Awards
Nominated for the Henry Miller Award
Synopses & Reviews
Godlike, Richard Hell's second novel, is a stunning achievement, and quite likely his most important work in any medium to date. Combining the grit, wit, and invention of Go Now with the charged lyricism and emotional implosiveness of his groundbreaking music, Godlike is brillant in form as well as dazzling in its heartwrenching tale of one whose values in life are the values of poetry. Set largely in the early '70s, but structured as a middle-aged poet's 1997 notebooks and drafts for a memoir-novel, the book recounts the story of a young man's affair with a remarkable teenage poet. Godlike is a novel of compelling originality and trascendent beauty.
Review
"[Hell's] every move and word reveal a naked, impassioned intelligence in the throes of the only truly rock and roll artistic convulsion." Lester Bangs
Review
"From the beginning, Richard Hell has burned with the same blue flame of misfit insight and desperate beauty." Jerry Stahl, Bookforum
Review
"Vile, scabrous, unforgivable, and deserving of the widest possible audience." William Gibson (on Hell's fiction)
Synopsis
Rock legend Richard Hell (Television, Voidoids) joins cult hero Dennis Cooper's Little House on the Bowery roster. Cooper is the editor of the series. Legendary writer, artist, and punk rock innovator Richard Hell's second novel is a stunning achievement, and quite likely his most important work in any medium to date. Combining the grit, wit, and daring narrative drive of his acclaimed first novel Go Now with the charged lyricism and emotional implosiveness of his groundbreaking music, Godlike is both an important novel and a dazzling, heartbreaking examination of what it means to be an artist in an America of idiots, thieves, and liars.
Synopsis
" Hell's] every move and word reveal a naked, impassioned intelligence in the throes of the only truly rock and roll artistic convulsion."--Lester Bangs
Godlike, Hell's second novel, is a stunning achievement, and quite likely his most important work in any medium to date. Combining the grit, wit, and invention of Go Now with the charged lyricism and emotional implosiveness of his groundbreaking music, Godlike is brillant in form as well as dazzling in its heartwrenching tale of one whose values in life are the values of poetry. Set largely in the early '70s, but structured as a middle-aged poet's 1997 notebooks and drafts for a memoir-novel, the book recounts the story of a young man's affair with a remarkable teenage poet. Godlike is a novel of compelling originality and trascendent beauty.\
Synopsis
Combining grit, wit, and daring narrative drive with the charged lyricism and emotional implosiveness of Hell's groundbreaking music, Godlike is a dazzling, heartbreaking examination of what it means to be an artist in an America of idiots, thieves, and liars.
Synopsis
Fiction. Richard Hell's second novel, GODLIKE, is set largely in the early 70s, but structured as a middle-aged poet's 1997 notebooks and drafts for a memoir-novel. The book recounts the story of a young man's affair with a remarkable teenage poet. GODLIKE is a novel of compelling originality and transcendent beauty. "[Hell's] every move and word reveal a naked, impassioned intelligence in the throes of the only truly rock and roll artistic convulsion"--Lester Bangs.
Synopsis
Rock legend Richard Hell (Television, Voidoids) joins cult hero Dennis Cooper's Little House on the Bowery roster.
About the Author
Richard Hell is best known as one of the originators of the punk movement His records include Blank Generation (1977), Destiny Street (1982), Dim Stars (1982), and Time (2000). Hot and Cold, a collection of his art, poetry, and nonfiction, was published by Powerhouse Books in 2001. His other books include a novel, Go Now (Scribner, 1996) and numerous collections of poetry. In addition, he is a widely published essayist and the editor of an independent publishing house, Cuz Editions. He lives in NYC. Dennis Cooper is the author of 'The George Miles Cycle,' an interconnected sequence of five novels that includes Closer (1989), Frisk (1991), Try (1994), Guide (1997), and Period (2000). The cycle has been translated into fourteen languages. His most recent novel is My Loose Thread (Canongate, 2002). He lives in Los Angeles.
Series Description
Introducing Little House on the Bowery
by Dennis Cooper
When I first began to read and write fiction, contemporary literature seemed a venue of originality, boldness, and adventure. It was the late '60s, a very different time in culture and publishing. One could walk into any suburban chain bookstore and find hordes of novels and short story collections offering the prospect of entertainment, emotional and/or intellectual enlightenment, and an anarchic literary spirit. Prominent publishers like New Directions and Grove Press were reliable sources of fresh and fascinating fiction. I knew I could buy any book from these presses and have at the very least an unusual and very engrossing reading experience. In those days, the feeling that innovation and personal vision were the goals of contemporary literature was a pervasive one, and this impression shaped the expectations of my generation of writers and book lovers.
It's no news that things have changed drastically since that time. Major presses have become extremely timid when it comes to taking chances on writers whose work doesn't fit within their predetermined marketing strategies. What was once known optimistically as "avant-garde fiction" has been marginalized into the more demeaning category of "experimental fiction," and a gulf has grown between "commercial fiction" and fiction with challenges to the reader, which is now deemed a chancy investment. There are small publishing houses that champion difficult work, and large houses that occasionally release books with unusual content and style so long as their form and structure pose no real threat to the predilections of conventional book buyers. But the general literary climate in the United States today is not a friendly one to readers and writers who seek in fiction an experience of a unique and startling nature. It's no surprise that young adventurers have all but abandoned literature in favor of more accessible and apparently vital art forms like movies and popular music.
Because my own novels are both radical and somewhat prominent, I'm often given work by young writers who see my achievement as a sign that their unusual, autonomous fiction could be published and respected, and might find some kind of audience. Once in a while, these writers are truly extraordinary, and I do my best to encourage their efforts and help them succeed. What they don't realize is that my work is something of an anomaly in mainstream publishing, and that the opportunities for writers like myself come only very occasionally. After years of trying to use my limited powers to help these writers into print with rare success, I decided to initiate a line of books to showcase the best of these authors. Thanks to the generosity and enthusiasm of Akashic Books, readers will now have every opportunity to discover some of these amazing new talents.