Hubert Selby Jr. (1928–2004)

The demon by has been aptly dubbed the original American Psycho. Whoever has read that 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis will still shudder remembering the incredible cruelty and horror of its descriptions.
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.… (mais)

This is a great book if you want to get inside the drug addled minds of addicts. Can't say I personally found that an enjoyable experience. The first half was especially dull, but it certainly set the stage for the most spectacular demise of four characters I've ever seen in literature.

Selby introduces us to Harry, Tyrone (Harry's best friend), Marion (Harry's girlfriend), and Sara (Harry's mother). The first three are heroin addicts determined to make it rich dealing so they can live the rest of their lives in more normal pursuits, like travel and small business ownership. Sara is a stereotypical overweight Jewish mother who has lost her husband. She receives some kind of telemarketing call that makes her believe she will be on a television show. In an effort to lose weight, she begins taking "diet pills" (which turn out to be amphetamines). Let's just say she fares as poorly as the heroin addicts.

I love a good dark book, but this one oddly starts off pretty dull, in part because the heroin addict sections are written in a style meant to evoke a brain on drugs. It takes a bit of time to get used to the style, and while I admire the effort, it's really not very interesting to read what is essentially narrated garbled thoughts for pages on end.

The latter half is much better in the sense of it being like a car accident - - you can't look away even though it is just horrific. Honestly, this book should be used in high schools with freshmen . . .there's basically no way anyone would ever do drugs of any kind after reading it. That's really the best aspect; Selby does an amazing job of communicating the lack of control and agency left to these human beings once the addiction fully seizes them.

The intro to the book indicates this book is about the dangers of the American dream . . .oddly, I didn't get that message from it even though I was actively looking.

… (mais)

Dice Zara Snapp en su Diccionario de drogas (2015) sobre la heroína: “A través de la historia, muchos artistas han hablado de la sensación de felicidad total y el estado de euforia incomparable que la heroína les generó”. Un contraste total con la realidad tenebrosa que representa una adicción. Réquiem por un sueño debe ser seguramente uno de los libros más devastadores que se han escrito. La tristeza de la soledad, el yugo implacable de las adicciones y el resquebrajamiento de los sueños rotos, van devorando a los cuatro personajes principales: Sara, Harry, Marion y Tyrone. Ellos viven soñando con aparecer en programas de televisión y la riqueza que pueda permitirles escapar del sórdido entorno donde se desenvuelven; sin embargo, para la autodestrucción, nadie como el ser humano. Los protagonistas se atiborran de pastillas, pican sus venas con heroína y se prostituyen en el húmedo Nueva York de Coney Island, teniendo a Manhattan al fondo como testigo del cruel autosabotaje. La novela de Hubert Selby Jr. condensa en 337 páginas la crónica detallada de un descenso a los infiernos de las drogas y la melancolía, con personajes marginados que viven perdiendo la esperanza de alcanzar el sueño americano. Publicada por primera vez en 1978, Réquiem por un sueño tuvo una reedición en el año 2000 a propósito del estreno de la adaptación cinematográfica del director Darren Aronofsky, un filme que comparte con el libro el espíritu lúgubre de la naturaleza humana. Clásico de la literatura Junkie, en Réquiem por un sueño las letras de Hubert Selby Jr. van delineando las andanzas repulsivas de sus protagonistas, con un ritmo que hacia las últimas páginas, se hace insoportablemente desolador. El autor vivió en carne propia las tinieblas de las adicciones, primero con las drogas y después con el alcohol; murió en 2004 por problemas pulmonares. Aronofsky escribe en el prólogo: “El héroe era el enemigo de los personajes: la adicción. El libro es un manifiesto del triunfo de la adicción sobre el espíritu humano. Nos muestra lo que nos hace vacilar, lo que nos hace odiar y lo que nos hace amar. Revela lo que es ser humano. No olvidarás nunca esta lectura.”… (mais)

Published in 1978, this is the story of four people who get addicted to drugs while in pursuit of their capitalistic dreams. Sara Goldfarb gets a call about a possible television appearance on a game show. In attempting to lose weight, she becomes addicted to diet pills. Her son, Harry, girlfriend, Marion, and friend, Tyrone, want to open a business and improve their lives. They decide to do this by selling heroin but end up as addicts. There is a lot of tragedy in this book. It seems to be an indictment of the “get rich quick” mentality that was (and is still) so prevalent in American society. This is a bleak story. I picked it up because it is on the Boxall List, but it is definitely too depressing for me.… (mais)