Hubert Selby Jr. (1928–2004)
Author of Last Exit to Brooklyn
About the Author
Image credit: Photo: Sylvia Plachy
Works by Hubert Selby Jr.
Associated Works
The Graphic Canon, Vol. 3: From Heart of Darkness to Hemingway to Infinite Jest (2013) — Contributor — 148 copies
Conversations with the Capeman: The Untold Story of Salvador Agron (2004) — Introduction, some editions — 5 copies
X-Ray No. 7 — Contributor — 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Selby Jr., Hubert
- Birthdate
- 1928-07-23
- Date of death
- 2004-04-26
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Cause of death
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Places of residence
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Education
- Stuyvesant High School
- Occupations
- author
teacher of creative writing - Organizations
- United States Merchant Marine
University of Southern California
Members
Discussions
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby, Jr. (Bowie's Top 100 for July) in 75 Books Challenge for 2016 (September 2016)
Reviews
Lists
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 28
- Also by
- 7
- Members
- 7,010
- Popularity
- #3,492
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 94
- ISBNs
- 156
- Languages
- 18
- Favorited
- 27
Selby's The demon is the precursor of that story, first published in 1976.
The demon isn't half as scary or cruel as American Psycho. Another drawback is that it takes the novel a very long time to develop. Nothing much happens during the first 150 pages, to the extent that I was tempted to abandon the book, but it must be said that I had no idea what the book was about. Retrospectively, the long introduction seems appropriate to build up toward the horror of the latter part of the story.
The time frame of The demon is several decades. The readers sees the development of Harry White from his bachelor years through the maturing of his child, which obviously encompasses his honeymoon and marriage, and his lust and pursuit of other women around it. The novel really kicks off when Harry starts on an impulsive habit of buying plants to decorate the house, and a scene in which he ends up frantically stabbing a Dieffenbachia, a type of chamber pot plant, typical for that era, and a red flag signal moment in the novel.
The demon is psychologically much more subtle that American Psycho, through less extreme in its violence. Still, all ingredients of the later novel are already there.… (more)