even threatening effect: when someone is making something up, that gives the reader an out, and this doesn't." —Greil Marcus
Young Kim is a writer who works in art, fashion, film, music, and literature while managing the estate of Malcolm McLaren, her late boyfriend and creative/business partner. Her first book, A Year On Earth With Mr. Hell, is distributed by Omnibus Press. She is currently finishing a book on her years with McLaren and lives between Paris and New York.
Ira Silverberg has been Editor in Chief of Grove Press, Literature Director of the National Endowment for the Arts, and a literary agent whose clients included Kathy Acker, William S. Burroughs, and Dennis Cooper. He’s currently consulting for The Drift, Nightboat Books, Conjunctions, the New York State Council on the Arts, as well as the Estates of Peter Hujar and David Wojnarowicz. He is on the Board of Copper Canyon Press, and teaches at the Columbia University MFA Writing Program.
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In order to keep our events program running in uncertain times, we're asking attendees to hold their place with a $5 voucher, redeemable on the night of the event on any product in store or in our bar & café. If you have a change of heart or plans, write to events@mcnallyjackson.com and we'll gladly refund you and release your spot, up to 24 hours before the event. Thanks for understanding, and for supporting your local bookstore.
