Paul Hegarty

Danny Kennedy

Dennis Cooper's writing has acquired a ferocious reputation for its bold experimentation, its transgressive content, and its emotional content, which is both romantic and touching, as well as cold and hard-edged. For over 20 years, Cooper has explored the boundaries of human living, with sexuality's centrality to that living. The extreme situations he develops in his writing bring out parts of the gay experience that a consensual 'community' often shies away from - likewise the heterosexual mainstream. His most important genre is undoubtedly fiction, but Cooper has also written poetry, large quantities of journalistic works - notably for Artforum and Spin - and has had great success and recognition recently with theatrical works. Dennis Cooper: Writing at the Edge - now available in paperback - enters deep into the worlds that Cooper fabricates, and into the coolness of his expression. This challenging work is addressed by a group of mostly young and new critical writers and academics who provide creative responses to Cooper's artistry. The contributions, which cover the breadth of Cooper's work, develop themes and devices that advance his profound and disturbing world-view. In addition to the artistic responses, the topics in the critical pieces range from sexuality in the suburbs to neurological responses via the limits and possibilities of bodies. The book also looks at the implications of contemporary electronic communication as outlined in Cooper's recent work, and his use of space. Cooper's writing receives a multi-faceted contextualization. His literary ideas are made accessible to any reader interested in learning why, today, Cooper is regarded as one of the foremost writers in expressing the psychological point behind the centrality of sexual expression.

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