Permanent Midnight: A Memoir

(Hardback, 20th Anniversary Edition)

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Description

Jerry Stahl's seminal memoir of drug addiction and a career in Hollywood, Permanent Midnight is a classic along the lines of Hubert Selby, Jr.'s Last Exit to Brooklyn. Illuminating the self-loathing and self-destruction of an addict's inner life, Permanent Midnight follows Stahl through the dregs of addiction and into sobriety. In 1998, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Maria Bello starred in a film version of Permanent Midnight to much acclaim. Nic Sheff, author of Tweak, writes the introduction to this edition.

Reviews

"An extraordinary accomplishment... A remarkable book that will be of great value to people who feel isolated, alienated and overwhelmed by the circumstances of their lives." --Hubert Selby, Jr., author of Last Exit to Brooklyn "[Stahl] is a better-than-Burroughs virtuoso." --Thomas Mallon, The New Yorker "Original, appalling, indelible picture of a man trying to swim and drown at the same time. Stahl has nerve, heart, a language of his own and a ghastly, riotous humor." --Tobias Wolff, author of This Boy's Life "Permanent Midnight is one of the most harrowing and toughest accounts ever written in this century about what it means to be a junkie in America, making Burroughs look dated and Kerouac appear as the nose-thumbing adolescent he was." --Booklist

Author Bio

Novelist, screenwriter, and journalist, Jerry Stahl has written nine books, including the novels Perv, Pain Killers, Happy Mutant Baby Pills, the highly acclaimed and bestselling I, Fatty--optioned by Johnny Depp--and his latest collection of personal essays, OG Dad. He has written for a variety of publications including Details (where he was Culture columnist), The Believer, The New York Times, and Esquire, and is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize for short fiction. Stahl is that rarest of writers, one whose work has been embraced by both the underground and mainstream alike. His extensive film and TV credits range from the X-rated cult classic Cafe Flesh to ALF, the highest-rated episode of CSI to the HBO film Hemingway & Gellhorn. Stahl has taught at Sylmar Juvenile Hall and San Quentin. Most recently, he writes for the IFC series, Maron, and is completing a new novel, Ten-Cent Apocalypse. Nic Sheff is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. Still in his early twenties, he continues to fight daily battles with his addictions. His writing has been published in Newsweek, Nerve, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Tweak is his first book. Both Stahl and Sheff live in Los Angeles.