The View From Babylon: Notes of a Hollywood Voyeur

by Donald Rawley

Overview

As luxurious as it is decadent, it is host to lush and extravagant galas, aglitter with the rich and famous, overrun by exotic cars, rife with crazed body builders,peopled by agents scoffing at nine-figure deals, and haunted by greed, ambition, and despair. Devastated by earthquakes, it is even more gloriously rebuilt. But beneath it all echo the cries of infants murdered by drug addicted parents, husbands who kill themselves in hotel rooms, and marriages broken over bank accounts. From the best to the worst, Donald Rawley offers it all up in a sprawling book that captivates the reader with its devastating honesty.

"Donald Rawley is the literary equivalent of amyl nitrate. Reading this searing talent may give you a heart attack, but you'll die with a twisted, sated smile of gratitude on your lips." -- Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight

"Donald Rawley makes myth of our contemporary lives." -- Kate Braverman

"Rawley's style is sumptuous and baroque. He has an uncanny knack for making the bizarre beautiful and for capturing the pathos and peculiar dignity of characters who wouldn't ordinarily command respect." -- The Observer, London

"Rawley's writing blazes unapologetically fecund and startling, like some kind of bird of paradise from Mars." -- Sandra Tsing Loh, author of Depth Takes a Holiday

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012656193
Publisher:	Lukeman Literary
Publication date:	04/25/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	1,000,872
File size:	114 KB

About the Author

Donald Rawley

The late Donald Rawley is considered one of the finest literary talents to come out of Los Angeles. He is author of the novel THE NIGHT BIRD CANTATA (Avon/Bard Books in the US and Flamingo/HarperCollins in the UK), SLOW DANCE ON THE FAULT LINE (stories) (Avon/Bard Books in the US and Flamingo/HarperCollins in the UK), TINA IN THE BACK SEAT (stories) (Avon/Bard Books), THE VIEW FROM BABYLON (essays) (Warner Books), and THE END OF MISS KIND, his final, brilliant, novella, published posthumously by Flamingo/HarperCollins in the UK. A former contributing editor at Buzz Magazine, Mr. Rawley was published in a wide array of prestigious magazines, including The New Yorker, Harpers, Story, American Short Fiction, Yellow Silk, Press and The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and twice made the "Distinguished 100" list in BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES. An award-winning poet and successful screenwriter, he also published four books of poetry and wrote three screenplays, all of which were optioned for feature film. He won a Pushcart Prize for fiction and carried endorsements from Jerry Stahl, Kate Braverman and Sandra Tsing Loh. He resided in Los Angeles and passed away in May of 1998.