Sheltering: Rufi Thorpe on Violent Women, Friendship, and Unruly Bodies
On this episode of Sheltering, Maris Kreizman speaks with Rufi Thorpe about her new novel, Knockout Queen, a story of queer friendship and the unruliness of our bodies and wants. Thorpe talks about one of her protagonists learning queerness from Ru Paul’s Drag Race, the animal tendency towards violence, wanting what we wish we didn’t want. Please purchase Knockout Queen from your favorite local bookstore, or through Bookshop.
From the episode:
Rufi Thorpe: I think we have a lot of confusion about how normal violence is. With our love of murder shows and everything, it makes it seem like murder is really far away. Like it’s this abnormal psychology that we’re safe from. But a lot of people are violent. It’s not an aberration. It’s the norm.
Maris Kreizman: And so much of violence is done by someone who hasn’t thought it through…
Rufi: Yes. I’m really interested in ethical judgments and morality and how to hold people responsible for their actions, and the whole problem of loving someone who is a bad person. That’s something I keep coming back to.
