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.

Wrong Entrance

Hubert's father, Hubert Selby Sr., was a merchant seaman and a former coal miner from Kentucky. He married Adalin, and they both settled in the Red Hook district of Brooklyn. Hubert Selby, Jr. was born in 1928, in Brooklyn, New York City. He attended various New York state schools, including Peter Stuyvesant High. His childhood nickname "Cubby" stuck with him his entire life.

Related Topics:
Seaman - Coal miner - Kentucky - Red Hook - Brooklyn - New York City - State school

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In 1943, Hubert Sr. returned to the merchant marine. His son, Hubert Jr., dropped out of school, and at the age of 15 was able to persuade the recruiters to allow him to join the merchant marine. The life of a teenager, who followed his father, quickly took a wrong turn.

Related Topics:
Merchant marine

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In 1947, while at sea, Selby was diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis. The doctors predicted that he would live for less than a year. He was taken off the ship in Bremen, Germany, and sent back home to America. The next three and a half years, the 18 year old spent in and out of the Marine Hospital in New York.

Related Topics:
Tuberculosis - Bremen - Germany - America

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Selby went through an experimental drug treatment, streptomycin, that later caused some severe complications. The doctors relied on surgery. During the operation, in order for the surgeons to operate on his lungs, they removed ten ribs{{ref|ribs}}. One of the lungs collapsed, and the doctors removed part of the other. The surgery saved him, but left him with a year-long recuperation, and acute pulmonary problems for the rest of his life. Those years brought on an addiction to painkillers and heroin that lasted for a couple of decades.

Related Topics:
Streptomycin - Acute - Pulmonary - Painkillers - Heroin

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