96 Quotes by Chris Kraus

Why should women settle to think and talk about just femaleness when men were constantly transcending gender?

Why is female vulnerability still only acceptable when it’s neuroticised and personal; when it feeds back on itself? Why do people still not get it when we handle vulnerability like philosophy, at some remove?

The difference between now and fifteen years ago is I don’t think I was able, ever, to write any of those notebooks then in the 1st Person. I had to find these ciphers for myself because whenever I tried writing in the 1st Person it sounded like some other person, or else the tritest most neurotic parts of myself that I wanted so badly to get beyond. Now I can’t stop writing in the 1st Person, it feels like it’s the last chance I’ll ever have to figure some of this stuff out.

I’m thinking of the quote you cite from Levi-Strauss – “a universe of information where the laws of savage thought reign once more.

And isn’t every letter a love letter?

It was written in the third person, the person most girls use when they want to talk about themselves but don’t think anyone will listen.

Friendship, as far as I’m concerned, is a delicate and rare thing that’s built up over time and is predicated on mutual trust, mutual respect, reciprocal interests and share commitments. It’s a relation that ultimately is lived out, at least as if it were chosen not taken for granted or assumed in advance. It’s something that has to be renegotiated at every step, not demanded unconditionally.

If I can’t make you fall in love with me for who I am, maybe I can interest you with what I understand. So instead of wondering ‘Would he like me?’, I wonder ‘Is he game?’ When.

Your cowboy persona meshed so well with the dreams Chris has of the torn and silent men she’s been rejected by. The fact that you don’t return messages turns your answerphone into a blank screen onto which we can project our fantasies.