Hubert Selby Jr.
Hubert Selby, Jr. was born in Brooklyn and went to sea as a merchant marine while still in his teens. Laid low by lung disease, he was, after a decade of hospitalizations, written off as a goner and sent home to die. Deciding instead to live, but having no way to make a living, he came to a realization that would change the course of literature: "I knew the alphabet. Maybe I could be a writer." Drawing from the soul of his Brooklyn neighborhood, he began writing something called "The Queen Is Dead," which evolved, after six years, into his first novel, Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964), a book that Allen Ginsberg predicted would "explode like a rusty hellish bombshell over America and still be eagerly read in a hundred years." Selby's second novel, The Room (1971), considered by some to be his masterpiece, received, as Selby said, "the greatest reviews I've ever read in my life," then rapidly vanished leaving barely a trace of its existence. Over the years, however, especially in Europe, The Room has come to be recognized as what Selby himself perceives it to be: the most disturbing book ever written, a book that he himself was unable to read again for twenty years after writing it. "A man obsessed / is a man possessed / by a demon." Thus the defining epigraph of The Demon (1976), a novel that, like The Room, has been better understood and more widely embraced abroad than at home. If The Room is Selby's own favorite among his books, Requiem for a Dream (1978) contains his favorite opening line: "Harry locked his mother in the closet." It is perhaps the truest and most horrific tale of heroin addiction ever written. Song of the Silent Snow (1986) brought together fifteen stories whose writing spanned more than twenty years. Selby continued to write short fiction, screenplays and teleplays at his apartment in West Hollywood. His work appeared in many journals, including Yugen, Black Mountain Review, Evergreen Review, Provincetown Review, Kulchur, New Directions Annual, Swank and Open City. For the last 20 years of his life, Selby taught creative writing as an adjunct professor in the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California. Selby often wryly noted that The New York Times would not review his books when they were published, but he predicted that they'd print his obituary. The movie Last Exit to Brooklyn, Directed by Uli Edel, was made in 1989 and his 1978 novel Requiem for a Dream was made into a film that was released in 2000. Selby himself had a small role as a prison guard. In the 1980s, Selby made the acquaintance of rock singer Henry Rollins, who had long admired Selby's works and publicly championed them. Rollins not only helped broaden Selby's readership, but also arranged recording sessions and reading tours for Selby. Rollins issued original recordings through his own 2.13.61 publications, and distributed Selby's other works. During the last years of his life, Selby suffered from depression and fits of rage, but was always a caring father and grandfather. The last month of his life Selby spent in and out of the hospital. He died in Highland Park, Los Angeles, California of chronic obstructive pulmonary lung disease. Selby was survived by his wife of 35 years, Suzanne; four children and 11 grandchildren.
18 Books Written
In Coney Island, Brooklyn, lonely widow Sarah Goldfarb wants nothing more than to lose weight and appear on a television game show. In her obsessive quest, she becomes addicted to diet pills, while her junkie son, Harry, along with his girlfriend, Marion, and best friend, Tyrone, attempt to secure an illicit shortcut to wealth and leisure by selling heroin.Entranced by the gleaming visions of their futures, these four convince themselves that unexpected setbacks are only temporary. Even as their lives slowly deteriorate around them, they cling to their delusions and become utterly consumed in a spiral of drugs and addiction, refusing to see that they have instead created their own worst nightmares."Selby's place is in the front rank of American novelists . . . To understand Selby's work is to understand the anguish of America." —The New York Times Book Review
A dark look at the harsh reality of life in New York.
Secluded in his remand cell, a small-time criminal surrenders himself to sadistic fantasies of hatred and revenge. Selby's second novel is a claustrophobic descent into the tormented soul of a man trapped in a loveless society.
Harry White is a man haunted by a satyr's lust and an obsessive need for sin and retribution. The more Harry succeeds -- a good marriage, a good corporate job -- the more desperate he becomes, as a life of petty crime leads to fraud and murder and, eventually, to apocalyptic violence.Author of the controversial cult classic Last Exit to Brooklyn, Hubert Selby began as a writer of short fiction. He plunges the reader head-first into the densely realized worlds of his protagonists, in which the details of daily life rub shoulders with obsession and madness. Although fundamentally concerned with morality, Selby's own sense of humility prevents him from preaching. He offers instead a passionate empathy with the ordinary dreams and aspirations of his characters, a brilliant ear for the urban vernacular and for the voices of conscience and self-deceit that torment his characters.
Hubert Selby is probably one of the six best novelists writing in the English language.? Financial TimesAuthor of controversial cult classic, Last Exit to Brooklyn , Hubert Selby began as a writer of short fiction. He excels in this form, plunging the reader head-first into the densely realized worlds of his protagonists, in which the details of daily life rub shoulders with obsession and madness.Although fundamentally concerned with morality, Selby's own sense of humility prevents him from preaching. He offers instead a passionate empathy with the ordinary dreams and aspirations of his characters, a brilliant ear for the urban vernacular and for the voices of conscience and self-deceit that torment his characters."A major American author of a stature with William Burroughs and Joseph Heller."? Los Angeles Times"Selby's place is in the front rank of American novelists ... to understand his work is to understand the anguish of America."? The New York Times Book ReviewNovels by Hubert Selby Jr available from Marion Last Exit to Brooklyn, The Room, The Demon, Requiem for a Dream and The Willow Tree ..
A man pulls back from the brink of suicide when his application to buy a gun with which to shoot himself is delayed. Instead of throwing his life away, he decides to spend all his time and effort disposing of those who he feels deserve to die. With a renewed zest for living, he embarks on a joyful killing spree, having found the true purpose of his existence."Like all great writers, Selby does not answer questions. He only raises them to a pitch so intense that only a scream or a prayer can stop the pain."—San Francisco Chronicle
Set in the Bronx, this novel tells the story of Bobby, a young black man, and his Hispanic friend, Maria. Their lives together are irrevocably shattered when a vicious Hispanic street gang attack leaves Bobby savagely beaten and Maria lying in a hospital bed with a badly burned face.
very light wear. tough to find book and a bargain at this price. sold as is
Derrière les écrits comme derrière les images, vous découvrirez en lisant Song to myself… et autres textes, un auteur plein de bonté et d'humanité.Vous trouverez aussi plus de quarante photographies originales prises par Ludovic Cantais pendant le tournage de son film sur l'auteur de Last Exit to Brooklyn.
Uno degli episodi più potenti e indimenticabili di Ultima uscita per Brooklyn (1964), il romanzo di Hubert Selby Jr. che, finito sotto processo per oscenità al momento della pubblicazione, difeso e amato da grandi irregolari come Allen Ginsberg e Anthony Burgess, Lou Reed e Irvine Welsh, adattato per il grande schermo nel 1989, rimane uno dei classici della letteratura americana degli outsider.Tralala è il soprannome della protagonista di questa una ragazza dei quartieri bassi che vive di marchette, espedienti e piccoli furti, e avanza via via, con la spavalderia cieca di chi non ha nulla da perdere, verso esperienze sempre più violente e autodistruttive. Una discesa all’inferno raccontata con un ritmo incalzante e ipnotico, dove lo sguardo dell’autore non indietreggia mai davanti al male ma si spinge ad abbracciare con amore disperato l’umanità più brutale e più ferita.
Hubert "Cubby" Selby Jr. was an American writer. Two of his novels, Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream, explore worlds in the New York area and were adapted as films, both of which he appeared in. 2 Book Set The Demon & Last Exit to Brooklyn.
THE COMPLETE WORKS OF HUBERT SELBY JR. (CLASSIC BOOK): With illustration
by Hubert Selby Jr.
EXCELLENT CLASSIC LITERATURE BOOK, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
Inculte, N° 20 : L'alcool
by Hubert Selby Jr.
Zombie / Der Dämon
by Hubert Selby Jr.
Hurengeschichten. CD
by Hubert Selby Jr.
Provincetown Review 5
by Hubert Selby Jr.