Dennis Cooper
Tutt'orecchi

I had no idea who Dennis Cooper was before reading this book, published by a small publishing house and lent to me by who knows whom.

Writer turned journalist, but also a essayist, poet, a teenager raised in terrible conditions, amidst a whirlwind of out-of-control adults, violence, and drugs (a detailed account can be found in the initial "Violence, Information, Literature," perhaps the best contribution in this book), Cooper has collaborated with various art and rock music magazines (from Artforum to Spin) and a large part of the volume (144 pages) is occupied by interviews with young rising actors and musicians during the Nineties: here is Cooper interviewing a pre-stardom Leonardo DiCaprio ("before he became suspicious of journalists," as the interviewer informs us); Keanu Reeves and Stephen Malkmus are conversations with a more relaxed tone, at least compared to the one with Bob Mould dealing with an attempted outing agreed upon with Cooper (among other things not completely successful, which would cost the friendship between the two); a separate discussion with a decidedly blunt Courtney Love (interviewed in March 1994), whose interview was published on the very day of the suicide discovery of.

More convincing even than the obituaries dedicated to William Burroughs and River Phoenix, is a touching account of homosexual prostitution and HIV among young homeless in Los Angeles, on the then-nascent rave movement (seen through the eyes of a participant) and the fascination with the image of a junkie propagated by alternative rock music videos in rotation on MTV. Cooper competently tackles true investigative journalism, analyzing these phenomena (typical of the Nineties) with an approach that's far from obvious. Cooper's light and never banal style ensures that this book is effortlessly readable; however, I can imagine that the rest of his work has a very different (heavier?) consistency. It's up to you to prove me right or wrong.

Happy reading.