Hubert Selby, Jr. - short biography
Hubert Selby, Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1928. In 1944, at the age of fifteen he joined the US marines. After a few months on harbor duties, he sailed to join the closing stages of World War 2. Two years later, in Germany, he was taken off ship suffering from tuberculosis. The doctors said he could not live more than two months, both lungs were totally shot. He got back to the US and spent the next four years in hospital. That was the time he started reading. By the time he got out of the hospital, he had ten ribs removed, one lung collapsed and a piece of the other one removed.
A couple of years later, he had to go to the hospital again. The doctors were telling him again that he is going to die, that he should just go home and sit quietly and he would soon be dead. His response to this statement was, "Fuck you, no one tells me what to do!" After that he realized that someday he was going to die. He knew two things were going to happen before he died. Number one, he would regret his entire life. Number two, he would want to live his life over again. And he would die. That absolutely terrified him to think he would live his entire life, look at it and say, "Jeez, I blew it. I blew the whole thing." So he got a typewriter and started writing. "This didn't make me a writer, but provided the incentive to discover that I am a writer." So, during this time of bad health, he returned to Brooklyn, started to drink and take drugs and wrote his first book Last Exit to Brooklyn which he finished after six years and was published in the US in 1964.
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Table of Contents
1. Hubert Selby, Jr. - short biography
2. The American City and Last Exit to Brooklyn
2.1. The American City in the 1940s and 1950s
2.2. The Setting of Last Exit to Brooklyn
3. Last Exit to Brooklyn - the narratives
3.1. Another Day Another Dollar
3.2. The Queen is Dead
3.3. And Baby Makes Three
3.4. Tralala
3.5. Strike
3.6. Landsend - the coda
4. Mottoes
5. Reflections on Last Exit to Brooklyn
5.1. The "loss of control"
5.2. Morality
5.3. The city portrait
Objectives & Core Themes
This academic paper examines Hubert Selby, Jr.'s seminal novel Last Exit to Brooklyn, focusing on the portrayal of urban decay, socio-economic marginalization, and the psychological dissolution of the individual within the American urban landscape of the 1950s.
- The socio-historical context of the American city in the post-war era.
- Analysis of the narrative structure and character dynamics in Selby's work.
- The function of violence, morality, and "loss of control" as central motifs.
- The role of unconventional, stream-of-consciousness prose in conveying emotional reality.
- The influence of societal alienation on the lives of slum dwellers.
Excerpt from the Book
3.2. The Queen is Dead
The Queen is Dead tells Vinnie's story and the story of Georgette, a transvestite. Vinnie stole his first car at the age of 12 and went to jail a couple of times. He and the guys of his gang had a confused sense of self-identity, one can see that in their bisexuality. They viewed women as objects to conquer and possess, but intimacy with them made them feel uncomfortable. They were attracted by transvestites but at the same time they rejected them - in their company they united their conflicting passions by acts of sadism.
One of their acquaintances was Georgette, a sensitive homosexual. Georgette is the central character of The Queen is Dead. She wears high heels, padded bras, string tangas and sometimes menstrual napkins. She was proud to be homosexual and felt superior to those who were not gay. For instance, when Georgette is at the 'Greek's' begging for attention singing and dancing, she says to one of the girls that are around: "Heres one for you, you big bitch... What would you know about opera Miss Cocksucker?" (LB, p. 25).
At home, she is rejected by her brother who hits her, while her mother is watching helplessly
Summary of Chapters
1. Hubert Selby, Jr. - short biography: Provides an overview of the author's life, his struggle with health, and the inspiration behind his writing style.
2. The American City and Last Exit to Brooklyn: Examines the socio-economic backdrop of 1950s America and the setting of the Brooklyn slums.
3. Last Exit to Brooklyn - the narratives: Analyzes the individual narrative arcs, including the character struggles in Another Day Another Dollar, The Queen is Dead, And Baby Makes Three, Tralala, Strike, and the Landsend coda.
4. Mottoes: Discusses the significance of Old Testament epigraphs in framing the novel's moral and thematic scope.
5. Reflections on Last Exit to Brooklyn: Explores key philosophical concepts such as the "loss of control," morality, and the stylized depiction of the city through prose.
Keywords
Hubert Selby Jr., Last Exit to Brooklyn, American Literature, Urban Crisis, Slum, Alienation, Violence, Stream-of-consciousness, 1950s, Social Satire, Marginalization, Morality.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental focus of this work?
The paper explores Hubert Selby, Jr.'s Last Exit to Brooklyn as a documentary-style fictional account of poverty and social collapse in mid-20th century American urban environments.
What are the central thematic fields?
Key themes include the impact of post-war socio-economic expansion on the marginalized, the disintegration of family structures, the cycle of violence, and the role of the individual in an indifferent society.
What is the primary research objective?
The objective is to analyze how Selby uses specific literary techniques and themes to portray the "loss of control" and the inherent hopelessness of life in the Brooklyn slums.
What scientific methodology is applied?
The analysis utilizes literary criticism, focusing on narrative structure, thematic deconstruction, and the connection between historical context and fictional storytelling.
What topics are covered in the main section?
The main section investigates the author's background, the socio-economic conditions of the 1950s, a narrative breakdown of the novel's chapters, the importance of mottoes, and reflections on morality and prose style.
Which keywords best characterize the work?
The work is defined by terms such as alienation, urban crisis, social satire, stream-of-consciousness, and post-war American literature.
How does the author utilize the "Landsend" coda in the novel?
The coda employs a montage technique to collage interwoven scenes and housing authority announcements, highlighting the repetitive, inescapable monotony and the daily struggles of the tenants.
In what way does the character Harry represent the novel's core irony?
Harry is characterized as both a pathetic individual and a spiteful intriguer, whose attempt to gain power through the labor strike ultimately leads to his own deeper alienation and brutal victimization.
- Quote paper
- Gritt Hönighaus (Author), 2000, Zu: Hubert Selby, Jr. - Last Exit to Brooklyn, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/3431
