Follow the author

King Kong Theory Paperback – January 1, 2009

by Virginie Despentes (Author)

4.5 257 ratings

"King Kong Theory" is Despentes' candid account of how she became notorious: reviled and admired in equal measure for her rape-revenge novel turned film, "Baise-Moi", she is the poster girl for modern female rebellion. Powerful, provocative and personal, "King Kong Theory" describes the ways her ideas have been shaped by her experiences of rape, prostitution and working in the porn industry.Feminist theory sheds its fusty image and takes on a punk mentality as Despentes claims that sisterhood explodes our belief in feminine perfection and creates a space for all those who can't or won't obey the rules. Woolf and de Beauvoir are revived and updated by the loudest, most fiercely unapologetic misfit writing in France today.

Print length

160 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Serpents Tail
Publication date

January 1, 2009
Dimensions

5.08 x 0.39 x 7.8 inches
ISBN-10

1846686423
ISBN-13

978-1846686429
See all details

Monique Wittig
34
Paperback
$21.07
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Jul 30
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon
Only 13 left in stock (more on the way).
Simone De Beauvoir
276
Paperback
$11.89
Get it as soon as Monday, Jul 29
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon
Susan Taubes
18
Paperback
$16.95
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Jul 30
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon
Chloé Cooper Jones
323
Paperback
$14.49
Get it as soon as Monday, Jul 29
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon
Tom Hazuka
131
Paperback
$12.05
Get it as soon as Monday, Jul 29
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon
Irene Solà
167
Paperback
$6.99
Get it as soon as Monday, Jul 29
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Serpents Tail; Main edition (January 1, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1846686423
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1846686429
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.81 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 0.39 x 7.8 inches

Customer Reviews:
4.5 257 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Virginie Despentes

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Virginie Despentes is an award-winning author and filmmaker, and a noted French feminist and cultural critic. She is the award of many award-winning books, including King Kong Theory, Apocalypse Baby (winner of the 2010 Prix Renaudot), and Vernon Subutex (winner of the Anaïs-Nin Prize 2015, Prix Landerneau 2015, Prix La Coupole 2015). She also co-directed the screen adaptations of her controversial novels Baise-Moi and Bye Bye Blondie, as well as screenwriter for the film adaptation of her novel, Pretty Things, starring Marion Cotillard.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

257 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

M. Hutchison

Easy transaction

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2022

Verified Purchase

Item came in stupid quick and as described, thanks!

Helpful

J. Pratt

Try to tread it from her perspective...

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2010

I loved this book. Like the other reviewer said, from the first line I devoured it hungrily. I spent four years studying sociology, for a degree in sexuality and gender studies. I've read plenty of feminism, from different perspectives. Yet I found this book to be at once new, vast, and well-grounded.

Virginie Despentes spirit is amazing. I have read a few bad reviews of this book, where people focused on small details and missed the forest for the trees. You wouldn't read Harry Potter and try to keep analyzing it and pulling it apart in relation to your own thoughts, would you? Yet this book is largely a narrative as well, and needs to be seen through her eyes and heard through her voice. This perspective will reveal that her view is very broad and encompassing. I was amazed at the way she rendered her experiences, laid her full set of feelings out in clear language, then related these things to the broader culture.

During my reading of the book, I kept finding myself wanting to stand up and say "yes, yes!" It was like she was speaking to my human soul, rather than as an academic, or a feminist, or anything else. Her book is profoundly real, and I think if anyone allows her words to stand on their own, and to see them from her perspective, it will change their understanding of culture, women, and men.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Marie

Not a perfect read, but I would recommend it to all women (and men)

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2012

Verified Purchase

We read this book in our bookclub, and I am very happy we did. I never dared to watch Virginie's movie, but after reading this book, I can only recommend it. The connection between different chapters is a bit shaky which might be expected since they were written as separate essays. However, lots of interesting thoughts and viewpoints. Yes, Virginie is angry. But, she gave us very valuable ideas, and that is quite rare these days. Who dares to call herself a feminist? I would, joining the author.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Natalie Loveless

Sending The Whole Lot Flying

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2009

Covering difficult territory - rape, prostitution - has longtime been the province of feminism and feminist theory. In this newly translated book, Virginie Despentes offers an uncompromising example of what Jane Gallop might call "Anecdotal Theorizing." Moving seamlessly back and forth between personal narrative and meta-reflection, "King Kong Theory" is a book to be reckoned with. At times entertaining, at times truly difficult to read, it asks us to reflect anew on the taint and terror of sexuality in quotidian discourses of femininity and social "agency." I recommend this book to anyone interested in feminist theories of the visual, feminist autobiography, sex and sexuality. But even more importantly, I recommend this to anyone who thinks feminism is dated. With Virginie Despente, I say to them: "Feminism is a collective adventure, for women, men and everyone else. A revolution, well under way. A worldview. A choice. It's not a matter of contrasting women's small advantages with men's small assets, but of sending the whole lot flying." This is something that has been said before, but it is something that still bears saying. My hope is that reading this book will support and inspire a new generation of feminist thinker-makers to raise their voices, however they see fit.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Elizabeth M. Stephens

King Kong makes me hot too

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2009

I devoured King Kong theory in one long delicious reading. This was nothing less than a miracle because I had so many other books/emails/memos/boring bureaucratic letters that I was supposed to be reading. But, from the first line, "I am writing as an ugly one, for the ugly ones:" I was hooked. The heat that this book exudes is reminiscent of of Valarie Solaris' SCUM manifesto but instead of calling for gendercide this book calls for women just to take their power and laugh in the faces of all those who would prefer that we be silently polite in the face of never ending misogyny. A beautiful, powerful manifesto that reads like a post porn punk country love song and a must read for all of us who have ever felt ugly-or beautiful for that matter.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ann

Not my favorite book, but an important read

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2024

Verified Purchase

Book arrived quickly and in great condition. As a woman, I was intrigued when a male coworker recommended this book to me. Reading it, the content felt extremely dated (and I was proven right when I saw it was published in 2006). Despentes seems to pride herself in having the ability to loudly say things in a world where she feels other women are "too afraid" to say anything, but the reality is that she's preaching to the choir. It's then that I wonder who her audience is. Even though I didn't particularly like the book, I can't argue that it's an important read. I'm looking forward to discussing it with my all-female book group to get other takes on it besides my own.

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2021

This book really reads like a first year English Major just discovered reddit. It's so ranty and bounces all over the place. It's filled with righteous anger but like most feminist literature, fails to make any points that haven't been made a thousand times before. Despentes comes across as an out of touch boomer who thinks she's breaking ground on well worn roads.

Same trite we've read a thousand times. Feels more like a cash grab than anything intended to be helpful.

Helpful