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==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
*[http://www.tygersofwrath.com/selby.htm ''Bloomsbury Review'' book review of ''The Room'' and ''The Demon''] from 1990 by [[Rob Couteau]].


{{DEFAULTSORT:Room, The}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Room, The}}

Revision as of 07:31, 3 January 2011

The Room
AuthorHubert Selby Jr
LanguageEnglish
GenreFiction
Modern tragedy
Publication date
1971
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Preceded byLast Exit to Brooklyn 
Followed byThe Demon 

The Room is the second novel by Hubert Selby, Jr., first published in 1971.[1]

Plot

The novel centers on a nameless petty criminal locked in a remand cell, and explores his feelings of impotence, hatred and rage, and fantasies of revenge.[1]

Reception

Selby described the critical reception of the book as "the greatest reviews I've ever read in my life", although in reality it was not well-received.[1][2] The novel was regarded by Selby as the most disturbing book ever written, and Selby stated that he himself was unable to read it again for 20 years.[2] At least one reviewer has expressed similar feelings, with claims that reading the novel made them physically sick.[3] It has been described as "a terrifying journey into the darkest corners of the psyche."[4]

A section of The Room is used in Richard Linklater's Waking Life, where a red-faced man in a jail cell describes in vivid detail the abuse he intends to inflict once he is released. [5]

References

  1. ^ a b c "World on the fringes of writer Selby", BBC
  2. ^ a b Guttridge, Peter (2004) "Obituaries: Hubert Selby Jnr", The Independent
  3. ^ Mitchell, Chris "Hubert Selby: The Movie and The Room", Splinter Magazine
  4. ^ O'Neill, Tony (2007) "A genuinely frightening American Psycho", The Guardian
  5. ^ Selby, Hubert (1971) The Room