Few novels have caused as much debate as hubert selby jr.'s notorious masterpiece, and this penguin modern classics edition includes an introduction by irvine welsh, author of described by various reviewers as hellish an...Few novels have caused as much debate as hubert selby jr.'s notorious masterpiece, and this penguin modern classics edition includes an introduction by irvine welsh, author of described by various reviewers as hellish and obscene, tells the stories of new yorkers who at every turn confront the worst excesses in human nature. Yet there are moments of exquisite tenderness in these troubled lives.