I love when Genet comes up. He's that black angel over the shoulder of so many great minds. Cocteau, Sartre, Derrida, Burroughs, Pasolini, Waters, Fassbinder, Bowie, Hubert Selby Jr.
Hey, you have upped your game in artistic editing a notch. I really liked the boxing moves and most of all I liked that you filmed your own original material to bring some life into the review and not just used some movie clips or other pics from the internet. All reviewers seem to bombard the viewers with clips these days. I'm so bored with that. I'm happy with vids of you just talking, but if you decide to add something, please make your own illustrations like you did here. Fun to watch; authentic. Liked that a lot.❤
Great timing on this review. I/m on the strike section of the book currently. Looked to see if you ever did a review on this, and a couple of days later you put one up. Swans are awesome too btw....
If anyone is interested in learning more about the ever-fascinating Hubert Selbey Jr, Henry Rollins podcast “Henry and Heidi” features a great episode on Mr. Rollin’s friendship with the writer. Highly recommend! Thanks for the review.
When first Introduced to Harry Black I was abhorred, then felt sympathy for him, then was totally disgusted and literally spiteful toward him. What a crazy ride.
I re-read this book at least once a year. “The Queen is Dead” is one of the most haunting stories of unrequited love I’ve read, yet it’s set in total squalor. Georgette appears to be only person in the stories with intelligence and a sense of romance, which makes it all the more tragic. And I saw Tralala’s ending coming a mile away, but it’s still horrific. Harry’s arc was the most shocking.
I've noticed whenever I read a book nowadays, I imagine the protagonist as you for some reason. I'm reading Stoner, suddenly there's Clifford Lee Sargent as William Stoner. I read Empire of Pain about Sackler's fraud dynasty, there's you as Arthur Sackler. And always in a moustache version.
I just saw Henry Rollins in a live talking show in Concord, New Hampshire. I learned about Hubert Selby Jr. from and Suicide from his videos. I really respect that he has really nothing to gain by plugging other artists work, holding up their records and explaining why their great but he does it for the love of art. I haven't read Last Exit to Brooklyn yet but I will soon. Chipping away at The Brothers Karamazov. Funny, you brought up La Haine. I just watched it and it blew my mind. It felt like Mean Streets meets Do The Right Thing. I'm learning French so I'm always looking for more French films. Love your work on this channel, man!
Great review Ciff. Selby must have been a prophet. It felt as if he were writing it in the present state of the USA. I realize there are people who have not experienced this slice of the American pie as YET but believe more and more are beginning and WILL BE experiencing it with each passing day. Its as if Selby opened a window and screamed fire at the top of his lungs and everyone ignored not only the warning as the building burned around them but then allowed it to consume the entire world in flames. Ignorance, intolerance and narcissism rule and it is the new normal. If it hasn't played in a theater near you YET be prepared as it will be the ONLY show playing everywhere soon. I loved this book. It is one of THE most realistic and HONEST books about the many lives no one wants to talk about nor wants to look at though it is all around us. If you happen to be one of the very poor living in the USA you will totally understand and relate in many ways to the characters in this book. I have met, known and watched our country turn into Selby's Last Exit the only difference being It don/t end at Brooklyn anymore.
Fun fact, the great Scott Walker was so inspired by this book circa 1970 that he used it as the conceptual jumping off point for his album from that year, Til the Band Comes In. It's a series of vignettes of characters who all live in the same apartment complex, with a couple thematic unifiers bookending the record. The only thing is that his previous album Scott 4 tanked so badly during the writing/and recording process that it was removed from his label's catalogue, and heavily discouraged Scott left the album about 3/4 finished, tacking on a handful of covers on the back end of the album to fill out its run time. Still, it's an incredible album, a musical novella if you will, and I'm just glad the covers were kept on the end so we can listen to the originals in the wonderfully cohesive order they were meant to be heard in. Highly recommended! Also, great video. I got the notification during work and clicked on it the moment I got off!
Thanks so much for spotlighting Cubby Selby, a great master of 20th century American writing. You might want to read his second novel The Room and Requiem for a Dream, maybe The Demon too, all masterpieces. Selby was the real deal, a brave and uncompromising voice.
Truly a very distinctive book. Brutal is right. What Selby did with the English language still dominates my mind, and I haven't read this book in like 6 years. Its not only the content, which is stark and shocking, but its as if he said to the English language itself "People have let you off the hook, buddy. I will not. I have seen in this world what your pretty form likes to dress up or ignore. You bill bend to the reality of the world as I have seen it, and when I've used you, I will offer no apology. You will quiver in fear the next time someone employs you, knowing what I made you get inside." Hubert absolutely degraded the English language - I can't think of another way of saying it. His long non-punctuated sentences, his use of all caps, his lack of paragraphs, his jaw-dropping nimbleness in switching tense in the most brash and unorthodox of ways - everything about this book in terms of form is shocking, and yet somehow, by some brazen alchemy of rugged authenticity, it is one of the supreme novels of that century. I couldn't believe it when I was reading it. Personally, I think "requiem for a dream" is better, but God damn did this man have vengeance in his heart for the history of letters.
Clifford ~ Thanks for all your good work. I truly appreciate watching your book reviews. How about adding "Waiting For The Barbarians" by Coetzee to your list? I'd like to hear your thoughts on WFTB. Cheers!
You nailed it, Cliff. What a book, what a life story . . . I was not aware of the Beats being such admirers. I read this book about two years ago. I am still scarred and moved by it. Yes, review more . . . But wait. I still am. A very important writer. BTW: I grew up messed up by the great Aronofsky film too. Thank God someone was bold enough to adapt him. I'm not sure we would be hearing about him otherwise . . . Thanks Cliff!
I only saw the movie once and have been reluctant to watch it again, not because I didn’t like it or it wasn’t good, just because it was so brutal. I didn’t think I could read it either, at least the movie had some beautiful imagery- JJL in that red dress strutting down the cobblestone street in the Navy Yard with the mounted police behind her or excellent cinematography. This month I read The Warriors for Garbaugust,, thinking it would be cheesy as was the movie based on it, which I loved as a teen. Many times it made me think of LEB, being perpetual night and New York’s dregs of society. It was a lot more sophisticated and literary then I imagined and the arc of it is based on Greek hero stories. But it does have some brutal scenes, what was up with gang rape back then, was it really that prevalent? This book was deeply influenced by LEB and I think you would find it an interesting follow up to it and I’d love to hear your comments. You almost have convinced me I might want to read LEB, perhaps a story at a time and then put it away for a few weeks, and then read another?
Absolutely loved this book. I knew I would ever since Lou Reed talked about it. There is a phrase from Last Exit that still sticks with me to this day; "Beyond the weirdness and the kick." I don't why, but that sounds so cool to me. Beautiful use of words. Sounds like a very cool title for something.
Amazing book, this had the impact I hoped Naked Lunch might have, the excesses feeling more grounded in the human experience than Burrough's fitfully entertainng but frankly repetitive fantasies. Rather than the beats though, the nearest comparison I can think of though is Iceberg Slim by way of Joyce. The influence on Reed's 'Sister ray' and to a lesser blatantly but tonally 'Street hassle' is clear. I've only read one other book of his many years back, 'The Demon' but I only remember being vaguely disappointed after 'LETB' though perhaps I was being unfair as few books are or should attempt to be as visceral so I might fish it off the shelf.
Rollins was the publisher of some of Selby's stuff on his 2.13.61 publishing house. I think both in print and Selby's reading on recotd. I liked your reading by the way, Cliff. Selby may be too raw for me to read in print, but I would love an audio book.
Probably the only book to elicit in me a reaction of such terror and disgust that I tore the book after reading it. The most gut-wrenching piece of literature I've ever read by a mile!
Thanks for that great review. Cheers from sunny New Zealand. ( Check out Fritz Zorn "Mars". In a subtle way that book describes the stages of hell one can go through even in orderly Switzerland...)
Thank you for your reviews, Cliff! Can you review The Death of Artemio Cruz next? I recently finished it and it is amazing! Very much like Faulkner's Sound and Fury and As I Lay Dying.
SO WELL SAID. this was the first book ive read to "get back into reading". what a fucking comeback lmao. i mean jesus its just heavy. amazing verbage and video
I’ve been waiting years for you to review Last Exit. I don’t read novels or longer works much (short stories, novellas, essays) but I come back to Last Exit on a regular basis to get punched in the gut.
This is an incredible good review although i dont know If i will read this book or not. Because this kind of content appeals to some bad memorys and activate a strong destructive part in my self. Its Strange that we readers get fascinated by the most cruel and savage topics like for example Celine, Bukowski or Houellebecq. This kind of books drags me down. Afterwards i need some positive staff to not go insane. Anyways your review was very passionate and at some points even emotional. Keep your good work up!🎉
Doesn't sell Selby for me. Read and enjoyed Requiem for a Dream ages ago and I believe I 'enjoyed' it. And though this review is as well done and amusing, this book...at present? No. Am reminded to suggest THE DREAM LIFE OF BALSO SNELL.
I’m trying to read it now it’s terrible, it’s a decent in to bad grammar and confusion , I could care less about these dead peoples terrible story, this book SUCKS!!!
I love when Genet comes up. He's that black angel over the shoulder of so many great minds. Cocteau, Sartre, Derrida, Burroughs, Pasolini, Waters, Fassbinder, Bowie, Hubert Selby Jr.
you don’t even know how much I’ve waited for this review. I always felt it would be right up your alley. Keep up the good work!
ok, now you’re getting into some good stuff.
By far the most miserable book I've ever read. It is a masterpiece of urban decay and despair.
Hey, you have upped your game in artistic editing a notch. I really liked the boxing moves and most of all I liked that you filmed your own original material to bring some life into the review and not just used some movie clips or other pics from the internet. All reviewers seem to bombard the viewers with clips these days. I'm so bored with that. I'm happy with vids of you just talking, but if you decide to add something, please make your own illustrations like you did here. Fun to watch; authentic. Liked that a lot.❤
Great timing on this review. I/m on the strike section of the book currently. Looked to see if you ever did a review on this, and a couple of days later you put one up. Swans are awesome too btw....
I was lucky enough to meet Shelby in the mid 1990s when he did a reading at Columbia College in Chicago.
If anyone is interested in learning more about the ever-fascinating Hubert Selbey Jr, Henry Rollins podcast “Henry and Heidi” features a great episode on Mr. Rollin’s friendship with the writer. Highly recommend!
Thanks for the review.
Goes in hand with City of Night, by John Rechy, which btw is barely reviewed here on youtube despite it being an american classic like Selby's
Love how much you’re doing with the editing now.
When first Introduced to Harry Black I was abhorred, then felt sympathy for him, then was totally disgusted and literally spiteful toward him. What a crazy ride.
One of my all-time favorite books, right up there with Day of the Locust and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Glad you got to read it.
I re-read this book at least once a year. “The Queen is Dead” is one of the most haunting stories of unrequited love I’ve read, yet it’s set in total squalor. Georgette appears to be only person in the stories with intelligence and a sense of romance, which makes it all the more tragic. And I saw Tralala’s ending coming a mile away, but it’s still horrific. Harry’s arc was the most shocking.
I've noticed whenever I read a book nowadays, I imagine the protagonist as you for some reason. I'm reading Stoner, suddenly there's Clifford Lee Sargent as William Stoner. I read Empire of Pain about Sackler's fraud dynasty, there's you as Arthur Sackler. And always in a moustache version.
I just saw Henry Rollins in a live talking show in Concord, New Hampshire. I learned about Hubert Selby Jr. from and Suicide from his videos. I really respect that he has really nothing to gain by plugging other artists work, holding up their records and explaining why their great but he does it for the love of art. I haven't read Last Exit to Brooklyn yet but I will soon. Chipping away at The Brothers Karamazov. Funny, you brought up La Haine. I just watched it and it blew my mind. It felt like Mean Streets meets Do The Right Thing. I'm learning French so I'm always looking for more French films. Love your work on this channel, man!
I read it years ago after developing an obsession for Lydia Lunch and she mentions it in every opportunity possible lol great read and review!
Lydia lunch is my all time favorite
Great review. Read it a long time ago. Remember being blown away by it. I think I’ll have to pull it out again.
Great review Ciff. Selby must have been a prophet. It felt as if he were writing it in the present state of the USA. I realize there are people who have not experienced this slice of the American pie as YET but believe more and more are beginning and WILL BE experiencing it with each passing day. Its as if Selby opened a window and screamed fire at the top of his lungs and everyone ignored not only the warning as the building burned around them but then allowed it to consume the entire world in flames. Ignorance, intolerance and narcissism rule and it is the new normal. If it hasn't played in a theater near you YET be prepared as it will be the ONLY show playing everywhere soon. I loved this book. It is one of THE most realistic and HONEST books about the many lives no one wants to talk about nor wants to look at though it is all around us. If you happen to be one of the very poor living in the USA you will totally understand and relate in many ways to the characters in this book. I have met, known and watched our country turn into Selby's Last Exit the only difference being It don/t end at Brooklyn anymore.
Fun fact, the great Scott Walker was so inspired by this book circa 1970 that he used it as the conceptual jumping off point for his album from that year, Til the Band Comes In. It's a series of vignettes of characters who all live in the same apartment complex, with a couple thematic unifiers bookending the record. The only thing is that his previous album Scott 4 tanked so badly during the writing/and recording process that it was removed from his label's catalogue, and heavily discouraged Scott left the album about 3/4 finished, tacking on a handful of covers on the back end of the album to fill out its run time. Still, it's an incredible album, a musical novella if you will, and I'm just glad the covers were kept on the end so we can listen to the originals in the wonderfully cohesive order they were meant to be heard in. Highly recommended!
Also, great video. I got the notification during work and clicked on it the moment I got off!
Thanks so much for spotlighting Cubby Selby, a great master of 20th century American writing. You might want to read his second novel The Room and Requiem for a Dream, maybe The Demon too, all masterpieces. Selby was the real deal, a brave and uncompromising voice.
I second The Demon.
Got into Selby after reading that The Demon was Andy Kaufman's favorite book.
Truly a very distinctive book. Brutal is right. What Selby did with the English language still dominates my mind, and I haven't read this book in like 6 years. Its not only the content, which is stark and shocking, but its as if he said to the English language itself "People have let you off the hook, buddy. I will not. I have seen in this world what your pretty form likes to dress up or ignore. You bill bend to the reality of the world as I have seen it, and when I've used you, I will offer no apology. You will quiver in fear the next time someone employs you, knowing what I made you get inside." Hubert absolutely degraded the English language - I can't think of another way of saying it. His long non-punctuated sentences, his use of all caps, his lack of paragraphs, his jaw-dropping nimbleness in switching tense in the most brash and unorthodox of ways - everything about this book in terms of form is shocking, and yet somehow, by some brazen alchemy of rugged authenticity, it is one of the supreme novels of that century. I couldn't believe it when I was reading it. Personally, I think "requiem for a dream" is better, but God damn did this man have vengeance in his heart for the history of letters.
What an episode to be sponsored by Better Help
😂
Clifford ~ Thanks for all your good work. I truly appreciate watching your book reviews. How about adding "Waiting For The Barbarians" by Coetzee to your list? I'd like to hear your thoughts on WFTB. Cheers!
I'm surprised you never read this. First book I ever read, love it to this day
This is the first book you ever read? What, no Calvin and Hobbes available? 😂
You nailed it, Cliff. What a book, what a life story . . . I was not aware of the Beats being such admirers. I read this book about two years ago. I am still scarred and moved by it. Yes, review more . . . But wait. I still am. A very important writer.
BTW: I grew up messed up by the great Aronofsky film too. Thank God someone was bold enough to adapt him. I'm not sure we would be hearing about him otherwise . . .
Thanks Cliff!
I took this with me to the US to read in Brooklyn. Devastating book.
❤ I Grow up in Flatbush ❤
I only saw the movie once and have been reluctant to watch it again, not because I didn’t like it or it wasn’t good, just because it was so brutal. I didn’t think I could read it either, at least the movie had some beautiful imagery- JJL in that red dress strutting down the cobblestone street in the Navy Yard with the mounted police behind her or excellent cinematography.
This month I read The Warriors for Garbaugust,, thinking it would be cheesy as was the movie based on it, which I loved as a teen. Many times it made me think of LEB, being perpetual night and New York’s dregs of society. It was a lot more sophisticated and literary then I imagined and the arc of it is based on Greek hero stories. But it does have some brutal scenes, what was up with gang rape back then, was it really that prevalent? This book was deeply influenced by LEB and I think you would find it an interesting follow up to it and I’d love to hear your comments. You almost have convinced me I might want to read LEB, perhaps a story at a time and then put it away for a few weeks, and then read another?
Absolutely loved this book. I knew I would ever since Lou Reed talked about it. There is a phrase from Last Exit that still sticks with me to this day; "Beyond the weirdness and the kick."
I don't why, but that sounds so cool to me. Beautiful use of words. Sounds like a very cool title for something.
Nelson Algren's A Walk on the Wild Side should be on your list
Awesome. As always.
Amazing book, this had the impact I hoped Naked Lunch might have, the excesses feeling more grounded in the human experience than Burrough's fitfully entertainng but frankly repetitive fantasies. Rather than the beats though, the nearest comparison I can think of though is Iceberg Slim by way of Joyce.
The influence on Reed's 'Sister ray' and to a lesser blatantly but tonally 'Street hassle' is clear. I've only read one other book of his many years back, 'The Demon' but I only remember being vaguely disappointed after 'LETB' though perhaps I was being unfair as few books are or should attempt to be as visceral so I might fish it off the shelf.
Rollins was the publisher of some of Selby's stuff on his 2.13.61 publishing house. I think both in print and Selby's reading on recotd.
I liked your reading by the way, Cliff. Selby may be too raw for me to read in print, but I would love an audio book.
Have you heard the Mark Knofler soundtrack to the film Last Exit To Brooklyn? Haunting ....
Is that Solenoid in the back there?
Probably the only book to elicit in me a reaction of such terror and disgust that I tore the book after reading it. The most gut-wrenching piece of literature I've ever read by a mile!
Thanks for that great review. Cheers from sunny New Zealand.
( Check out Fritz Zorn "Mars". In a subtle way that book describes the stages of hell one can go through even in orderly Switzerland...)
want to reccomend you The Lamb As Effigy by Sprain. absolutely tremendous album that seems right up your alley.
Have not read him-yet! Multiple authoritative recommendations.
Get that coffee ☕
Thank you for your reviews, Cliff! Can you review The Death of Artemio Cruz next? I recently finished it and it is amazing! Very much like Faulkner's Sound and Fury and As I Lay Dying.
First time in my reading life I ever saw that morality was, and is, situational.
Have to read it!
SO WELL SAID. this was the first book ive read to "get back into reading". what a fucking comeback lmao. i mean jesus its just heavy. amazing verbage and video
You should also read The demon also by Selby... It's really really good!!
I read it on account of Henry Rollins mentioning it. Helluva book. Hellish.
That book Shelby wrote about fucking a dog is the most disgusting thing I've ever read
Meaning: you should read it
Have you reviewed the Magus by John Fowles. If not, it is a brilliant work of theatre. Masquerades and illusions aplenty.
Patiently awaiting your review of Satantango by László Krasznahorkai
loved this book but more than most its strictly for 20 somethings. speaking of that, could you review a moveable feast? its kind of the opposite.
I’ve been waiting years for you to review Last Exit. I don’t read novels or longer works much (short stories, novellas, essays) but I come back to Last Exit on a regular basis to get punched in the gut.
One of the most important books to me. When I was 18 I gave myself a stick n poke tattoo of tra la la above my ankle
I hope you review Whores for Gloria by William T Vollman. It seems like something you'd enjoy.
Have not read the book yet. I did watch the movie and thought Jennifer Jason Leigh’s performance was superb & gut wrenching.
This is an incredible good review although i dont know If i will read this book or not. Because this kind of content appeals to some bad memorys and activate a strong destructive part in my self.
Its Strange that we readers get fascinated by the most cruel and savage topics like for example Celine, Bukowski or Houellebecq. This kind of books drags me down.
Afterwards i need some positive staff to not go insane.
Anyways your review was very passionate and at some points even emotional. Keep your good work up!🎉
Another great novel by Hubert Selby is his follow up, The Room (1971) very disturbing.
I’m surprised he didn’t mention Tralala as the most powerful story. The Queen is Dead becomes barely readable.
🎶 “LAA-ST EXIT TO BROOKLYN
LA-ST CHANCE TO TURN AROWOUND!”🎶
Death on credit is my go to when I want to laugh a deep morose laughter. It spits in your face and then wipes it off with a nursing hand.
Landmark
You should read CHERRY, by Nico Walker.
I've never read this but I think I might have lived it.
What are your thoughts on the Oofy Doofy Theory?
Doesn't sell Selby for me. Read and enjoyed Requiem for a Dream ages ago and I believe I 'enjoyed' it. And though this review is as well done and amusing, this book...at present? No. Am reminded to suggest THE DREAM LIFE OF BALSO SNELL.
Omg please review the room by selby you'll absolutely won't have a good time, its seriously horrific
please please please read l'amant by marguerite duras!
I’m trying to read it now it’s terrible, it’s a decent in to bad grammar and confusion , I could care less about these dead peoples terrible story, this book SUCKS!!!