I was fifteen when I met George Miles, the most important and influential person I would know in my life, and the muse for my best known and most acclaimed works -- the novels Closer, Frisk, Try, Guide, and Period, collectively titled "The George Miles Cycle." George was a student at Flintridge Preparatory Academy for Boys, a private school that I attended from the 8th to 11th grades.
We met at a school dance when my friend Jay told me that his twelve year old brother George had taken LSD and was having a bad trip. Because I'd had a lot of experience with LSD's good and bad effects, Jay thought I might be able to help his little brother. I took George out to the school's sports field and helped him through his bad trip for the next five hours, and we formed a very close bond from that night. George was a brilliant, sweet, and eccentric boy who wound up developing severe bipolar disorder in his early teens.
We were like brothers, soul mates, and very in love with each other from the moment we met, although the romantic aspect of our relationship wasn't consummated until the early 1980s when he was in his mid twenties and I was almost thirty. We remained extremely close throughout his severe depressions, manic episodes, his stints in various religious cults, his suicide attempts, and his occasional institutionalizations. I was transformed into his only loyal friend and caretaker for long stretches of time. He was the first person who openly and unquestionably loved me, and he felt the same way about me. If my fantasy life defined me as a writer, George defined me as both a person and as a writer. Everyone I've ever been romantically or sexually involved with reminds me of him physically and in their emotional make up.
I've tried to recreate my relationship with him with many brilliant but troubled friends and lovers. Every young character in every piece of fiction I've ever written is somehow George, whether by name or not.
-DENNIS COOPER
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A R C H I V E S : G E O R G E M I L E S
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R E S O U R C E S - T H E G E O R G E M I L E S C Y C L E
D.C. ON THE GEORGE MILES CYCLE
INTERVIEWS AND GENERAL CYCLE LINKS
GEORGE MILES PAGE
PHOTOS FROM THE 2000 CONFERENCE ON THE CYCLE
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We met at a school dance when my friend Jay told me that his twelve year old brother George had taken LSD and was having a bad trip. Because I'd had a lot of experience with LSD's good and bad effects, Jay thought I might be able to help his little brother. I took George out to the school's sports field and helped him through his bad trip for the next five hours, and we formed a very close bond from that night. George was a brilliant, sweet, and eccentric boy who wound up developing severe bipolar disorder in his early teens.
We were like brothers, soul mates, and very in love with each other from the moment we met, although the romantic aspect of our relationship wasn't consummated until the early 1980s when he was in his mid twenties and I was almost thirty. We remained extremely close throughout his severe depressions, manic episodes, his stints in various religious cults, his suicide attempts, and his occasional institutionalizations. I was transformed into his only loyal friend and caretaker for long stretches of time. He was the first person who openly and unquestionably loved me, and he felt the same way about me. If my fantasy life defined me as a writer, George defined me as both a person and as a writer. Everyone I've ever been romantically or sexually involved with reminds me of him physically and in their emotional make up.
I've tried to recreate my relationship with him with many brilliant but troubled friends and lovers. Every young character in every piece of fiction I've ever written is somehow George, whether by name or not.
-DENNIS COOPER
READ MORE >
Photos Letters Drawings Memories
R E S O U R C E S - T H E G E O R G E M I L E S C Y C L E
D.C. ON THE GEORGE MILES CYCLE
INTERVIEWS AND GENERAL CYCLE LINKS
GEORGE MILES PAGE
PHOTOS FROM THE 2000 CONFERENCE ON THE CYCLE
BUY THE BOOKS FROM AMAZON