Special thanks to Anile for commissioning this episode! You can find out more about commissions on our Patreon.

This month we stretch our muscles by getting into some ~literary fiction~! More precisely, the work of Dennis Cooper, a big name in queer outsider art who influenced previous DBC alumni Billy Martin (aka Poppy Z Brite) and Chuck Palahniuk and whose published alongside inevitable future subject Brett Easton Ellis.

FRISK, the story of a dude who has a lot of sex and even more fantasies about violently murdering his partners, is considered his most intimidating work so....let's plunge right into that deep end! Pack a bag, because we did a LOT of extra reading for this one. Also, all the content warnings. My God, all of them.

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of sexual assault, pedophilia, coprophagia, water sports, snuff, necrophilia, graphic descriptions of gore/dismemberment, racism, queerphobia, transphobia, grooming, ageism, and misogyny.

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

The JT Leroy Scam: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2006/04/jtleroy200604

William S Burroughs' Nike Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6LjfxSBqwM

Cooper's Formalism and "The Sluts": https://electronicbookreview.com/essay/is-this-for-real-is-that-a-stupid-question-a-review-of-dennis-coopers-the-sluts/

Interview w/ Cooper's Biographer: https://minorliteratures.com/2020/07/16/the-dangerous-art-of-dennis-cooper-an-interview-with-diarmuid-hester-author-of-wrong-a-critical-biography-of-dennis-cooper-by-paul-jonathan/

Article BY Cooper's Biographer: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/dennis-cooper-the-last-literary-outlaw-in-mainstream-us-fiction-1.4274856

Personal Relationships in Cooper's Writing (Salon): https://www.salon.com/2000/05/04/cooper/

Cooper's Mother (LA Times): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-29-ca-cooper29-story.html

BOMB Magazine Interview: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/dennis-cooper/

Not Like Other Gays (Honcho Magazine): https://slavamogutin.com/dennis-cooper/

1:00 Content Warnings

4:00 Drinks

9:00 A Helpful Timeline

14:00 OH Shit, it’s the Frankfurt School

26:00 Sexual, Not Erotic

30:00 The Sad But Not Ballad of Dennis Cooper

42:00 “In Your Lane” vs “Blinkers On”

57:00 Interview Diving

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