Requiem for a Dream: A Novel

Published in 1978, Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr. is a brutal exploration of the effects of drug addiction and the unattainable American dream on four working-class Brooklynites: Harry Goldfarb; his mother, Sara Goldfarb; Harry’s girlfriend, Marion Kleinmeitz; and Harry’s best friend, Tyrone C. Love. Selby Jr. uses the literary technique of deep perspective to show addiction on a personal level as the protagonists slowly cede control of their lives to their drugs of choice. Along the way, Selby Jr. explores class and race in America, as well as the impacts of the heroin epidemic and the War on Drugs on the lower classes of New York society. Selby Jr. was known for his gritty use of realism to depict the often-shocking aspects of life among the lower classes. His debut book, Last Exit to Brooklyn, a short-story collection published in 1964, was met with great critical acclaim, but also with controversy: A court in London attempted to censor the book. Though he published seven books of fiction between 1964 and his death in 2004, Requiem for a Dream is widely considered his best novel.