American Dream: Consumption and Addiction in the Novels by H. Selby, Jr.

Abstract

The author studies the plot particulars of four early novels by H. Selby, Jr. (1928–2004) in relation to the “American Dream” concept. The writer consistently splits the two-part utopian concept, reducing it to its pragmatic ordinary component od American dream as a longing for social success and prosperity. “Requiem for a Dream”, “Last Exit to Brooklyn”, “The Demon” and “The Room” discuss compulsive consumption as the main aspect of the American dream linked to painful addictions, familiar to the author from his personal experience, and referring to the state of existential crisis. The study consistently analyzes different types of consumption represented in the novels and reveals typical features of their actualization. The American Dream, reduced by Selby Jr. to its material aspect, cannot become the basis for identity formation and in this meaning it is stated as a false ideal. Selby Jr.’s characters commit crimes for the next dose of addictive substances and new experience; eventually they find themselves in the social underworld. Selby sees their problem in the lack of responsibility to others and to themselves. Their self-waste is due to lack of goals and attention to the “inner voice” corresponding to the transcendentalist doctrine of “self-reliance”. As a result, Selby Jr.’s characters find themselves disoriented and die.