Dennis Cooper (born 1953) is a poet, writer, and performance artist, most noted for transforming the visual/verbal aesthetic of punk into its written counterpart. January 7 - President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb. ... Performance art is art where the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time, constitute the work. ... Punks at a music festival The punk subculture is a subculture that is based around punk rock music. ...

Career

Cooper grew up the son of a wealthy businessman in Pasadena, California. His literary aspirations were explored early on and often took the form of imitations of Rimbaud, Verlaine, De Sade, and Baudelaire. He wrote poetry and stories in his early teens that explored scandalous and often extreme subjects. As a teenager, Cooper was an outsider and the leader of a group of poets, punks, stoners, and writers. After high school he attended Pasadena City College and later Pitzer College where he encountered a poetry teacher who was to inspire him to pursue his writing outside of institutions of higher learning. Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. ... Rimbaud can refer to: Arthur Rimbaud, 19th century poet and literary figure Penny Rimbaud, founder and drummer of the anarchist punk rock band Crass This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (IPA: ; March 30, 1844–January 8, 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. ... Portrait of the Marquis de Sade by Van Loo (~1761) Donatien Alphonse François, de Sade, better known as the Marquis de Sade (pronounced saad; June 2, 1740 - December 2, 1814), was a French aristocrat best known as a writer of philosophy-laden pornography, as well as a some strictly... Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (April 9, 1821–August 31, 1867) was one of the most influential French poets. ... Pasadena City College (commonly known by the abbreviation PCC) is a community college located on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, USA. PCC is the third largest community college campus in the United States. ... Pitzer College is a small, highly selective, private residential liberal arts college located in Claremont, California, a college town approximately 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. ...

In 1976 Cooper went to England to become involved in the nascent punk scene. In the same year he began Little Caesar Magazine which included among other things an issue on and dedicated to Rimbaud. In 1978 with the success of the magazine, Cooper was able to found Little Caesar Press which featured the work of, among others, Brad Gooch, Amy Gerstler, Elaine Equi, Tim Dlugos, Joe Brainard, and Eileen Myles. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Brad Gooch, American writer. ... Amy Gerstler (born in 1956) is an American poet. ... Elaine Equi is an American poet. ... Born in Springfield, Massachusetts on August 5, 1950, Francis Timothy Dlugos later grew up in Arlington, Virginia. ... Eileen Myles is an acclaimed lesbian poet and novelist. ...

In 1979, Cooper became the director of programming at an alternative poetry space, Beyond Baroque, in Venice, California. During his tenure such artists as Tim Miller, Eric Bogosian, and Jessica Hagedorn gave performances. He also curated shows that included works by Sherrie Levine and Bob Flanagan, Peter Schjeldahl, Kenward Elmslie, Gerard Malanga, and Jack Skelley. In 1984, Cooper moved to New York City. In 1987 he moved to Amsterdam where he finished writing Closer which took as inspiration a postcard that featured an image of Mickey Mouse carved onto the back of a young boy. Cooper later won the Ferro-Grumley for gay literature for Closer. Venice Beach and Boardwalk Venice, California, is a district of the city of Los Angeles, California. ... Tim Miller (b. ... Eric Bogosian Eric Bogosian (born on April 24, 1953) is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist. ... Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn was born (and raised) in Manila, Philippines in 1949. ... Sherrie Levine (born April 17, 1947 in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, United States) is a photographer and image appropriator. ... For other persons with similar names see Bob Flanagan (disambiguation). ... Peter Schjeldahl was born in 1942 in Fargo, North Dakota. ... The diverse work of Kenward Elmslie, writer, performer, editor and publisher associated with the New York School of poetry, cannot be pigeonholed into one style of writing. ... Gerard Joseph Malanga (born March 20, 1943) is a North American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist. ... For other uses, see Amsterdam (disambiguation). ... Mickey Mouse is an Academy Award-winning comic animal cartoon character who has become an icon for The Walt Disney Company. ... LGBT or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Literature is an all encompassing term for literature produced by people who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender or involving characters, plot lines or themes concerning this community. ...

While in Amsterdam he also wrote articles for different American magazines including Art in America, The Advocate, the Village Voice and others. He returned to New York in 1987 and began writing articles and reviews for Artforum, eventually becoming a Contributing Editor of the magazine. He began working on his next novel, Frisk. In the next few years Cooper worked on several different art and performance projects including co-curating an exhibit at LACE with Richard Hawkins entitled AGAINST NATURE: A Group Show of Work by Homosexual Men. The Advocate (ISSN 0001-8996) is a US-based LGBT-related biweekly news magazine. ... The Village Voice is a New York City-based weekly newspaper featuring investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts reviews and events listings for New York City. ... Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. ... Frisk can refer to different things including: Frisking is where a police officer or other law enforcement agent runs his or her hands along the outer garments to detect any concealed weapons or other contraband; Frisk is a surname of Swedish origin, one of many Swedish army names originally given... Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions or LACE is an art exhibition space in Los Angeles, California which was founded in 1978. ...

After moving to Los Angeles from New York in 1990, Cooper collaborated with a number of artists, including composer John Zorn, painter Lari Pittman, sculptors Jason Meadows and Nayland Blake, and others. He is the editor of the Kathy Acker Reader, and of the "Little House on the Bowery" Series for Akashic Books, which has published works by Travis Jeppesen, Richard Hell, and others. He completed his renowned, ten years in the writing sequence of five interconnected novels, 'The George Miles Cycle,' in the year 2000. The cycle has been translated into 17 foreign languages. Since then he has written three novels: 'My Loose Thread,' The Sluts' (winner of the 2007 Prix Sade in France, and winner of the Lammy Award for best book of gay fiction of 2005), and 'God Jr'. Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... John Zorn (born September 2, 1953 in Queens, New York) is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. ... Painting by Rembrandt self-portrait Detail from Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez, in which the painter portrayed himself at work For the computer graphics program, see Corel Painter. ... Kathy Acker (18 April 1947 in Manhattan—30 November 1997 in Tijuana, Mexico) was an experimental novelist, prose stylist, playwright, essayist, poète maudit and sex-positive feminist writer. ... Travis Jeppesen (born September 4, 1979 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida) is an American novelist and poet. ... Richard Hell (born October 2, 1949) is the stage name of Richard Meyers, an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer. ...

Since the summer of 2005, Cooper has spent most of his time in Paris, France. While there, he has worked on his blog, which Cooper considers his current major artistic project, and has collaborated with the French theater director Gisele Vienne and composer Peter Rehberg on four works for the theater, 'I Apologize' (2004), 'Un Belle Enfant Blonde' (2005), 'KIndertotenlieder' (2007), and a stage adaption of his novella 'Jerk' (2008). These theater works have been highly acclaimed and have toured extensively in Europe and the UK. While in France, Cooper finished a new book of poetry, 'The Weaklings,' due to be published by Void Books in November 2007, and he recently completed a collection of short fiction titled 'Ugly Man'. Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the capital of France. ...

George Miles cycle

In the spring of 2000 Cooper published Period, the last of a series of five novels known as the George Miles cycle (ISBNs refer to the Grove Press paperback editions):

• Closer (1989), ISBN 0-8021-3212-X
• Frisk (1991), ISBN 0-8021-3289-8
• Try (1994), ISBN 0-8021-3338-X
• Guide (1997), ISBN 0-8021-3580-3
• Period (2000), ISBN 0-8021-3783-0

"… [I]n the ninth grade Cooper met his beloved friend George Miles. Miles had deep psychological problems and Cooper took him under his wing. Years later, when Cooper was 30, he had a brief love affair with the 27-year-old Miles. The cycle of books … came later, and were an attempt by Cooper to get to the bottom of both his fascination with sex and violence and his feelings for Miles."
      — 3:AM magazine, November 2001, "American Psycho: An Interview With Dennis Cooper" by Stephen Lucas [1] Frisk is a 1991 novel by Dennis Cooper. ...

"George in Closer, whose room is full of Disney figures, himself becomes the toy of two forty-year-old men obsessed with the beauty of pain and suffering. In Frisk, an ex-friend is writing Julian letters: reports or fantasies of sex and violence. The description of the sexual murdering of young men is a melange of blood and slippery internal organs, too unappetizing to quote. The letters are being sent from a Holland windmill, in its isolation an ideal place for exploring the raw reality of sex, violence and death."
      — VPRO Television; article in Dutch [2] Frisk is a 1991 novel by Dennis Cooper. ...

Other books

• 'The Terror of Earrings' (poetry, Kinks Press, 1973)
• 'Tiger Beat' (poetry, Little Caesar Press, 1978)
• 'Antoine Monier' (fiction, Anon Press, 1978)
• 'Idols' (poetry, SeaHorse Press, 1979; Amethyst Press, 1989)
• 'Tenderness of the Wolves' (poetry, The Crossing Press, 1981)
• 'The Missing Men' (poetry, Am Here Books/ Immediate Editions, 1981)
• 'My Mark' (fiction, Sherwood Press, 1982)
• 'Safe' (novella, SeaHorse Press, 1985)
• 'He Cried' (poetry, Black Star Series, 1985)
• "Wrong" (short fiction, Grove Press, 1992)
• "The Dream Police: Selected Poems '69-93' (Grove Press, 1994)
• "Jerk" (collaboration with artist Nayland Blake, Artspace Books, 1994)
• "Horror Hospital Unplugged" (graphic novel, Juno Books, 1997)
• "All Ears" (criticism, journalism, Soft Skull Press, 1997)
• "My Loose Thread" (novel, Canongate, 2002)
• "The Sluts" (novel, Void Books, 2004 / Carroll & Graf, 2005)
• "God Jr." (novel, Grove Press, 2005)
• "Dennis" (CD/book, Don Waters Editions/AK Press, 2006)
• "The Weaklings" (Fanzine Press, early 2008)

Works written for the theater

• "Jerk" (Director: Gisele Vienne, Score: Peter Rehberg/Pita; world premiere, March, 2008)
• "Kindertotenlieder" (Director: Gisele Vienne, Score: Stephen O'Malley and Peter Rehberg/Pita; 2007)
• 'Un Belle Enfant Blonde" (Co-written with Catherine Robbe Grillet, Director: Gisele Vienne, Score: Peter Rehberg/Pita; 2005)
• "I Apologize" (Director: Gisele Vienne, Score: Peter Rehberg/Pita; 2004)
• "The Undead" (Director: Ishmael Houston-Jones, Score: Tom Recchion; Visual Design: Robert Flynt; 1990)
• "Knife/Tape/Rope" (Director: Ishmael Houston-Jones, Sets: John De Fazio; 1985)
• "Them" (Director: Ishmael Houston-Jones, Score: Chris Cochrane; 1984)

Editor

• Little Caesar Magazine #s 1 - 12 (1976 - 1982)
• Little Caesar Press (1978 - 1982)
  • Dennis Cooper 'Tiger Beat' (LCP)
  • Gerard Malanga '100 Years Have Passed' (LCP)
  • Arthur Rimbaud' 'Travels in Abyssinia and the Harar' (LCP)
  • Tom Clark 'The End of the Line' (LCP)
  • Tim Dlugos 'Je Suis Ein Americano' (LCP)
  • Tim Dlugos 'Entre Nous' (LCP)
  • Joe Brainard 'Nothing to Write Home About' (LCP)
  • Elaine Equi 'Shrewcrazy' (LCP)
  • Amy Gerstler 'Yonder' (LCP)
  • Elieen Myles 'Sappho's Boat' (LCP)
  • Oswell Blakeston 'Journeys End in Young Man's Meeting' (LCP)
  • Dennis Cooper, editor 'Coming Attractions: American Poets in their Twenties' (LCP)
  • Ron Koertge 'Diary Cows' (LCP)
  • Peter Schjeldahl 'The Brute' (LCP)
  • Donald Britton 'Italy' (LCP)
  • Jack Skelley 'Monsters' (LCP)
  • James Krusoe 'Jungle Girl' (LCP)

• 'Discontents: New Queer Writers' (Amethyst Press, 1994)
• 'The Kathy Acker Reader' (w/ Amy Scholder, Grove Press, 2004)

• Little House on the Bowery/Akashic Press (2004 - ?)
  • Travis Jeppesen 'Victims' (LHotB)
  • Benjamin Weissman 'Headless' (LHotB)
  • Derek McCormack 'Grab Bag' (LHotB)
  • Martha Kinney 'The Fall of Heartless Horse (LHotB)
  • Richard Hell 'Godlike' (LHotB)
  • Trinie Dalton 'Wide Eyed' (LHotB)
  • James Greer 'Artificial Light' (LHotB)
  • Dennis Cooper, ed. 'Userlands: New Fiction from the Blogging Underground' (LHotB)

See also

• Little House on the Bowery/Akashic Press
• Leora Lev, editor, "Enter at Your Own Risk: The Dangerous Art of Dennis Cooper" (FDU Press, 2006)
• Paul Hegarty and Danny Kennedy, editors 'Writing at the Edge: The Work of Dennis Cooper' (Sussex University Press, March 2008)

External links

• denniscooper.net
• denniscooper.blogspot.com Dennis' old blog (hacked)
• denniscooper-theweaklings.blogspot.com Dennis' current blog
• Dennis Cooper Papers at Fales Library, New York University
• Little House on the Bowery Series for Akashic Books
• Gisele Vienne
• Grove Press
• Dennis Cooper @ POL
• 3:AM magazine, November 2001 interview by Stephen Lucas
• 3:AM magazine, December 2001 interview by Dan Epstein
• Review of Jerk by Matias Viegener in Artforum
• Frisk at the Internet Movie Database — 1995 film version of novel
• (Dutch) VPRO Dutch television site — article and link to streaming video segment on Dennis Cooper