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Cover of Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr.

Requiem for a Dream

by Hubert Selby Jr.

Four people chase better futures until substances and fantasies consume the lives they were meant to improve.

Published
1978
Setting
New York
Shelf rating
4.4

The story, briefly

Spoiler-free

Selby follows addiction without glamour, showing several characters becoming consumed by drugs and by the futures they keep imagining for themselves.

What's inside

Four people pursue love, success, money, beauty, and escape while addiction steadily replaces the futures they imagine.

Why we recommend it

  1. When the dream of drugs becomes the whole life

    Selby follows the movement from substances improving life to substances replacing it.

What this book explores

Book editions

Ebook edition cover
Ebook
Open Road Media
2011
ISBN-13
9781453239698

Reader reviews

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Cover of Candy by Luke Davies

Candy

Luke Davies

Another intimate story of love, shared intoxication, and collapse.

Read our take
Cover of Junky by William S. Burroughs

Junky

William S. Burroughs

A leaner account of addiction as the routine around which everything else is arranged.

Read our take

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References

References

The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document Requiem for a Dream, its publication, and its place in literary history.

  1. 1Requiem for a Dream

    Novel
    Hubert Selby Jr., 1978
    Used for

    The primary text represented by this page, used for descriptions of the work’s contents and for any quoted passages shown here.

  2. 2Requiem for a Dream

    Official record
    Open Road Media
    Used for

    Official record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.

    View source
  3. 3Requiem for a Dream — 1978 library catalogue record

    Official record
    WorldCat, OCLC
    Used for

    Official record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.

    View source
  1. 4Requiem for a Dream — edition record

    Official record
    Google Books
    Used for

    Official record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.

    View source
  2. 5Hubert Selby, Jr., letters to John S. Friedman

    Archive
    University of Delaware Library
    Used for

    Archival evidence used to document the historical record connected to Requiem for a Dream.

    View source
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Why these sources are here

The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.

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