The Demon

The narration is completely devoted to the worldview of main character Harry White. A man who climbs the ladder of corporate and social America thanks to unnatural drives inside him both dedicated to achieving his success and predicated ultimately to securing his eventual self-destruction. The demon is inside Harry White and it is the American dream. An extraordinary novel from an extraordinary writer who had already written himself into the annals of American literature with such classics as Last Exit to Brooklyn and The Room. The Demon in my view is Selby Jr.’s most personal and impersonal work.

To varying degrees, all of Hubert Selby Jr.’s novels depict descents into existential darkness. The Demon might be the one I like best, for the clarity of its allegorical power and for its intimate alignment between the development of narrative and protagonist psychology. Specifically, the novel is locked into the perspective of corporate employee Harry White, who submits to an unlocatable destructive drive that grows larger in his mind as he advances in his career. As Harry accrues more wealth and stability, his inner drive (or demon) compels him to infidelity, petty crime, and ultimately acts of extreme violence. The… show more.