Acker gives her work the power to mirror the readers soul William S. BurroughsKathy Ackers writing is virtuoso maddening crazy so sexy so painful and beaten out of a wild heart that nothing can tame. Acker is a landmark writer Jeanette WintersonThis is the story of Janey who lived in a locked room where she found a scrap of paper and began to write down her life. Its a story of lust sex pain youth punk anarchy gangs the city feminism America Jean Genet and the prisons we create for ourselves. A heady surreal mashup of comingofage tale prose poetry plagiarism and illustration Kathy Ackers breakthrough 1984 novel caused huge controversy and made her an avantgarde literary icon.Published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Kathy Ackers untimely death Blood and Guts in High School is published for the first time in Penguin Classics acknowledging the profound impact she has had on our culture and alongside the authors her work pulsates with the influence of William S. Burroughs Cervantes and Charles Dickens among others.