The Room - Softcover

Selby Jr, Hubert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0586086773 ISBN 13: 9780586086773

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988

Synopsis

'It is quite an experience to be locked up all by yourself in any size room' says the anonymous narrator of Hubert Selby Jr.'s second novel. What follows is a startling series of recollections and fantasies that illuminate the workings of a prisoner's unhinged mind. He yearns for his violent childhood, rages against obscure authorities, and imagines enacting horrible revenge on those who imprisoned him. The prisoner's remand cell becomes the scene of a surreal mental torture. Disorienting, nightmarish and structurally inventive, "The Room" is a shocking examination of the suffering humans can inflict on each other.

About this title

About the Author:

Hubert Selby Jr. was born in Brooklyn New York in 1928. After a career in the merchant marine cut short short by illness, he achieved interntational recognition for Last Exit To Brooklyn. His other novels include The Demon in 1976, The Willow Tree in 1998 and a collection of stories Song of the Silent Snow in 1986, all published by Marion Boyars.

Review:

Selby's best book * The TLS * A terrifying journey into the darkest corners of the psyche * Guardian * Selby deploys street slang, common speech, argot and scatology to create a high poetic art...it seems to derive from the greatest American poetry--Whitman, Pound, Williams, and Olson * The Nation * One must be grateful to Selby for his fatal vision and strong, original talent * Newsweek * 'Selby's place is in the front rank of American novelists ... to understand his work is to understand the anguish of America.' * New York Times Book Review * It's absolutely horrific ... but just about the most powerful novel I've ever read * The Times *

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0586086773
• ISBN 13: 9780586086773
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288