r has intrigued, shocked, and energized American writing. Whether described as the leading writer of the Blank Generation or the New Narrative or likened to Poe, Sade, and Genet, Cooper has consistently explored the boundaries of writing and the effect of literature on our imaginations and in our society. His stories have the shocking immediacy of newspaper headlines: grimy, splintered images illuminated by the city's neon bloom. By daring to use death to look at life, Cooper gives us a new perspective on our deepest fears and needs. This first collection of his work provides an overview of his evolution and, as William T. Vollmann wrote in the New York Times Book Review, a portrait of "our soulless and decaying society."