Song of the Silent Snow - Softcover

Selby Jr, Hubert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0586086633 ISBN 13: 9780586086636

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988

Synopsis

Hubert Selby is probably one of the six best novelists writing in the English language.?Financial Times

Author 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 Review

Novels by Hubert Selby Jr available from Marion Boyars: Last Exit to Brooklyn, The Room, The Demon, Requiem for a Dream and The Willow Tree..

About this title

About the Author

Hubert Selby, Jr. was born in Brooklyn in 1928. At the age of 15, he dropped out of school and went to sea with the merchant marines. While at sea he was diagnosed with lung disease. With no other way to make a living, he decided to try writing: 'I knew the alphabet. Maybe I could be a writer.' In 1964 he completed his first book, Last Exit to Brooklyn, which has since become a cult classic. In 1966, it was the subject of an obscenity trial in the UK. His other books include The Room, The Demon, Requiem for a Dream, Song of the Silent Snow, The Willow Tree and Waiting Period. In 2000, Requiem for a Dream starred Jared Leto and Ellen Burstyn and was directed by Darren Aronofsky. Hubert Selby Jr died in Highland Park, Los Angeles, California in April 2004.

From Library Journal

These 15 stories from the author of Last Exit to Brooklyn range from clipped street vernacular to poetic description, but common to all the pieces in this slightly uneven collection is a compassionate vision. "The Coat" is essential Selby: an unsparing portrait of a homeless man whose relationship with his coathis lifelineis more humanly meaningful than the violent city around him. A girl on a subway becomes a man's fantasy object, a salesman finds courage and success through fortune cookies, a father smashes a TV to gain his son's attention, and in a twisted way he doesthe son tapes the incident: Selby's work is earthy, thoughtful, funny, and about a recognizably uncaring world. Peter Bricklebank, English Dept., City Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0586086633
• ISBN 13: 9780586086636
• Binding: Paperback