Drunk Book Club: Dennis Cooper's FRISK

Special thanks to Anile for commissioning this episode! You can find out more about commissions on our Patreon. This month we stretch our muscles by getting into some ~literary fiction~! More precisely, the work of Dennis Cooper, a big name in queer outsider art who influenced previous DBC alumni Billy Martin (aka Poppy Z Brite) and Chuck Palahniuk and whose published alongside inevitable future subject Brett Easton Ellis. FRISK, the story of a dude who has a lot of sex and even more fantasies about violently murdering his partners, is considered his most intimidating work so....let's plunge right into that deep end! Pack a bag, because we did a LOT of extra reading for this one. Also, all the content warnings. My God, all of them. CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of sexual assault, pedophilia, coprophagia, water sports, snuff, necrophilia, graphic descriptions of gore/dismemberment, racism, queerphobia, transphobia, grooming, ageism, and misogyny. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm The JT Leroy Scam: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2006/04/jtleroy200604 William S Burroughs' Nike Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6LjfxSBqwM Cooper's Formalism and "The Sluts": https://electronicbookreview.com/essay/is-this-for-real-is-that-a-stupid-question-a-review-of-dennis-coopers-the-sluts/ Interview w/ Cooper's Biographer: https://minorliteratures.com/2020/07/16/the-dangerous-art-of-dennis-cooper-an-interview-with-diarmuid-hester-author-of-wrong-a-critical-biography-of-dennis-cooper-by-paul-jonathan/ Article BY Cooper's Biographer: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/dennis-cooper-the-last-literary-outlaw-in-mainstream-us-fiction-1.4274856 Personal Relationships in Cooper's Writing (Salon): https://www.salon.com/2000/05/04/cooper/ Cooper's Mother (LA Times): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-29-ca-cooper29-story.html BOMB Magazine Interview: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/dennis-cooper/ Not Like Other Gays (Honcho Magazine): https://slavamogutin.com/dennis-cooper/ 1:00 Content Warnings 4:00 Drinks 9:00 A Helpful Timeline 14:00 OH Shit, it’s the Frankfurt School 26:00 Sexual, Not Erotic 30:00 The Sad But Not Ballad of Dennis Cooper 42:00 “In Your Lane” vs “Blinkers On” 57:00 Interview Diving Say hi to Dorothy and Vrai on Twitter @writervrai and @dorothynotgale Our icon was designed by Allison Shabet. Get bonus episodes on our Patreon: patreon.com/trashandtreasures Join us every two weeks on Soundcloud, iTunes or Stitcher – and if you’d leave a rating and review, so that more people can find their way to us, we’d appreciate it!