ジャーク

by Dennis Cooper

A short story from the collection Ugly Man by Dennis Cooper.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, LGBT

Tankobon Hardcover

First published February 1, 1993

About the author

Dennis Cooper was born on January 10, 1953. He grew up in the Southern California cities of Covina and Arcadia.

He wrote stories and poems from early age but got serious about writing at 15 after reading Arthur Rimbaud and The Marquis de Sade. He attended LA county public schools until the 8th grade when he transferred to a private school, Flintridge Preparatory School for Boys in La Canada, California, from which he was expelled in the 11th grade.

While at Flintridge, he met his friend George Miles, who would become his muse and the subject of much of his future writing. He attended Pasadena City College for two years, attending poetry writing workshops taught by the poets Ronald Koertge and Jerene Hewitt. He then attended one year of university at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, where he studied with the poet Bert Meyers.

In 1976, he founded Little Caesar Magazine and Press, which he ran until 1982. From 1980 to 1983 he was Director of Programming for the Beyond Baroque Literary/Art Center in Venice, California. From 1983 to 1985, he lived in New York City.

In 1985, he moved to Amsterdam for two and a half years, where he began his ten year long project, The George Miles Cycle, an interconnected sequence of five novels that includes Closer, Frisk, Try, Guide, and Period.

His post-George Miles Cycle novels include My Loose Thread, The Sluts and God, Jr.
Other works include the short-story collections Wrong and Ugly Man, poetry collections The Dream Police and The Weaklings, as well as the recent Smothered in Hugs: Essays, Interviews, Feedback, and Obituaries.

Dennis Cooper currently spends his time between Los Angeles and Paris.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 1 out of 5]

i really don't care for Bret Easton Ellis, or any of his evil children.

style and intelligence, certainly. but drooling all over the same tired obsessions, in public, in book after book... my word, 'tis unseemly!

[Jackdaw ☄ Bronteroc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why am I doing this to myself?

(I'm oscillating between 2 and 3 stars)

[Roof Beam Reader (Adam) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jerk is an early short story that I originally read not too long ago in Dennis Cooper's most recent collection, Ugly Man. The benefit of reading this original copy is getting the "puppet show" images that go with it. In this version, artist Nayland Blake created a puppet show which inspired Cooper to create his re-telling of the true story of David Brooks, accomplice to serial killer Dean Corll. It is an interesting combination-study of fiction and non-fiction. Overall, I found the story (again) to be well written and, in Cooper fashion, engrossingly disturbing. The Blake images made the story much creepier, particularly when you remind yourself that these puppets are from the mind of David Brooks, the man responsible for video taping these brutal murders. Intense, fascinating, and somehow sexually charged - Jerk is a wild read. Highly recommended to those Cooper readers who may be familiar with the George Myles cycle or Coopers later works, but who overlooked this original version of the short story.

[Sean Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dennis Cooper is a genius!

[Skylar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nayland Blake's artwork alongside "Jerk" is a difficult juxtaposition to parse despite both him and Cooper tackling homosexuality, yet this oddity of faint incompatibility ensures a questioning of these images to the enjoyable perversions of the prose whose fictional representation of accomplices David Brooks and Wayne Henley for infamous serial killer Dean Corll speaks toward the existential threats to the want to die and its guilt upon victim and perpetrator on an early offing. I'm not familiar enough with Blake to speak on his efforts here in relationship to his general work; Cooper twists his typical obsessions with the humorous puppet theatre angle (one which appears to be returning in his fourth feature film's conception, according to his blog) that's better in allowing his structural talents to arise where his limited prose remains better in tone than style. The stage production and its subsequent film adaptation interest me as improvements to what this is as literature, not in-depth enough to satisfy in dealing with representation, be it puppets or puppet-ed corpses, though guilt runs strong throughout.

[Interzonatron · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my 4th foray into Coopers mind (Previously: I Wished, Closer, Frisk). The idea of Cooper writing a puppet show haunted and thrilled me, and still I would love to see this in performance someday. But solely reading the text didn’t do it for me. It has the familiar elemental aspects of a Cooperian work (i.e sadomasochistic queer sex, drugs, upper class youth disillusionment, rape, torture and murder), but where in other works these themes seem to add up to something , in Jerk it feels to just fall apart - decentered & fragmented. In respect of that, I feel the concluding essay of the book actually sums up my overall displeasure with the book:


“For while puppets have emerged, they merely confront his understanding with a hermeticism that is impossible to break open, further decentering and fragmenting his thoughts as they draw to them the emotion he believed he'd revoked, reanimating within their contagious parameters a set of desires he would prefer remain hidden.”

[William Hohe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deeply disturbed yet inspired. I enjoyed the play, within a story, within a mind type of 3-way, meta characterization that Cooper took on. Yet, sometimes it felt like there were almost too many gaps to fill in. Only like 3-4 instances. Very small.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gross. And?

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am confused but amazed at the same time

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was part of my eventual frustration with what is now known as "cutting edge queer lit..." All I really wanted was to read sappy love stories of boys meeting boys, and instead i open this book which has a combination of creepy looking illustrations and sock puppets and fairly graphic accounts of people getting raped and disemboweled (or not-raped and disemboweled...). I suppose it has it's place in the grand scheme of literature, but, like the S&M clubs that I don't go to throughout the West Village and Chelsea, I think I'd just as soon leave this stuff on the shelf.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, but this short story frightens the hell out of me for some reason, and trust me- I have seen videos and pictures of the victims being dug up, I know relatives of the victims and so the Dean Corll case is no stranger to me.. But this story really makes me uncomfortable for some reason. I'm no stranger to what Dennis Cooper has written, but it was really a strange concept to write about.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very good young adult book. I can't say I loved it, but it was an interesting look at Tourette's syndrome in a coming-of-age YA story setting. The characters are interesting, despite the somewhat predictable plot. The main character's struggle with Tourette's is complex and makes for a wonderful journey. I can't wait to see the teen critic reviews on this one.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

i revisit this book often. it is horrific and beautiful. the entire series is the most interesting and appealing set of art books i've ever come across. if you can find any of the artspace books snatch them up and cherish them.

[Daniel Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Well written, and interesting illustrated, but maybe I am particularly jaded but I did not find this particularly shocking. An account of the actions group of sexually motivated serial killers, it's interesting and engaging in a morbid way, but it feels extremely light.

[kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dennis Copper at is pure delicious best

[Brian Foley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Birthday gift from Emily.