Description

In 1993 a story by “Eurudice” (Eurydice Kamvasseli) was published in McCaffery’s anthology Avant-Pop: Fiction for a Daydream Nation.To start this interview, Kamvasseli and McCaffery had viewed a video, and McCaffery asked if it has anything to do with her book F/32, and she says no, she wants to keep her work from being “filmable.” Both her interest in cinema and her writing come from the image of a mirror. Kamvasseli says the title of the book refers to a lens aperture in photography, and the shutter in that metaphor is reminiscent of the “toothed vagina” of folktales. She mentions Jacques Lacan as representative of attitudes towards women. She made some changes after talking with Ronald Sukenick, and “some of the things men say are verbatim. ”She says, “The story of the book is a fable.” It originates partly from philosophical and religious dualism, and they discuss that and the mechanics of writing. Kamvasseli talks about her childhood, which she calls “absurd.” They discuss “appropriating” text. They continue their discussion of inspiration to write coming from other books. She writes in English because she is conscious of Greek tradition. She speaks about going to Redondo Beach Union High School after having run away from home. They talk about her humor. She does not write to shock people, but if she tries not to write about sex she gets writer’s block. She discusses self-awareness in writing and Stein’s “little dog knows me” metaphor. Explaining that both sexual intercourse and writing come from a oneness without individuality, she says that therefore she is not good at revision. They talk about guilt, which she says she does not understand. They discuss erotic literature, and she underlines the transcendent aspect of sex. This first tape ends at around one hour and 34 minutes.At the opening of the third side, Kamvasseli says that in her book F/32 she wanted to reclaim the word “cunt” for women to use, to move it from the “scatological to the ontological.” They talk about modernism, postmodernism, cyberpunk, Madonna, various authors, feminism, and sexual repression.They discuss her experience with poetry and then surrealism.