The Hubert Selby Jnr and Similar Thread.
 

Have been a huge fan of his books since taking out Last Exit to Brooklyn from my local library when I was a kid.

In many ways he's as formative an influence on my tastes as the Velvets, SY, Tom Waits and Swans.

Other books of his I've read and liked include The Room, Requiem for a Dream, Song of the Silent Snow and The Demon.

Any one else interested in him or things related?

Yeah sure...and he's often overlooked when people discuss the angry young men and the beats.

You know, it's really fucked-up that we had to switch boards.

& that none of my old posts are even searchable in google anymore.

Well, don't bother seeing Last Exit to Brooklyn. The book, however, is a modern classic must-read.

The Demon is one of my favourite books.

I think I've mentioned it a few times on here, so I haven't got the energy to write it all again.

does anyone else see the the georgette and i am a bird now connection?

I know what you mean, Pookie. Yeah, in the last similar thread pork was the one who snagged the Selby and you pointed out The Demon. And I still need to read it. The only thing I've ever read of his is Last Exit to Brooklyn. I tried to start another of his after reading it way back when, (can't remember which) and never got far.
I've read LEtB many times though, and love the book's true psychological realism, prose style, content & subtle sociopolitical message...everything.

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

Agreed. Although I don't think he was part of the main 'gang' of beats centred around Kerouac, Ginsberg, etc.

He seems to have been more of an influence on a later generation, especially in music. I know that Henry Rollins and Lydia Lunch are huge fans.

He's quite like Bukowski and Burroughs in that he's managed to avoid any 'hippy' associations in a way that Kerouac, Ginsberg, et al, haven't.

He's often classified as an "Angry Young Man" even though most of them were Brits.

He's all over the place...

Completely. Although I imagine that it's just one of a number of influences.

The Room is the one I'd go for next. It's, if anything, even more intense than LEtB.

Yeha I see that's his next one chronologically.

Hmm...
Like Dostoevsky, intense suffering and varied life-experience is perhaps Selby's greatest influence. Another biggie is heroin...unlike Burroughs though, Selby got hooked on it because of physical injuries.

beautiful man.
i still haven't and want to see this.
http://www.cubbymovie.com/

i read Tralala awhile ago and was absolutely floored at the tone and mood and setting and writing and everything about it.
and the ending.. the way he builds suspense so astoundingly by leaving out periods at the end of sentences... one of the best short stories i've ever read.

I've only read Crime and Punishment (a long time ago), but that book probably is the only other one to affect me in the same way as Selby's stuff.

His heroin problems are not necessarily something that i'd see as a major influence in his writing. More like another sore point that he felt like writing about, amongst other subjects. One of the things that has always struck me about his writing is how he managed to mantain almost the same sort of detachment from the characters that inhabit his books as the one that the nazis felt in regard of their own victims.

I've read a lot of books, but nothing by him. not sure why, but I never got around to it. I'll give him a try though. recommendations for first book?




that almost killed my interest before it began. Kerouac makes me want to fall asleep (or kick hippies in the shin).



that made me think there was promise. :)

Well, to clarify then, I mentioned the "beat generation" because those are the writers that get mention here all the time, and Selby is more-or-less the same age group as many of them and he's an American writer. And although you have no idea because you're new, I've often made the exact point that "Last Exit to Brooklyn" is every bit as iconic in 20th c. American Lit as "On the Road" is in an attempt to try to turn people here onto it. Oh, and because I think I'm "cultured." (like some douche wrote once)
The same goes for more other things than I can list, and I've been doing this for years.

I have the paperback from a used book store with the original cover. Just a stating a fact. But, yes, it is cooler than the other covers though.






'70s Creem contributor Nick Toscheshas ascribed "Last Exit to Brooklyn" the importance of being to the 20th c. what Melvilles' "Moby Dick" was to the nineteenth. He's done some a spoken word album with Selby and one with Patti Smith.
http://www.exitwounds.com/Hubert-Selby-Jr.htm

he is good, bleak but very good. last exit to brooklyn was my first taste and i like it.

requiem for a dream is great but the ending seriously gave me the fear when i watched it first time.

I don't know about that. I find myself caring deeply for his characters. Although I suppose the fact that I also feel deeply for concentration camp victims might actually validate your point afterall.

I do find a lot of humanity in his books though, even The Room, which is something I wouldn't generally say about Nazis.

that's kind of my problem with "beat" stuff.....once it gets that label it becomes "cool" for no other reason for lots of people.

this sounds a little bit more my style.

I need a new book to read badly, and it sounds like Last Exit to Brooklyn comes with high recommendations.

thanks!