Claro Ordine dei libri (cronologico)

Vincent Spinetti is an archetypal tortured artist ? a sensitive young writer who falls victim to alienation, parental neglect, poverty, depression, alcoholism, illness, nervous breakdowns, and unrequited love. He is painfully unaware that these torments are due to the secret manipulations of New Renaissance, an experimental organization that is testing the age-old idea that art results from suffering. Since culture is so significantly influenced by music, movies, and television, New Renaissance hopes to improve the mindless mainstream by raising writers who emphasize artistic quality over commerce. As part of its top-secret sub-project, New Renaissance hires reluctant ex-musician Harlan Eiffler to manipulate its most promising prodigy, Vincent. Wickedly antisocial and deeply disgusted by what passes for entertainment in the twenty-first century, Harlan clandestinely pulls the strings so that Vincent remains a true artist. All the while, he poses as Vincent's manager, simultaneously nurturing his prolific career and torturing his soul.

When Dennis is 13, he sees a series of photographs of a boy apparently unimaginably mutilated. He is not shocked, but stunned by their mystery and power; their glimpse at the reality of death. Some years later, Dennis meets the boy who posed for the photographs. He did it for love. In his work, Dennis Cooper explores the dividing line between the body and the spirit. His first book Frisk is a novel about the power of fantasy and faith, about the ecstasy of being human. It is a work of unflinching honesty that refuses to allow the reader a vicarious, passive role in mapping out the relationship between desire, pornography and violence.