Enter at Your Own Risk: The Dangerous Art of Dennis Cooper

by Leora Lev (Editor)

Dennis Cooper has been both praised and censured as the most controversial writer working today for his creation of a searing, outlaw textuality that charts psychosexual terrain uncensored by desire police. This volume is the first to explore Cooper's significance as a pioneering literary artist who illuminates the hidden or repressed extremities of the fin de millennium American zeitgeist. Leora Lev has assembled a roster of internationally acclaimed scholars, fiction writers, filmmakers, and artists who conjure a provocative encounter between Cooper's fiction, European transgressive literature and philosophy (e.g., Sade, Rimbaud, Bataille, Bresson), and American psychocultural topographies.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Theory

278 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2006

Reviews

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's get it right out of the way: The ultimate critical companion to Cooper is of course Hester's fantastic Wrong: A Critical Biography of Dennis Cooper, Lev's effort is a mixed big and can't compete on any level. Still, there is some interesting stuff to be found here:

- Elizabeth Young's contribution "Death in Disneyland" is excellent: She relates Cooper not only to his obvious peers, and very eloquently so (Jean Genet, Georges Bataille, Marquis de Sade), but also to the psychological horror of Edgar Allan Poe and the decadent movement - then, she adds Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag and Jean-François Lyotard for good measure, and I'm here for her whole argument.

- In an interview, the wonderfully weird John Waters has some quite interesting thoughts on Cooper.

- The talk conducted by his friend Robert Glück is the best interview with Cooper I know.

- And Michael Cunningham's thoughts on Try are spot on (but also available online: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...)

Then, there are a lot of not exactly stringent texts that seem to bury the fact that they can't quite figure out what Cooper does under biiiiiig words (especially Leora Lev reads like a parody of academic writing). Also, I see that it's cool if you can say that your anthology includes a posthumously published piece by William S. Burroughs, but once you read it, it's not much of a mystery why Billy boy didn't publish it when he was still alive. Let me tell you everything of note in this text: Burroughs was a Cooper fanboy. You're welcome. Plus, Earl Jackson Jr. has some quite tragic takes about Cooper and J.T. LeRoy (this compendium was published before the scandal broke that LeRoy's backstory was a cruel hoax).

So seek this out in case you're doing a deep dive, but other than that, Diarmuid Hester is your man.

[M K · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book analyzes the thematic construction, etc of his books, but I think a few of these theories are pulled straight out of these people's asses. It gave me some new insight and things to think about re his books, though sometimes the beauty of what Cooper does is kind of ruined by this type of dissection.

[SeaYawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable text. Contributions by Michael Cunningham, William Burroughs, Dodie Bellamy, Kevin Killian, etc. The editor assembled a dream team.

Also, John Waters.

[ILANA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discusses and analyzes the psychosexual detail of Dennis Cooper's art.