GRAHAM CAVENEY
THE BOOKS
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The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness
ISBN-13-978-15098-3068-8
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Born in Accrington in 1964, Graham Caveney was unaware that he belonged to what would later come to recognize as the 'Respectable Working Class'. From altar boy to Kafka-quoting adolescent, his is the story of a teenage boy's obsession with music, a love affair with books, and how he eventually used them to plot his way out of his home town. But his is also a story of abuse: for years the headmaster of Caveney's Catholic school was his inspiring mentor, but he was also his abuser. Always acutely written and often shockingly funny, The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness is an astonishing memoir, startling in its originality.
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'A thoughtful tale about music, class, religion and sexual abuse in 1970s and 1980s Accrington...Gripping.' Manchester Evening News
Screaming with Joy: The Life of Allen Ginsberg
ISBN-13-978-0767902786
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Allen Ginsburg was the best known poet of the post-war America, and a walking embodiment of the counter culture. He combined radical political action with a quest for spirituality and sexual freedom. This book interweaves newly researched accounts of Ginsberg's eventful life with a re-visiting of his major writings.
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The Priest They Called Him: The Life and Legacy of William S. Burroughs
ISBN-0 7475 4289 9
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This story of Burroughs' life: from his Ivy-League background to his notorious legacy of addiction, is interwoven with fresh readings of his collaborations with Tom Waits, Kurt Cobain, and David Cronenberg.
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'Fresh and startling...Caveney's radical approach and focus on the Burroughs milieu is the state of play. Inventive stuff.' The Beat Scene
Shopping in Space: Essays on America's Blank Generation Fiction
ISBN-0-8021-3394-0
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The first critical look at America's most controversial young writers, including Bret Easton Ellis, Tama Janowitz, and Jay McInerney.
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'Shopping in Space is a definitive work of contemporary cultural criticism. An important book that lacks self-importance, it deserves to become a pivotal text.' New Statesman and Society