Dennis Cooper
Encyclopedia
Dennis Cooper is an American novelist, poet, critic, editor
and performance artist.
, California. His first forays into literature came early, focusing on imitations of Rimbaud
, Verlaine
, de Sade
, and Baudelaire
. As he began his teenage years, he wrote poetry and stories on scandalous and often extreme subjects. At the age of fifteen, he began to plan an ambitious novel cycle. This project, which took Cooper nearly twenty years to realize, would later become known as The George Miles Cycle. Cooper was an outsider and the leader of a group of poets, punk
s, stoners, and writers. After high school he attended Pasadena City College
and, later, Pitzer College
, where he had a poetry teacher who was to inspire him to pursue his writing outside of institutions of higher learning.
In 1976 Cooper went to England to become involved in the nascent punk scene. In the same year he began Little Caesar Magazine which included among other things an issue on and dedicated to Rimbaud. In 1978 with the success of the magazine, Cooper was able to found Little Caesar Press which featured the work of, among others, Brad Gooch
, Amy Gerstler
, Elaine Equi
, Tim Dlugos
, Joe Brainard, and Eileen Myles
.
In 1979, Cooper published his first book of poetry, Idols, and became the director of programming at an alternative poetry space, Beyond Baroque, in Venice, California. He held that position for three years. Cooper's second book of poetry, Tenderness of the Wolves, published in 1982, was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. In 1984, Cooper moved to New York City where he published his first book of fiction, a novella titled Safe, and began writing the cycle of five interconnected novels he had been planning since his mid-teens. In 1987 he moved to Amsterdam
where he finished writing the first novel in the George Miles Cycle, Closer which later won the first Ferro-Grumley Award for gay literature.
While in Amsterdam he also wrote articles for different American magazines including Art in America, The Advocate
, the Village Voice and others. He returned to New York in 1987 and began writing articles and reviews for Artforum
, eventually becoming a contributing editor of the magazine. He began working on his next novel, Frisk
. In the next few years Cooper worked on several different art and performance projects including co-curating an exhibit at LACE
with Richard Hawkins entitled AGAINST NATURE: A Group Show of Work by Homosexual Men.
After moving to Los Angeles from New York in 1990, Cooper collaborated with a number of artists, including composer John Zorn
, painter Lari Pittman, sculptors Jason Meadows and Nayland Blake
, and others. For several years, he was a contributing editor and regular writer for the rock music magazine Spin
. In 1994, he founded the "Little House on the Bowery" imprint for the independent publisher Akashic Books
, which has published works by Travis Jeppesen
, Richard Hell
, James Greer
, Trinie Dalton, Benjamin Weissman, Derek McCormack and others. He completed his ten years of writing the George Miles Cycle with the novel Period in the year 2000. The cycle has now been translated into 17 foreign languages and is the subject of numerous academic studies. They include two volumes of critical essays devoted to the cycle: Enter at Your Own Risk (2004), edited by Leora Lev, and Dennis Cooper: Writing at the Edge (2008), edited by Paul Hegarty and Danny Kennedy. Since then he has written three novels: My Loose Thread, God Jr., and The Sluts (winner of the 2007 Prix Sade in France and the 2005 Lammy Award
for best book of gay fiction).
Since the summer of 2005, Cooper has spent most of his time in Paris. While there, he has worked on his blog, which Cooper considers his current major artistic project, and has collaborated with French theater director Gisele Vienne, composers Peter Rehberg
and Stephen O'Malley
, and the performer Jonathan Capdevielle on six works for the theater, I Apologize (2004), Un Belle Enfant Blonde (2005), Kindertotenlieder (2007), a stage adaption of his novella Jerk
(2008), This Is How You Will Disappear (2010), and Last Spring, a Prequel (2011). These theater works have been highly acclaimed and continue to tour extensively in Europe, the UK, and Asia. While in France, Cooper finished a new book of poetry, '"The Weaklings, which was published in a limited edition by Fanzine Press in March 2008, a collection of short fiction titled Ugly Man (Harper Perennial, 2009), and Smothered in Hugs: Essays, Interviews, Feedback, and Obituaries (Harper Perennial, 2010).
In 2011, Cooper completed his ninth novel, The Marbled Swarm. He played a small role in Christophe Honore's feature film Homme au Bain. The year saw the publication of three books by Cooper: The Marbled Swarm (Harper Perennial, November), Jerk/Through Their Tears (DisVoir, March), a book/CD collaboration with Gisele Vienne and Peter Rehberg, and the reissue of his and the artist Keith Mayerson's 1997 graphic novel Horror Hospital Unplugged (Harper Perennial). Them
, a performance art work Cooper originally created in 1984 with choreographer/director Ishmael Houston-Jones and composer/ musician Chris Cochrane, was restaged very successfully in New York and Utrecht. Them
won a 2011 Bessie Award for best performance of the year, and it will be touring Europe and the United States in 2012.
In 2012, Cooper and his frequent theater collaborator Gisele Vienne will co-curate the annual Un Nouveau Festival at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Running from February 22 to March 18, the festival will include art exhibitions, films, lectures, live performances, a two-night live music festival, an installation of the visual components of Cooper/Vienne's works to date, their theater pieces Last Spring, a Prequel (2011) and Jerk (2008), as well as performances of Them. Beginning in late March 2012, Kunstverein Amsterdam will host a three-month celebration of Cooper's five-novel sequence The George Miles Cycle featuring an exhibition of Cycle-related materials, artworks especially commissioned for the occasion, lectures, performances, and the publication of a book.
In addition to their United States editions, Cooper's novels and books of poetry have been published in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Israel, China, and Japan.
, Tony O'Neill
and Noah Cicero
. Cooper's poetry, including the first poem he ever wrote (about David Cassidy
) appear in the film Luster
as the work of lead character Jackson. American indie rock band Deerhunter
, and grindcore act Pig Destroyer
have both cited Dennis Cooper as a lyrical influence.
"… [I]n the ninth grade Cooper met his beloved friend George Miles. Miles had deep psychological problems and Cooper took him under his wing. Years later, when Cooper was 30, he had a brief love affair with the 27-year-old Miles. The cycle of books … came later, and were an attempt by Cooper to get to the bottom of both his fascination with sex and violence and his feelings for Miles."
— 3:AM magazine, November 2001, "American Psycho: An Interview With Dennis Cooper" by Stephen Lucas.
"George in Closer, whose room is full of Disney figures, himself becomes the toy of two forty-year-old men obsessed with the beauty of pain and suffering. In Frisk
, an ex-friend is writing Julian letters: reports or fantasies of sex and violence. The description of the sexual murdering of young men is a melange of blood and slippery internal organs, too unappetizing to quote. The letters are being sent from a Holland windmill, in its isolation an ideal place for exploring the raw reality of sex, violence and death."
— VPRO Television; article in Dutch.
Poetry
Collaborations & Nonfiction
, Trey Spruance
, Chris Cochrane, William Winant
, Avant
, 1998) Violence, faits divers, littérature (non-fiction, POL, France, 2004)
Dennis (CD/book, Don Waters Editions/AK Press, 2006)
Two Texts for a Puppet Play by David Brooks (with Stephen O'Malley, Jean-Luc Verna; DACM, limited edition, 2008)
SAFE with Dennis Cooper Ugly Man CD (Dot Dot Music, 2008)
Peter Rehberg/Dennis Cooper Music for GV (Mego Records, 2008)
Smothered in Hugs: Essays, Interviews, Feedback, Obituaries (Harper Perennial, 2010)
Jerk / Through Their Tears CD/book (w/ Gisele Vienne, Peter Rehberg, DisVoir, March 2011)
Last Spring: The Maps multi-volume zine (w/ Gisele Vienne, Le Cooperative Fanzine, 2011-2012)
Writer/Books:
Miscellaneous:
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
and performance artist.
Career
Cooper grew up the son of a wealthy businessman in ArcadiaArcadia, California
Arcadia is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and located approximately northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains....
, California. His first forays into literature came early, focusing on imitations of Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
, Verlaine
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.-Early life:...
, de Sade
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
, and Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
. As he began his teenage years, he wrote poetry and stories on scandalous and often extreme subjects. At the age of fifteen, he began to plan an ambitious novel cycle. This project, which took Cooper nearly twenty years to realize, would later become known as The George Miles Cycle. Cooper was an outsider and the leader of a group of poets, punk
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
s, stoners, and writers. After high school he attended Pasadena City College
Pasadena City College
Pasadena City College is a community college in Pasadena, California, USA, located on Colorado Boulevard. PCC is the third largest community college campus in the United States. PCC was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. In 1954, Pasadena Junior College merged with another junior...
and, later, Pitzer College
Pitzer College
Pitzer College is a private residential liberal arts college located in Claremont, California, a college town approximately east of downtown Los Angeles. Pitzer College is one of the Claremont Colleges....
, where he had a poetry teacher who was to inspire him to pursue his writing outside of institutions of higher learning.
In 1976 Cooper went to England to become involved in the nascent punk scene. In the same year he began Little Caesar Magazine which included among other things an issue on and dedicated to Rimbaud. In 1978 with the success of the magazine, Cooper was able to found Little Caesar Press which featured the work of, among others, Brad Gooch
Brad Gooch
Brad Gooch is an American writer.-Biography:Born and raised in Kingston, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Columbia University with a bachelors in 1973 and a doctorate in 1986....
, Amy Gerstler
Amy Gerstler
Amy Gerstler is an American poet. Her books of poetry include Ghost Girl ; Medicine - finalist for the Phi Beta Kappa Poetry Award; Crown of Weeds ; Nerve Storm ; Bitter Angel - winner of the 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award - The True Bride and Dearest Creature, .Described by the Los...
, Elaine Equi
Elaine Equi
Elaine Equi is an American poet.Equi was born in Oak Park, Illinois and grew up in the Chicago area. Since 1988 she has lived in New York with her husband, poet Jerome Sala. She currently teaches creative writing in the Master of Fine Arts programs at City College of New York and The New School...
, Tim Dlugos
Tim Dlugos
Tim Dlugos was an American poet.Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, he grew up in Arlington, Virginia....
, Joe Brainard, and Eileen Myles
Eileen Myles
Eileen Myles is an American poet who has also worked in fiction, non-fiction, and theater.She won a 2010 Shelley Memorial Award.-Early life and career:...
.
In 1979, Cooper published his first book of poetry, Idols, and became the director of programming at an alternative poetry space, Beyond Baroque, in Venice, California. He held that position for three years. Cooper's second book of poetry, Tenderness of the Wolves, published in 1982, was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. In 1984, Cooper moved to New York City where he published his first book of fiction, a novella titled Safe, and began writing the cycle of five interconnected novels he had been planning since his mid-teens. In 1987 he moved to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
where he finished writing the first novel in the George Miles Cycle, Closer which later won the first Ferro-Grumley Award for gay literature.
While in Amsterdam he also wrote articles for different American magazines including Art in America, The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
, the Village Voice and others. He returned to New York in 1987 and began writing articles and reviews for Artforum
Artforum
Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...
, eventually becoming a contributing editor of the magazine. He began working on his next novel, Frisk
Frisk
Frisk is a surname of Swedish origin, one of many Swedish army names originally given to soldiers to make their names more distinctive;-People:*Anders Frisk, Swedish former football referee*Helena Frisk, Swedish politician of the Social Democratic Party...
. In the next few years Cooper worked on several different art and performance projects including co-curating an exhibit at LACE
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
Located in Hollywood, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions is a nonprofit exhibition space and archive of the visual arts for the city of Los Angeles, California, USA...
with Richard Hawkins entitled AGAINST NATURE: A Group Show of Work by Homosexual Men.
After moving to Los Angeles from New York in 1990, Cooper collaborated with a number of artists, including composer John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, painter Lari Pittman, sculptors Jason Meadows and Nayland Blake
Nayland Blake
Nayland Blake is an artist whose mixed-media work has been variously described as disturbing, provocative, elusive, tormented, sinister, hysterical, brutal, and tender....
, and others. For several years, he was a contributing editor and regular writer for the rock music magazine Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
. In 1994, he founded the "Little House on the Bowery" imprint for the independent publisher Akashic Books
Akashic Books
Akashic Books is a Brooklyn-based independent publisher. Akashic Books' collection began with Arthur Nersesian's THE FUCK UP in 1996, and has since expanded to include Dennis Cooper's "Little House on the Bowery" series , Chris Abani's Black Goat poetry series, and the internationally successful...
, which has published works by Travis Jeppesen
Travis Jeppesen
Travis Jeppesen , Florida is an American novelist, poet, and art critic.He grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina and moved to New York City at the age of 17. He received his B.A. from The New School, where he studied literature and philosophy...
, Richard Hell
Richard Hell
Richard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins...
, James Greer
James Greer
James Greer is an American novelist, screenwriter, musician, and critic. He lives in Los Angeles but spends much of his time in France.-Career as a musician/critic:Greer was Senior Editor and Senior Writer at Spin magazine in NYC in the early 90s...
, Trinie Dalton, Benjamin Weissman, Derek McCormack and others. He completed his ten years of writing the George Miles Cycle with the novel Period in the year 2000. The cycle has now been translated into 17 foreign languages and is the subject of numerous academic studies. They include two volumes of critical essays devoted to the cycle: Enter at Your Own Risk (2004), edited by Leora Lev, and Dennis Cooper: Writing at the Edge (2008), edited by Paul Hegarty and Danny Kennedy. Since then he has written three novels: My Loose Thread, God Jr., and The Sluts (winner of the 2007 Prix Sade in France and the 2005 Lammy Award
Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award...
for best book of gay fiction).
Since the summer of 2005, Cooper has spent most of his time in Paris. While there, he has worked on his blog, which Cooper considers his current major artistic project, and has collaborated with French theater director Gisele Vienne, composers Peter Rehberg
Peter Rehberg
Peter Rehberg is an author of electronic audio works.He has collaborated with: Jim O'Rourke, Christian Fennesz, Dennis Cooper, Gisèle Vienne, Stephen O'Malley , Tina Frank, Matmos, Tujiko Noriko, Kevin Drumm, Marcus Schmickler, Michaela Schwentner , Matt "Skitz" Sanders, Russell Haswell, Florian...
and Stephen O'Malley
Stephen O'Malley
Stephen O'Malley is a musician, predominantly a guitarist, producer and composer from Seattle, Washington who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone doom, death/doom, and experimental music groups....
, and the performer Jonathan Capdevielle on six works for the theater, I Apologize (2004), Un Belle Enfant Blonde (2005), Kindertotenlieder (2007), a stage adaption of his novella Jerk
Jerk (play)
Jerk is a one-person puppet play by the American writer Dennis Cooper, made in collaboration with director Gisèle Vienne and performer Jonathan Capdevielle, based on Cooper's 1993 novel of the same name. It is based on the story of serial killer Dean Corll and his teenage accomplices David Brooks...
(2008), This Is How You Will Disappear (2010), and Last Spring, a Prequel (2011). These theater works have been highly acclaimed and continue to tour extensively in Europe, the UK, and Asia. While in France, Cooper finished a new book of poetry, '"The Weaklings, which was published in a limited edition by Fanzine Press in March 2008, a collection of short fiction titled Ugly Man (Harper Perennial, 2009), and Smothered in Hugs: Essays, Interviews, Feedback, and Obituaries (Harper Perennial, 2010).
In 2011, Cooper completed his ninth novel, The Marbled Swarm. He played a small role in Christophe Honore's feature film Homme au Bain. The year saw the publication of three books by Cooper: The Marbled Swarm (Harper Perennial, November), Jerk/Through Their Tears (DisVoir, March), a book/CD collaboration with Gisele Vienne and Peter Rehberg, and the reissue of his and the artist Keith Mayerson's 1997 graphic novel Horror Hospital Unplugged (Harper Perennial). Them
Them
Them or THEM may refer to:*Them, the English third person accusative plural personal pronoun; see English personal pronouns* Them, Denmark, a town in Silkeborg municipality* Them , an Northern Irish rock band featuring Van Morrison...
, a performance art work Cooper originally created in 1984 with choreographer/director Ishmael Houston-Jones and composer/ musician Chris Cochrane, was restaged very successfully in New York and Utrecht. Them
Them
Them or THEM may refer to:*Them, the English third person accusative plural personal pronoun; see English personal pronouns* Them, Denmark, a town in Silkeborg municipality* Them , an Northern Irish rock band featuring Van Morrison...
won a 2011 Bessie Award for best performance of the year, and it will be touring Europe and the United States in 2012.
In 2012, Cooper and his frequent theater collaborator Gisele Vienne will co-curate the annual Un Nouveau Festival at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Running from February 22 to March 18, the festival will include art exhibitions, films, lectures, live performances, a two-night live music festival, an installation of the visual components of Cooper/Vienne's works to date, their theater pieces Last Spring, a Prequel (2011) and Jerk (2008), as well as performances of Them. Beginning in late March 2012, Kunstverein Amsterdam will host a three-month celebration of Cooper's five-novel sequence The George Miles Cycle featuring an exhibition of Cycle-related materials, artworks especially commissioned for the occasion, lectures, performances, and the publication of a book.
In addition to their United States editions, Cooper's novels and books of poetry have been published in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Israel, China, and Japan.
Influence
Cooper's work has been acknowledged as an influence on a number of younger American writers, including Travis JeppesenTravis Jeppesen
Travis Jeppesen , Florida is an American novelist, poet, and art critic.He grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina and moved to New York City at the age of 17. He received his B.A. from The New School, where he studied literature and philosophy...
, Tony O'Neill
Tony O'Neill
Tony O'Neill is a New York-based author. A one time musician with Kenickie , Marc Almond , The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Kelli Ali , O'Neill is also the author of several books including Digging The Vein 2006, Down and Out on Murder Mile 2008 and Sick City 2010.Digging the Vein was a novel...
and Noah Cicero
Noah Cicero
Noah Cicero is an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He lives in Youngstown, Ohio, and is the author of six books of fiction:...
. Cooper's poetry, including the first poem he ever wrote (about David Cassidy
David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy is an American actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his role as the character of Keith Partridge in the 1970s musical/sitcom The Partridge Family. He was one of pop culture's most celebrated teen idols, enjoying a successful pop career in the 1970s, and...
) appear in the film Luster
Luster (film)
Luster also known as Muse is a 2002 gay-themed drama film written and directed by Everett Lewis. The film is about a weekend in the lives of a group of friends in the Los Angeles queer punk scene. Lewis sought to "infuse queerness" into the film as much as he could, so he cast a number of...
as the work of lead character Jackson. American indie rock band Deerhunter
Deerhunter
Deerhunter is an American four-piece indie rock group originating from Atlanta, Georgia. The band, consisting of Bradford Cox, Moses Archuleta, Josh Fauver, and Lockett Pundt, have described themselves as "ambient punk," though they incorporate a wide range of genres, including noise rock, art...
, and grindcore act Pig Destroyer
Pig Destroyer
-Biography:The band formed in 1997 with vocalist J. R. Hayes , guitarist Scott Hull , and drummer John Evans. Evans was later replaced by Brian Harvey...
have both cited Dennis Cooper as a lyrical influence.
George Miles cycle
In the spring of 2000 Cooper published Period, the last of a series of five novels known as the George Miles cycle (ISBNs refer to the Grove Press paperback editions):- Closer (1989), ISBN 0-8021-3212-X
- FriskFrisk (novel)Frisk is a 1991 novel by Dennis Cooper. In 1995, the book was made into a film of the same name directed by Todd Verow.-Plot summary:Frisk is narrated by Dennis, who had a troubled childhood. In 1969, aged 13, he was regularly allowed to read pornographic magazines and was particularly affected by...
(1991), ISBN 0-8021-3289-8 - Try (1994), ISBN 0-8021-3338-X
- Guide (1997), ISBN 0-8021-3580-3
- Period (2000), ISBN 0-8021-3783-0
"… [I]n the ninth grade Cooper met his beloved friend George Miles. Miles had deep psychological problems and Cooper took him under his wing. Years later, when Cooper was 30, he had a brief love affair with the 27-year-old Miles. The cycle of books … came later, and were an attempt by Cooper to get to the bottom of both his fascination with sex and violence and his feelings for Miles."
— 3:AM magazine, November 2001, "American Psycho: An Interview With Dennis Cooper" by Stephen Lucas.
"George in Closer, whose room is full of Disney figures, himself becomes the toy of two forty-year-old men obsessed with the beauty of pain and suffering. In Frisk
Frisk (novel)
Frisk is a 1991 novel by Dennis Cooper. In 1995, the book was made into a film of the same name directed by Todd Verow.-Plot summary:Frisk is narrated by Dennis, who had a troubled childhood. In 1969, aged 13, he was regularly allowed to read pornographic magazines and was particularly affected by...
, an ex-friend is writing Julian letters: reports or fantasies of sex and violence. The description of the sexual murdering of young men is a melange of blood and slippery internal organs, too unappetizing to quote. The letters are being sent from a Holland windmill, in its isolation an ideal place for exploring the raw reality of sex, violence and death."
— VPRO Television; article in Dutch.
Other books
Fiction- Antoine Monnier (fiction, Anon Press, 1978)
- My Mark (fiction, Sherwood Press, 1982)
- Safe (novella, SeaHorse Press, 1985)
- Wrong (short fiction, Grove PressGrove PressGrove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...
, 1992) - My Loose Thread (novel, Canongate, 2002)
- The Sluts (novel, Void Books, 2004; Carroll & Graf, 2005)
- God Jr. (novel, Grove Press, 2005)
- Ugly Man (short fiction, Harper PerennialHarper PerennialHarper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. The imprint is descended from the Perennial Library imprint founded by Harper & Row in 1964...
, 2009) - French Hole, being 15 outtakes from 'The Marbled Swarm (KiddiepunkKiddiepunkKiddiepunk is a Paris-based, independent publisher and record label founded in 2001 by artist and filmmaker Michael Salerno. They specialize in releasing limited edition records, zines and artist publications, as well as financing film and video projects....
, 2011) - The Marbled Swarm (novel, Harper PerennialHarper PerennialHarper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. The imprint is descended from the Perennial Library imprint founded by Harper & Row in 1964...
, November 2011)
Poetry
- The Terror of Earrings (Kinks Press, 1973)
- Tiger Beat (Little Caesar Press, 1978)
- Idols (SeaHorse Press, 1979; Amethyst Press, 1989)
- Tenderness of the Wolves (The Crossing Press, 1981)
- The Missing Men (Am Here Books/Immediate Editions, 1981)
- He Cried (Black Star Series, 1985)
- The Dream Police: Selected Poems '69–93 (Grove Press, 1994)
- Thee Tight Lung Split Roar Hums (with Thurston MooreThurston MooreThurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...
, Byron Coley; Slow Toe Press, 2004) - The Weaklings (with illustrations by Jarrod Anderson, Fanzine Press, limited edition, 2008)
Collaborations & Nonfiction
- Jerk (collaboration with artist Nayland Blake, Artspace Books, 1994)
- Horror Hospital Unplugged (graphic novel with illustrations by artist Keith Mayerson, Juno Books, 1997)
- All Ears (criticism and journalism, Soft Skull PressSoft Skull PressSoft Skull Press is an independent publisher founded by Sander Hicks in 1992, and run by Richard Eoin Nash from 2001 to 2009. In 2007, Nash sold Soft Skull to Counterpoint LLC, where it continues to function as a division of the press...
, 1997) - Weird Little BoyWeird Little BoyWeird Little Boy is a one-off album by a band of the same name consisting of John Zorn , Trey Spruance , William Winant , Mike Patton and Chris Cochrane...
Mike Patton
Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the metal/experimental rock band Faith No More. He has also sung for Mr...
, Trey Spruance
Trey Spruance
Preston Lea Spruance III or "Trey Spruance" is an American composer, producer, and musician, perhaps best known as the leader of the multi-genre outfit Secret Chiefs 3 and for his work as guitarist and keyboardist with Mr. Bungle...
, Chris Cochrane, William Winant
William Winant
William Winant is an American percussionist.In addition to his work in contemporary classical music -- notably performing Lou Harrison's compositions—Winant has worked in a variety of genres, including noise rock, free improvisation and jazz. Notable collaborators include Glenn Spearman, Thurston...
, Avant
Avant Records
Avant Records was a record label based in Japan specializing in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was started by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1992, as an offshoot of the DIW label...
, 1998)
Works written for the theater
- Last Spring (Director: Gisele Vienne, Score: Stephen O'Malley, Peter Rehberg; 2013)
- Last Spring, a Prequel (Director: Gisele Vienne, Score: Stephen O'Malley, Peter Rehberg; 2011)
- This Is How You Will Disappear (Director: Gisele Vienne, Score: Stephen O'Malley and Peter Rehberg, Visual Effects: Fujiko Nakaya & Shiro Takatani; 2010)
- Dedans/Dehors/David (Writer/Director: David Bobee, based on Cooper's novel "Closer", 2008)
- JerkJerk (play)Jerk is a one-person puppet play by the American writer Dennis Cooper, made in collaboration with director Gisèle Vienne and performer Jonathan Capdevielle, based on Cooper's 1993 novel of the same name. It is based on the story of serial killer Dean Corll and his teenage accomplices David Brooks...
(Director: Gisele Vienne, Score: Peter Rehberg/Pita; 2008) - Jerk, radio play (France Culture/Radio France, 2007)
- Kindertotenlieder (Director: Gisele Vienne, Score: Stephen O'Malley and Peter Rehberg/Pita; 2007)
- Une Belle Enfant Blonde (Co-written with Catherine Robbe Grillet, Director: Gisele Vienne, Score: Peter Rehberg/Pita; 2005)
- I Apologize (Director: Gisele Vienne, Score: Peter Rehberg/Pita; 2004)
- The Undead (Director: Ishmael Houston-Jones, Score: Tom Recchion; Visual Design: Robert Flynt; 1990)
- Knife/Tape/Rope (Director: Ishmael Houston-Jones, Sets: John De Fazio; 1985)
- Them (Director: Ishmael Houston-Jones, Score: Chris Cochrane; 1984, 2010)
Visual Art
Curator:- Against Nature: A Group Show of Homosexual Men (w/ Richard Hawkins; LACE, Los Angeles, 1989)
- They See God (w/ Tim Guest; Pat Hearn Gallery, NYC, 1990)
- The Freed Weed (Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, 1992)
- The Temptations (Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles, 1998)
- Brighten the Corners (Marianne Boesky Gallery, NYC, 1998)
- Smallish (greengrassi, London, 2001)
- The Funeral Home (Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles, 2002)
- The Weaklings (Five Years, London, 2011)
- Un Nouveau Festival (Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2012)
Writer/Books:
- Tom Friedman (Phaidon), Raymond Pettibon (Phaidon), Mike Kelley: Catholic Discipline (Whitney Museum of American Art), Bill Henson (Scalo), Mise En Scene (Santa Monica Museum of Art), Helter Skelter (MoCA/LA), Gothic (MIT Press), John Miller: Disko Sucks Rock Sucks (daadgalerie, Berlin), Scott Treleaven: Some Boys Wander By Mistake (Kavi Gupta/John Connelly/Marc Selwyn), Sue De BeerSue de BeerSue de Beer is a contemporary artist who lives and works in New York, New York.-Background:De Beer received an BFA from Parsons The New School for Design in New York in 1995 and an M.F.A. from Columbia University in 1998...
: Emerge (DAP), Sue De Beer: Hans und Grete (Philip Morris GmbH), Charles Ray (Newport Harbor Art Museum), David Salle (Bruno Bischofberger), Jack Shear: Twelve Marines (Twelve Trees), a.o.
Miscellaneous:
- Contributing Editor, Artforum International Magazine (2002 – )
- Contributor/Critic: Frieze, Parkett, Art in America, Modern Painters, Art Issues, Beaux Arts, a.o.
Editor
- Little Caesar Magazine #s 1 – 12 (1976–1982)
- Little Caesar Press (1978–1982)
- Dennis Cooper Tiger Beat
- Gerard MalangaGerard MalangaGerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist.-Early life:Born in the Bronx, New York, Malanga graduated from the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and attended Wagner College on Staten Island...
100 Years Have Passed - Arthur Rimbaud Travels in Abyssinia and the Harar
- Tom Clark The End of the Line
- Tim Dlugos Je Suis Ein Americano
- Tim Dlugos Entre Nous
- Joe BrainardJoe BrainardJoe Brainard was an American artist and writer associated with the New York School. His prodigious and innovative body of work included assemblages, collages, drawing, and painting, as well as designs for book and album covers, theatrical sets and costumes...
Nothing to Write Home About - Elaine Equi Shrewcrazy
- Amy Gerstler Yonder
- Elieen Myles Sappho's Boat
- Oswell Blakeston Journeys End in Young Man's Meeting
- Coming Attractions: American Poets in their Twenties
- Ron Koertge Diary Cows
- Peter SchjeldahlPeter SchjeldahlPeter Schjeldahl, , is an American art critic, poet, and educator.Schjeldahl was born in Fargo, North Dakota. He grew up in small towns throughout Minnesota, and attended Carleton College and The New School...
The Brute - Donald Britton Italy
- Jack Skelley Monsters
- James Krusoe Jungle Girl
- Discontents: New Queer Writers (Amethyst Press, 1994)
- The Kathy AckerKathy AckerKathy Acker was an American experimental novelist, punk poet, playwright, essayist, postmodernist and sex-positive feminist writer. She was strongly influenced by the Black Mountain School, William S...
Reader (with Amy Scholder, Grove Press, 2004)
- Little House on the Bowery/Akashic Press
- Travis Jeppesen Victims (2003)
- Benjamin Weissman Headless (2004)
- Derek McCormack Grab Bag (2004)
- Martha Kinney The Fall of Heartless Horse (2004)
- Richard HellRichard HellRichard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins...
Godlike (2005) - Trinie Dalton Wide Eyed (2005)
- James GreerJames GreerJames Greer is an American novelist, screenwriter, musician, and critic. He lives in Los Angeles but spends much of his time in France.-Career as a musician/critic:Greer was Senior Editor and Senior Writer at Spin magazine in NYC in the early 90s...
Artificial Light (2006) - Userlands: New Fiction from the Blogging Underground (2007)
- Matthew Stokoe High Life (2008)
- Derek McCormack The Show That Smells (2009)
- Mark Gluth The Late Work of Margaret Kroftis (2010)
- Matthew Stokoe Cows (2011)
- Lonely ChristopherLonely ChristopherLonely Christopher is an American writer of poetry, prose, and theatre.His debut book, a short story collection entitled The Mechanics of Homosexual Intercourse, was published in early 2011 by Little House on the Bowery, a Dennis Cooper-curated Akashic Books imprint. Critical reception for...
The Mechanics of Homosexual Intercourse (2011)
Works about Dennis Cooper
- Earl Jackson Jr. "Death Drives Across Pornotopia: Dennis Cooper on the Extremities of Being, Strategies of Deviance (Indiana University Press, 1995)
- Elizabeth Young and Graham Caveney "Death in Disneyland: Dennis Cooper", Shopping in Space: Essays on America's Blank Fiction (Serpents Tail, 1996)
- James Bolton, director, Dennis Cooper, a 20 minute documentary film (2000)
- Elizabeth Young "Dennis Cooper: Closer", Pandora's Handbag (Serpents Tail, 2003)
- Leora Lev, editor, Enter at Your Own Risk: The Dangerous Art of Dennis Cooper (FDU Press, 2006) Includes essays on Cooper's work by William Burroughs, Michael Cunningham, Dodie Bellamy, John Waters, Kevin Killian, Matthew Stadler, Robert Gluck, Elizabeth Young, and others.
- Avital Ronell "The Philosophical Code: Dennis Cooper's Pacific Rim", The ÜberReader: Selected Works of Avital Ronell (University of Illinois Press, 2007)
- Paul Hegarty and Danny Kennedy, editors, Writing at the Edge: The Work of Dennis Cooper (Sussex University Press, March 2008)
- Martin Dines Gay Suburban Narratives in American and British Culture (Macmillan, 2009)
External links
- NYU's Fales Library and Special Collections Guide to the Dennis Cooper Papers
- dennis-cooper.net
- denniscooper.blogspot.com Dennis' old blog (hacked)
- denniscooper-theweaklings.blogspot.com Dennis' current blog
- An interview with Dennis Cooper for Word Riot
- Little House on the Bowery Series for Akashic Books
- Gisele Vienne
- Grove Press
- Dennis Cooper @ POL
- 3:AM magazine, November 2001 interview by Stephen Lucas
- 3:AM magazine, December 2001 interview by Dan Epstein
- Review of Jerk by Matias Viegener in ArtforumArtforumArtforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...
— 1995 film version of novel VPRO Dutch television site — article and link to streaming video segment on Dennis Cooper