City of Night [Paperback]

“[Rechy’s] tone rings absolutely true, is absolutely his own. . . . He tells the truth, and tells it with such passion that we are forced to share in the life he conveys. . . . This is a most humbling and liberating achievement.”—James Baldwin

When John Rechy’s explosive first novel appeared in 1963, it marked a radical departure in fiction, and gave voice to a subculture that had never before been revealed with such acuity. It earned comparisons to Genet and Kerouac, even as Rechy was personally attacked by scandalized reviewers. Nevertheless, the book became an international bestseller, and fifty years later, it has become a classic. Bold and inventive in style, Rechy is unflinching in his portrayal of one hustling “youngman” and his search for self-knowledge within the neon-lit world of hustlers, drag queens, and the denizens of their world, as he moves from El Paso to Times Square, from Pershing Square to the French Quarter. Now including never-seen original marked galley pages and an interview with the author, Rechy’s portrait of the edges of America has lost none of its power to move and exhilarate.

Praise forCity of Night:

“One of the few major American writers whose life is almost as interesting, and meaningful, as his work.”—Michael Cunningham

“A ground-breaking book . . . observing a whole new array of characters . . . many for the first time in American literature. . . . A classic American novel.”—Edmund White,The New York Review of Books

“Probably no novel published in this decade is so complete, so well held together, and so important asCity of Night.”—Larry McMurtry

“One of the major books to be published since World War II.”—The Washington Post

“City of Nightis one of the most remarkable novels to appear in years. . . . It illulS.