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Nudes 2021
Nudes is a 2021 short story collection written by British-American author Elle Nash. It explores the lives of working-class women through 24 stories organized into sections titled "Fluffers", "Yuri", "Pukkaki", "Moneyshot", "POV", and "Snuff". Themes include transactional relationships, sexuality, eating disorders, obsession, and death. Most stories take place in the 1990s and 2000s, suggesting they could belong to a connected universe. The title story "Nudes" follows a woman who imagines an affair with her neighbor while her wife battles alcoholism.
Work on the collection started in 2013, beginning with "Rifle", "Off Screen I Ache", and "Deathwish 006", and ending with "Nudes". The earliest story from this collection to be publicly published was "Joan Jumps into the Sea", written in 2014 and released in 2015 by The Offing. For "Survivalist", Nash mentions collaborating with author Elizabeth Ellen during editing. Ellen is also credited as a close friend and mentor in the acknowledgements.
Though the collection lacks traditional structure, Nash says she drew inspiration from Dennis Cooper's Frisk, especially its interconnected narratives. The story "Satanism" was influenced by Marina Abramović's performance The Artist Is Present.
Details
- Publisher
- Short Flight/Long Drive Books
- ISBN
- 9780996494939
- Pages
- 242
