Talk:Hubert Selby Jr.

Correct Last Name Pronunctiation
Could anyone put here the .ogg file with Selby's last name correct pronunciation. 'Selby' vs 'Shelby', i.e. does it begin with [s] or [sh]? It's important for Russian and some others Wiki projects cause many languages have separate letters for 's' and 'sh' sounds. Unprejudiced 04:38, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Selby is a hypocrite
I don't get writers like Selby, Mamet, et al....millionaires who relentlessly, almost obsessively worked at something they loved - writing - and became wildly successful, achieving the American Dream - only to denigrate and rail against anyone who might want to achieve the same American Dream in their books and plays. Selby thinks (er, "thought" - he's dead) that not only is the American Dream not achievable, but than anyone who TRIES to achieve it is immoral. Sorry, but coming from someone who dropped out of school at 15, never read a book before deciding to become a writer, and then became a best-selling fiction writer, I have one thing to say to the Selby-ites who think (thought) like he does: Only in America.

I'm sure you've heard this before, but I'll remind you. The talk page is meant for discussion concerning how to improve the article; it is not a forum for you to unload your pedantic and uninformed criticism of the subject. I recommend that you save your advice for the circle you live among, who, apparently, have never contested your overly nationalistic attitude. --Florida Is Hell (talk) 23:33, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Reply to the above
What is your proof that Selby was a millionaire? If he was, do you think he would have spent his last years teaching at USC? If you read the interview in Lou Reed's book Between Thought and Expression you will learn that Selby was on welfare for a period not too far previous to when that interview was conducted. Perhaps he made more money after his books were made into movies, but I don't know what he had in his bank account. In this interview he says "I'd be a millionaire today," which seems to suggest he was not the millionaire you make him out to be.

And where does he rail against the American Dream? Is this how you interpret Requiem? He explicitly said he did not see himself as a didactic writer.

So, why do you really dislike Selby?

Reply to the above
Hubert Selby, Jr was not a millionaire. In the early 70's he worked at a gas station to support his family. In the 80's he had a period of time where he worked as a clerk in a hotel lobby candy shop. He did "work obsessively at something he loved - writing" as you said. It brought him fame and some degree of satisfaction but it did not keep him from living in a simple one bedroom rental at the time he died.

Section headers
The first four section headers ("Wrong Entrance", "One Way", "Last Exit", and "Dead End") are inappropriate for an encyclopedia article. Someone should change them to plainer titles. Rhobite 02:11, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Done - hope they are plain enough. Eddie.willers 19:30, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

--- Changed "..after the marines.." to read "...after the merchant marines..." Marines is a the term for the US Marine Corp, not the US Merchant Marine who are refered to as "merchant mariners".

Bad Link
The Willow Tree links to an Iranian movie, not the book. I wish someone would write an article about it. I would but I suck at writing these things. The article should talk about how different it is than his other books, definitely. Maybe the link should just be taken out so it stops irking me.Booshire 18:16, 12 October 2007 (UTC)booshire 13:14,12 Oct. 007

Book / Film
Isn't it traditional on Wikipedia that if there's a book and movie based on the same creative work that it would be Requiem for a Dream (Film) and Requiem for a Dream (Book)? I'm pretty sure there was an article for the novel, but because of the redirect, you go straight to the movie which has differences from the novel as well as is a different entity. Makes no sense that the book the movie was based on has no article. --76.214.197.61 19:52, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Clarification needed
''In 1961, one of Selby's short stories, "Tralala", was published in a literary journal, The Provincetown Review. It also appeared in Black Mountain Review and New Directions. With his unstructured style and coarse descriptions, Selby examined the seedy life (ridden with violence, theft and mediocre con-artistry) and the gang rape of a prostitute. He quickly drew negative attention from a number of critics. The editor was arrested for selling pornographic literature to a minor. The publication was used as evidence in an obscenity trial, but the case was later dismissed on appeal.''

There are three publications listed there! Which editor was prosecuted? (Good going with the simultaneous publication, how did Selby manage that?) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.229.62.47 (talk) 02:18, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

WHAT HAPPENED TO TINY
According to the article as it stands he had a wife called Tiny... then some time later he's meeting his future wife Suzanne. 31.54.35.47 (talk) 16:02, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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Desperate need for sources
While very interested, most of this article is completely unsourced, so it is hard to confirm the veracity of any of it. I'm loathe to remove the text, which is good, but could someone please provide sources for the unsupported claims (almost everything). I'm going to remove a small amount text which is clearly unsourced opinion or research and will try to dig up sources for some of the others. But editors who are more informed about Selby should add the required cites. Ashmoo (talk) 14:21, 13 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I have come back two year later, and sadly, there are still almost no sources. I'm going to start chopping the text. Please reinclude with citations. Ashmoo (talk) 10:38, 2 January 2024 (UTC)