Biography of X

Biography of X is a 2023 alternative history novel by American writer Catherine Lacey.

Biography of X
AuthorCatherine Lacey
LanguageEnglish
PublisherFarrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date
2023

The novel purports to be a 2005 biography of the musician and artist X, written by her widow, C.M. Lucca, as a response to an unauthorized and apparently inaccurate biography of her wife written after her death. The novel also depicts an alternative history to the United States, one in which in 1945 Southern states banded together to build a wall segregating them from the rest of the country and forming the Southern Territory, a place marked by extreme religious control.

Writing and publication

Lacey initially wanted to write a biography of a living person, but was encouraged not to do so by one of her teachers.[1] Lacey ceased working on the biography, and instead decided to work on a fictional biography.[1] The book includes fictional citations and end notes; Lacey, for the most part, devised these as she wrote the novel rather than after she was finished.[2] To track "timelines and characters" as she wrote the book, Lacey utilized a "disorganized document".[2] Copy editors at Farrar, Straus and Giroux assisted Lacey as she produced the novel.[2]

To write the novel, Lacey read a number of biographies and read interviews with artists from different disciplines.[3]

Reception

According to literary review aggregator Book Marks, the novel received reviews the site characterized as "Rave" and "Positive".[4]

Dwight Howard, in a positive review, compared Lacey's writing to that of Renata Adler and Janet Malcolm.[5] Sam Sacks praised the "audacity" of Biography of X in a review published by The Wall Street Journal.[6] Sacks further wrote that the novel was "likely" to give Lacey "a much wider audience" and wrote that she "deserved" a broader base of readers.[6]

In a review published by The Los Angeles Times, Jessica Ferri praised Lacey as "one of the most fearless novelists writing today".[7]

Audrey Wollen, writing for The New Yorker, referred to the novel as "[acting] more as a blender than a quilt-maker" in reference to Lacey's inclusion of real-life figures and quotes, re-contextualized in the novel's alternate history.[8]

References
  1. Inman, Amanda Paige (21 March 2023). "How Catherine Lacey Crafted Her Intricate, Genre-Bending New Novel". Vogue. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  2. Terry, Shayne (22 March 2023). ""I Had to Have a Different America:" An Interview with Catherine Lacey about "Biography of X"". Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  3. Gunther, Molly (21 March 2022). "In Conversation: Catherine Lacey". VAGABOND CITY. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  4. "Biography of X". Book Marks. Literary Hub. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  5. Garner, Dwight (20 March 2023). "'Biography of X' Rewrites a Life Story and an American Century". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  6. Sacks, Sam (17 March 2023). "Fiction: 'Biography of X' by Catherine Lacey". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  7. Ferri, Jessica (20 March 2023). "Step aside, Lydia Tár: Novelist Catherine Lacey presents the ultimate art monster". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  8. Wollen, Audrey (2 May 2023). "Catherine Lacey's Provocative Novel in Disguise". The New Yorker. Retrieved 8 May 2023.


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