WRONG
University of Iowa Press, June 2020
Working in a variety of forms and media since he first exploded onto the scene in the early 1970s, Dennis Cooper has been a punk poet, a queercore novelist, a transgressive blogger, an indie filmmaker – each successive incarnation more ingenious and surprising than the last. Using extensive archival research, close readings of texts, and new interviews with Cooper and his contemporaries, Wrong weaves a complex and often thrilling biographical narrative that attests to Cooper’s status as a leading figure of the American post War avant-garde.
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Praise for Wrong
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Unfurls a riveting chronicle of Dennis Cooper’s intertwined life and work
Wayne Koestenbaum, author, Camp Marmalade
Hester’s ferocious sleuthing conveys us to whole new areas of understanding about Cooper
Kaplan Harris, coeditor, The Selected Letters of Robert Creeley
Oozing with deep gossip, enriched by rare archival materials and intimate personal interviews, Wrong is a model for future scholarship
Daniel Kane, author, Do You Have A Band?
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REVIEWS
AN IMPORTANT BOOK, BOTH HUMOROUS AND RIGOROUS, AND HANDLES THE INTERPLAY OF COOPER’S WORK AND LIFE WITH SENSITIVITY AND GENUINE INSIGHT
The Irish Times
BRIGHT WITH COOPER'S PERSONALITY, AND WITH HESTER'S... REFRESHINGLY, EMINENTLY READABLE
The Times Literary Supplement
RIP-ROARING AND ADVENTURESOME
Caren Beilin, Full Stop Magazine
WEAVES TOGETHER ENGROSSING BIOGRAPHY WITH LITERARY AND CULTURAL CONTEXT
The Face Magazine
A MARVELLOUS OVERVIEW OF COOPER'S CAREER
Los Angeles Review of Books
FILLS A GAP FOR FANS AND THEORISTS ALIKE
Textual Practice
AN ENGAGING BOOK... DIFFICULT TO PUT DOWN
Bryan Monte, Amsterdam Quarterly
AN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY READ FOR ANYONE ENAMORED WITH DENNIS COOPER'S WORK
Filthy Dreams
REMARKABLY AMBITIOUS IN SCOPE
3:AM Magazine
MAKES A COMPELLING CASE THAT COOPER'S POETRY CONTAINS THE KEYS TO UNLOCKING HIS MAJOR THEMES
The Poetry Foundation
HESTER CONNECTS WITH DENNIS COOPER'S WRITING BETTER THAN ANY CRITIC OR CULTURAL WRITER I CAN THINK OF
Grant Maierhofer, Ligeia Magazine
Image courtesy of John Waters, from his home in Baltimore MD
