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Cookie Mueller
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Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black, new edition: Collected Stories (Semiotext(e) / Native Agents) Kindle Edition

by Cookie Mueller (Author), Hedi El Kholti (Editor), Chris Kraus (Editor), Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 202 ratings
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The first collected edition of legendary writer, actress, and adventurer Cookie Mueller's stories, featuring the entire contents of her 1990 book Walking through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black, alongside more than two dozen others, some previously unpublished.

Legendary as an underground actress, female adventurer, and East Village raconteur, Cookie Mueller's first calling was to the written word: "I started writing when I was six and have never stopped completely," she once confessed. Muellerís 1990 Walking through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black, the first volume of the Semiotext(e) Native Agents series, was the largest collection of stories she compiled during her life. But it presented only a slice of Mueller's prolific work as a writer. This new, landmark volume collects all of Mueller's stories: from the original contents of Clear Water, to additional stories discovered by Amy Scholder for the posthumous anthology Ask Dr. Mueller, to selections from Mueller's art and advice columns for Details and the East Village Eye, to still "new" stories collected and published here for the first time. Olivia Laing's new introduction situates Mueller's writing within the context of her life—and our times.
 
Thanks to recent documentaries like Mallory Curley's A Cookie Mueller Encyclopedia and Chloé Griffin's oral biography Edgewise, Mueller's life and work have been discovered by a new generation of readers. Walking through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black: Collected Stories returns essential source material to these readers, the archive of Mueller's writing itself. Mueller's many mise en scènes—the Baltimore of John Waters, post-Stonewall Provincetown, avant-garde Italy, 1980s New York, an America enduring Reagan and AIDS—patches together a singular personal history and a primer for others. As Laing writes in her introduction, Collected Stories amounts to "a how-to manual for a life ricocheting joyously off the rails . . . a live corrective to conformity, conservatism, and cruelty."
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  1. Part of series
    Semiotext(e) / Native Agents
  2. Print length
    399 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    Semiotext(e)
  6. Publication date
    April 26, 2022
  7. File size
    1025 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mueller’s unflappability, her refusal of stasis and self-pity, her hunger for beauty, her readiness to find it where few else would look—all of it adds up into a singular code for living, in which the worst thing a person could do is flinch."
—Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker

“Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black is a cult classic for writers... the reissue’s new (to us) pieces demonstrate Mueller’s artistic process. They also map out her singular approach to life.” 
—Natasha Stagg, Bookforum

“Her chronicles of the last days of American countercultural life New York's downtown scene bursts with energy.”
—Zoe, Dubno, The Nation

“It’s not just the stories that are exciting, it’s the revelation they contain – that we might allow such wildness to stumble on to our own paths, even just for an afternoon. I love her for reminding me, with gentle pressure between the lines, to go out tonight, to see what happens, to live a little harder.”
—Eva Wiseman, The Guardian

"Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black, a newly expanded collection of her complete stories (some true, some not, some in between), provides many opportunities to fall in love with Mueller."
—Jessica Ferri, Los Angeles Times

"Every art writer girl in New York wishes she was Cookie Mueller, even if she doesn’t know it. Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black, published after Mueller died in 1989, collected the essays and short stories of the woman beloved from the Haight-Ashbury to Mudd Club to Capri. Semiotext(e)’s reissue, out April 26, more than doubles the text, including her Dr. Mueller advice column, a novella, and four recently discovered, previously unpublished works. It is a guidebook for a life lived freely but with care, fleeting but sublime. If a vibe shift toward hedonism is real, then total surrender to adventure—as in, not just taking pictures of friends smoking cigarettes inside, but actually breaking the rules—should be the blueprint."
—Greta Rainbow, W Magazine

"I love Mueller the actress, but I return to Mueller the writer. Her writing makes me feel the way many of her contemporaries did about her: hypnotized by the generosity she afforded others and how quickly she found humanity in mayhem."
—Sasha Frere-Jones, 4Columns

"Cookie’s writing is like hearing American slang echo in the marble halls of a Florentine museum. Every sound is magnified. And there’s no room for squares. Read her for all the drugs you’ll never take, for all the people you’ll never fuck. Read her as a reminder to seek out those beyond the church gate, the artists, alley dwellers, and freaks. She will take you for a ride on her Moto Guzzi and crush you with the will to live."
—Nathan Dunne, Los Angeles Review of Books

About the Author

Cookie Mueller (1949–1989), nee Dorothy Karen Mueller, played leading roles in John Waters’s Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Desperate Living, and Multiple Maniacs. She wrote for the East Village Eye and Details magazine, performed in a series of plays by Gary Indiana, and wrote numerous stories that would only be published posthumously. She died in New York City of AIDS-related complications at age 40.

Olivia Laing is the author of Crudo, To the River, The Trip to Echo Spring, and The Lonely City, which was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award and translated into fifteen languages.

Chris Kraus is the author of four novels, including I Love Dick and Summer of Hate; two books of art and cultural criticism; and most recently, After Kathy Acker: A Literary Biography.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0998GTCH1
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Semiotext(e) (April 26, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 26, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1025 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 399 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 202 ratings

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Cookie Mueller

Cookie Mueller

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
202 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mark A. Barbre
5.0 out of 5 stars Love her
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2024
Verified Purchase
I love the John Waters actors/artists.
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nonameincolorado
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is important
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2022
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Every young person that feels like a weirdo should read this book. These stories were really hard to put down, were well written and FASCINATING. I quickly ordered a second copy to give away to a teen that needs to read this. Cookie was a brilliant soul, read this. No matter who you are, you'll enjoy at least parts of this book. Would love to see Edgewise: A Picture of Cookie Mueller back in print as well! Can anyone make that happen???
9 people found this helpful
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rik r. mortis
5.0 out of 5 stars It's Cookie Mueller. 'Nuff Said
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2022
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This is a niche product. Most have no clue who Cookie Mueller was. For those who DO, this is a necessity. Yes, it's a reissue but there's added stories to the original making it worth the scant under-$20 still a bargain for over 400 pages. Spell or Fact checking is an issue as Intro writer Olivia Laing botches the name of John Waters' first film but who needs an intro anyway? You buy this for Cookie's writings. You won't be disappointed.
11 people found this helpful
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AndsterManNYC
5.0 out of 5 stars . Amazing life tales, random thoughts from an East Village lady in the 70s and 80's.
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2022
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I never realized what a fascinating life Cookie Mueller had (and what a great writer she was....). Interesting tidbits of her times with John Waters and the Dreamland Studio crew. But there was so much more to this woman that grabbed life by the balls and ran with it.
One person found this helpful
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aculeus
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best American Writers
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2022
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everything from hitch hiking to Haight Ashbury to LSD parties to burning houses to satanists on mountains to making films with John Waters. Honestly one of the few writers who can actually make me laugh audibly while reading. There is so much heart in these short stories. So much heart. Absolutely essential.
8 people found this helpful
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Dominick Norton
5.0 out of 5 stars Greatly expanded on the older oop version with many new stories.
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2022
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Great read of many of Cookies times and escapades. For fans of marginalized freaks and art kooks..Get this before it goes oop and up in price.
One person found this helpful
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D. Brown
4.0 out of 5 stars For Junkies
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2024
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This is an highly entertaining read if you find beauty in the ugly, follow sordid the backstreets of popular culture, or love laughing at the misfortunes of others. However, the re-issue of Mueller's text originally published in 1990 needs a sober editor as there were quite a few eye-popping errors in the new pieces in particular the piece about the Poe Play, and the piece for High Times. Such errors should've been caught by the most basic of editors; however, since it's a book written by a junky, I guess there's junky editors too!

On a side note, Amazon originally started off as a book company. Now, they can care less and ship books in bags instead of boxes or better yet in a box without padding along with a bunch of your other stuff you order that you really don't need, smashing the spine of your book. So, I guess you can always mark the purchase as a gift to hopefully receive your text undamaged! 😁
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating read !
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2023
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what an icon
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

MC
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant read!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 1, 2023
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This is a wonderful book. Cookie Mueller's writing is full of compassion, honesty and humour. I can't recommend enough - this is a MUST read!
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Unseen facts 108
5.0 out of 5 stars Love Cookie
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 3, 2023
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Great book has so much content. Reading some Cookie is always a shot in the arm.
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iskra
2.0 out of 5 stars Vacuous
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 11, 2022
Verified Purchase
I bought this after reading a Guardian review which portrayed the author as a wonderfully interesting and outrageous free spirit. It turns out she was rather less than that. Her great acts of 'rebellion' mostly consist of filling her face with drugs and then passing out. She meets a few interesting people along the way but has nothing much to say about them. Her short stories are dire, her advice column mostly new age twaddle and her art 'reviews' laughably devoid of any worthwhile content.

That said, she was ahead of her time in at least one respect - as a role model for all the self promoting vacuous non-entities who followed in her wake. Cookie Mueller appears to have done nothing of any significance in her life other than become famous for simply being famous - slogging through 400+ pages of her life story felt like a tragic waste of time.
10 people found this helpful
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