And once I realised that the story just came right on out

And once I realised that, the story just came right on out."In the United States, Last Exit was a cult success. In Britain it was banned on obscenity grounds, after objections in parliament, led by the young Robert Maxwell MP The decision was overturned on appeal. The controversy helped sales and made Selby, who had only just turned 30, a considerable amount of money.What did the money do for you? I ask."What it did was it gave me the ability to drink without stopping I gave up my job and I could afford to just keep drinking. Finally I almost drank myself to death and I couldn't drink any more, so I sobered up and then I wrote The Room."I hadn't read The Room (1971) at the time of our conversation - though I have now - so I ask Selby to give me a quick rundown. He takes his glasses off again and shakes his head ruefully."I should warn you that it's probably the most disturbing book ever written by a human being."Really?"Uh-huh, really Really disturbing. I couldn't read it for 12 years."And you were still happy with it?"Man," the Man says "You want the truth?"Of course, I fumble The truth, yes."The truth is I was amazed Number one, I think it's a masterpiece.

And it really showed me that I learnt how to write; all those years of Last Exit and I really learnt."It got good reviews?"Absolutely remarkable reviews, but there was no advertising. Somehow it got lost."So what did you do after The Room came out?"I had to go to work. I was working in a garage, pumping gas and changing oil."Is the truth the same story? I inquire of him. I mean, whatever the year, or the decade? Does it change? Does technology come into it?"Well, I think the pathology is the same, but just being expressed with greater or lesser degrees There are differences. For instance, when I first started writing in New York, it was a pretty great time Through the 1950s, New York was marvellous. Shit, a great time to be alive."And now?"The fascism in this country today is incredible But things go through cycles Look at McCarthyism.

That started in the 1950s and went through for quite a while So the basic pathology is always there. In this country, our escape, regardless of what technology's around, has always been money. The so-called `bottom line' is God, over absolutely everything. So regardless of what else is going on, there is that fix."After The Room you wrote The Demon (1976), a brilliant book about sexual addiction. How did that sell?"It didn't."And, more recently, there is The Willow Tree For the first time in your books there seems to be hope.

Hope that Mushie the old guy will be able to persuade Bobby the young kid not to go out and exterminate the whole of the Latino gang."Yeah see, this time I also wanted to have the answers, and how you get from your problem to the answers The other books, there's no relief Just - boom!"No distance. How do you do it?"Well, that's a difficult thing to explain sometimes To stop resisting. Instead of fighting the demon, to just look the demon in the eye and say `OK'. It's my resistance to the demon that was causing the problem. The demon is a myth - to keep me separated from myself, from whatever created me, from you: that's how I define for myself, anyway, the human ego The lie of separation.

I just want to write the best story I can write, and be true to the people that I create, and allow them to live their own lives."Selby scrunches up his face as if he is in pain Suddenly, he looks tired "Let's leave it," he says "Oh man ..."I'm sorry, I tell the Man I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that America seems to hold a terror that England doesn't In England there's still a net. But in America you can be an upstanding citizen for years and then suddenly through a combination of unfortunate circumstances you fall and you are ..."Dead," he says, his voice strong again. "And this is the richest country in the world, in every way possible, and we have millions of children starving. Can you f---ing believe that! This idea of efficiency and the bottom line is madness."Why are your books ignored by the literary establishment? I ask finally."I'm not sure. I think what it is, is that they're not genteel enough, or poetic enough, from their idea."But your work is intensely poetic."Well, other writers have said that.