Portrait of an Eye books in order

Q: "What is Portrait of an Eye by Kathy Acker?"

"*Portrait of an Eye: Three Novels* (1992) is an omnibus that collects Acker's first three novels: *The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula*, *I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac*, and *The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec*."

Q: "Do you need to read the Portrait of an Eye novels in order?"

"The three novels in this trilogy are loosely connected through style and method rather than plot, so they can be read in any order. Publication order is the most common approach."

Q: "What are Kathy Acker's earliest novels about?"

"These early works use collage, plagiarism, and autobiography to explore identity, desire, and power. They blend borrowed texts from other authors with Acker's own experiences, creating fragmented narratives that resist summary."

Reading order

#	Title	Published	Author	Buy on Amazon
1	The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula	1973	Kathy Acker	Buy
2	Portrait of an Eye: Three Novels	1992	Kathy Acker	N/A
3	I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac	1974	Kathy Acker	Buy
4	Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec	1978	Kathy Acker	Buy
5	Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec by Henri Toulouse Lautrec	1978	Kathy Acker	N/A

Portrait of an Eye collects the three novels that launched Kathy Acker’s career in the 1970s. The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula (1973) was her first published work, written as a series of appropriated texts mixed with personal confession. I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac (1974) continued this method, weaving together stolen passages and explicit autobiography. The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec (1978) completed the trio with another collage-based narrative.

In 1992, Grove Press collected all three novels into a single volume titled Portrait of an Eye: Three Novels. The omnibus edition made these hard-to-find early works accessible again and gave readers a clear view of how Acker developed her cut-up technique before her better-known books of the 1980s. The novels share a method rather than characters or plot, so they work both as standalone reads and as a set.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Portrait of an Eye by Kathy Acker?

Portrait of an Eye: Three Novels (1992) is an omnibus that collects Acker’s first three novels: The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula, I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac, and The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec.

Do you need to read the Portrait of an Eye novels in order?

The three novels in this trilogy are loosely connected through style and method rather than plot, so they can be read in any order. Publication order is the most common approach.

What are Kathy Acker's earliest novels about?

These early works use collage, plagiarism, and autobiography to explore identity, desire, and power. They blend borrowed texts from other authors with Acker’s own experiences, creating fragmented narratives that resist summary.

Reading order#

Frequently Asked Questions

Reading order