American beauty
By Allison Ashmore
May 11, 2005 9:00 p.m.
Like the mind-altering combination of characters and the
resulting allure of perverse normality should, Eric
Bogosian’s new novel leaves you satisfied and wanting
more.
The playwright will read from his newest novel, “Wasted
Beauty,” at the UCLA Hammer Museum as part of its Readings
series on May 15 at 5 p.m.
Bogosian, also an actor, wrote the plays “Talk
Radio” and “subUrbia,” which were both adapted
into feature films, and the novel “Mall.” “Wasted
Beauty” is his second novel.
The work is a powerful and emotionally wrenching tale of two
lovers who form an obsessive and destructive bond as they try to
escape the threatening future of their respective lives.
“Wasted Beauty” is a journey through the high life of
drugs and fashion celebrity, middle-class guilt and monotony, and
sexual obsession.
Bogosian really enjoyed his first taste of prose with his foray
into writing “Mall” in 2002. He fluidly took advantage
of the freedom that prose provides. Unlike screenplays, which must
yield to a three-act structure, the novel facilitates a greater
range for character development and plot.
“The constriction and confinement of the screenplay was
boring me,” Bogosian said. “I wanted to jump around and
explore what characters are thinking in a new frame.”
Bogosian had written a film for Paramount based on the life of
Gia, the infamous cover girl of the early 1980s. With this project,
he was able to do extensive research into the fashion industry. He
was intrigued by the impressions and effects of aestheticism on the
human spirit and emotional state.
“I wanted to know what happens to someone who is so
involved with appearances,” Bogosian said.
From this initial glimpse of the intoxicating character of the
beauty who gets caught up in the rush came the premise for
“Wasted Beauty.” The content of the novel is richly
stimulating and harshly beautiful in a twisted yet normal context.
The story is about regular people and the feelings they have in
emotionally excessive experiences.
“There’s heroin and sexually weird (stuff). It seems
to be really perverse, but these people are normal; there is a
perversity of normality,” Bogosian said.
Mainly known for his plays and screenplays, Bogosian usually
writes in dialogue. This influence is felt in Bogosian’s
novels, which boast quick dialogue among the characters. Like the
habits and lifestyle of the self-destructive model, the form
follows a rough, quick and dramatic blow to the nose.
“I like things to really move,” Bogosian said.
“The episodes are short and dramatic; lots of sex, action and
drugs.”
For Bogosian, a book should be a pleasurable experience. Not
only does he write to stimulate his audiences, he acknowledges the
freeing and pleasurable process of writing. Thus, his creation is a
relatively quick and easy read as it rummages through the freshly
crafted passions of urban life.
“I want my audience to be getting off on it,”
Bogosian said.
Writing this novel has been an exploration of sorts for
Bogosian. The novel explores a man about the same age as the author
himself. Because he had to draw from his own experiences to sketch
the characters, specifically the “happily married”
suburban doctor, it forced him to trudge in some precarious
places.
With the quick, raw, intense, beautiful and addictive contents,
“Wasted Beauty” is a freshly drawn version of a cliched
story line: a middle-aged married man and gorgeous goddess in a
torrid love affair. But Bogosian alters the normal with frank turns
of phrase, deeply crafted characters and perverse love.
“It was hard to get honest on the page,” Bogosian
said. “I had to isolate myself because it was an
uncomfortable place to go; I had to get into some deep
fantasizing.”
