Hubert Selby Jr.

Hubert Selby, Jr. (July 23, 1928 – April 26, 2004) was one of America's most acclaimed postwar writers. His work ranks as some of the most powerful literature written by an American author in the twentieth century.{{ref|nyt}} His best known work, Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964) is recognized today as a classic.

Last Exit

In 1958, Selby started working on his first piece, The Queen Is Dead. At the time, Selby had a succession of jobs. Yet he continued to work on his fiction every night after his day job as a secretary, a gas station attendant, and a freelance copywriter. The short story slowly evolved for the next six years before it saw the light of publication.

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In 1961, a short story Tralala was published in a literary journal, The Provincetown Review. It also appeared in Black Mountain Review and New Directions. With his unstructured style and coarse descriptions, Selby examined the life, the gang rape, and murder of a prostitute. He quickly drew negative attention from a number of critics. The editor was arrested for selling pornographic literature to a minor. The publication was in an obscenity trial, but the case was later dismissed on appeal.

Related Topics:
Prostitute - Pornographic - Literature - Minor

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As Selby continued to work on his writing, Amiri Baraka, Selby's long time friend, encouraged Selby to contact Sterling Lord, who at the time was Jack Kerouac's agent. In 1964, Tralala along with The Queen is Dead, and four other loosely linked short stories, appeared in his first novel Last Exit to Brooklyn. The novel was accepted and published by Grove Press, which has already released works by William S. Burroughs.

Related Topics:
Amiri Baraka - Sterling Lord - Jack Kerouac - Grove Press - William S. Burroughs

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The novel was praised by many, including Allen Ginsberg, who predicted that it would "explode like a rusty hellish bombshell over America and still be eagerly read in a hundred years". But as with any controversial work, not everyone was happy. Because of the detailed depictions of homosexuality, drug addiction, gang rape, and other human brutality and cruelty, the novel was prosecuted for obscenity in Great Britain in 1967. Anthony Burgess was among a number of writers who appeared as witnesses for the defence of the novel. The all-male jury's conviction was later reversed on appeal. Italy had the novel banned. For more details on the British trial of Last Exit to Brooklyn see the entry Last Exit to Brooklyn#Trial.

Related Topics:
Allen Ginsberg - Homosexuality - Drug addiction - Gang rape - Brutality - Cruelty - Obscenity - Great Britain - Anthony Burgess - Appeal - Italy - Banned - Last Exit to Brooklyn#Trial

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In 1967, Selby moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles to escape his own addiction. That same year, Selby met his future wife, Suzanne, at a bar in West Hollywood. The couple moved in together two days later. Two years after, in 1969, they were married. For the next decade, they traveled back and forth, between their home in Southern California and East Coast, settling down permanently in Los Angeles area in 1983.

Related Topics:
Los Angeles - West Hollywood - Southern California - East Coast

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Even though all of his work was written while he was sober, Selby continued to battle his drug addiction. In 1967 heroin eventually landed him in Los Angeles county jail, where he spent two months for possession of heroin. After his release from jail, he kicked his habit and stayed clean of drugs and alcohol through to his death. He refused morphine on his death bed, even though he was in pain.

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