Hubert Selby, Jr., letters to John S. Friedman

The collection comprises eleven letters from Hubert Selby, Jr., to journalist and friend John S. Friedman which include an autobiographical statement by Selby as well as a typed draft of a short story entitled, “A Little Respect.” Also included is one handwritten letter from Selby’s wife Suzanne to Friedman (written when the novelist was too ill to reply to Friedman). In the autobiographical statement, Selby recounted his battle with tuberculosis that nearly took his life (Selby had ten ribs removed and one lung collapsed during surgery for the illness), and described his early impulses to write stories. His letters to Friedman mostly describe his day-to-day goings-on and are written from three different locales: Los Angeles, New York, and Old Greenwich, Connecticut. Characters from two novels in progress, The Demon and Requiem for a Dream are mentioned in the letters. “A Little Respect,” Selby’s short story that accompanies one letter, deals with television’s effect on a boy’s ability to socially function, as seen from his father’s perspective.