A review by jnzllwgr
Nonbinary: A Memoir by Genesis P-Orridge

5.0

Unknowingly, I began reading this on the 4th anniversary of our author dropping their body. And finished on the 23rd. I think s/he would have found that auspicious. I approached the book cautiously, having read Cosey Fanni Tutti’s ArtSexMusic autobiography. But 2/3 of the way through it I began to warm to Gen’s approach on how to tell h/er story. As a point of entry to their life, this is not the way in. But it’s a necessary contribution to the person who envisioned radical performance art, seeded the ground for all industrial music, the modern primitive movement and more: the dissolution of the binary aspects of existence. The memoir struck me as a person trying to come to terms with a problematic past. One that on the outside, may have appeared violent, incoherent, irrational. The through line, emphasized here, was that, despite misanthropy and obstinate resistance to society’s mores, there a desire to connect and encourage others to take more control of their own lives. Genesis’ life was nothing less than a heroic resistance to status quo not as a formula to follow, but as an example of empowerment. That passion will certainly, at times, result in friction with others and generate a negative reputation. I had already been convinced previously that they had found more happiness, genuine l-ov-e and contentment in the last ~25 years of their career than anything prior, but reading the book confirms this. The person that found union with Lady Jaye, explored the dissolution of gender and emphasized almost a flower-power level of desire for community was a being I certainly would have l-ov-ed to have met. The book ends semi-incomplete as this was being written when it was time for Gen to go.
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As an aside, having just finished Will Hermes biography of Lou Reed, I was hoping to learn that the two would have come to know each other while in NY. Perhaps it was a ‘never meet your heroes’ situation, so there is no mention of it. VU had a huge influence on G P-O; Lou’s own transgressive life and non-binariness seems like they would have been kindred spirits.