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Godlike
Fiction. Richard Hell's second novel, GODLIKE, is set largely in the early 70s, but structured as a middle-aged poet's 1997 notebooks and drafts for a memoir-novel. The book recounts the story of a young man's affair with a remarkable teenage poet. GODLIKE is a novel of compelling originality and transcendent beauty. "[Hell's] every move and word reveal a naked, impassioned intelligence in the throes of the only truly rock & roll artistic convulsion"--Lester Bangs.
141 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2005
13 people are currently reading
870 people want to read
About the author
Richard Hell
38 books141 followersBorn in 1949, Richard Meyers was shipped off to a private school for troublesome kids in Delaware, which is where he met Tom (Verlaine) Miller. Together they ran away, trying to hitchhike to Florida, but only made it as far as Alabama before being picked up by the authorities. Meyers persuaded his mother to allow him to go to New York, where he worked in a secondhand bookshop (the Strand; later he was employed at Cinemabilia along with Patti Smith) and tried to become a writer.
He arrived in the Big Apple at the tail end of the hippie scene. He took acid (and later heroin), but sought to develop a different sensibility in the manner of what he later referred to as 'twisted French aestheticism', i.e. more Arthur Rimbaud than Rolling Stones. He printed a poetry magazine (Genesis: Grasp) and when Miller dropped out of college and joined him in New York, they developed a joint alter ego whom they named Teresa Stern. Under this name they published a book of poems entitled Wanna Go Out?. This slim volume went almost unnoticed. It was at this point that Meyers and Miller decided to form a band. They changed their names to Hell and Verlaine, and called the band The Neon Boys.
During this hiatus, Hell wrote The Voidoid (1973), a rambling confessional. He wrote it in a 16 dollar-a-week room, fuelled by cheap wine and cough syrup that contained codeine. He then played in various successful bands: Television, Richard Hell and The Voidoids.
Hell recently returned to fiction with his 1996 novel Go Now.
He arrived in the Big Apple at the tail end of the hippie scene. He took acid (and later heroin), but sought to develop a different sensibility in the manner of what he later referred to as 'twisted French aestheticism', i.e. more Arthur Rimbaud than Rolling Stones. He printed a poetry magazine (Genesis: Grasp) and when Miller dropped out of college and joined him in New York, they developed a joint alter ego whom they named Teresa Stern. Under this name they published a book of poems entitled Wanna Go Out?. This slim volume went almost unnoticed. It was at this point that Meyers and Miller decided to form a band. They changed their names to Hell and Verlaine, and called the band The Neon Boys.
During this hiatus, Hell wrote The Voidoid (1973), a rambling confessional. He wrote it in a 16 dollar-a-week room, fuelled by cheap wine and cough syrup that contained codeine. He then played in various successful bands: Television, Richard Hell and The Voidoids.
Hell recently returned to fiction with his 1996 novel Go Now.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 15, 2025
A slim novel the poetic premise of which almost outweighs the plot. It's like Hell has all these poems that didn't fit together, so he just incorporated them into the structure of a loose storyline revolving mostly around the young lives of 2 lover poets R.T. and Paul.
Surreal and bittersweet, they move thru friendship groups and drug experiments, New York to Florida (on a bus) and lastly age and death. "T" going first. Death next to mania and Paul's memoir in a mental hospital.
I should probably read more of this guy's work.
Very Beat-like, and accessible.
Surreal and bittersweet, they move thru friendship groups and drug experiments, New York to Florida (on a bus) and lastly age and death. "T" going first. Death next to mania and Paul's memoir in a mental hospital.
I should probably read more of this guy's work.
Very Beat-like, and accessible.
October 4, 2014
The first Richard Hell I've read and it won't be the last. This is a novel that's also a fictional memoir within a novel that tells the love story of Rimbaud and Verlaine but set in early 1970's Manhattan which is a story that mirrors somewhat Richard Hell's actual experiences at the time.
It might sound convoluted but it's told in such an off-hand, off-kilter, yet engaging and searching way, with a uniquely loopy use of words, that the pages just flow by.
Something I particularly liked was the fictional portrayals of the NY poetry scene of the time (early 70's) which is a favorite time of mine, with poets like Ron Padgett, Ted Berrigan, James Schuyler, Edwin Denby, and John Ashbery being invoked. It really was a great time for American poetry, and Hell was there so he's able to weave in actual anecdotes and street and apartment textures of living that enrich the story.
I thought the title Godlike might've been a bit over the top, for though Rimbaud might be worthy of that title, R. T. Wode the Rimbaud-like character did not possess the preternatural lyricism and brilliance of mind as the real Rimbaud, and to me just seemed like another very good poet of that era.
But in the end the book is actually a love story, and that part of the story offered real possible insights into the tormented yet fertile Rimbaud/Verlaine affair.
It might sound convoluted but it's told in such an off-hand, off-kilter, yet engaging and searching way, with a uniquely loopy use of words, that the pages just flow by.
Something I particularly liked was the fictional portrayals of the NY poetry scene of the time (early 70's) which is a favorite time of mine, with poets like Ron Padgett, Ted Berrigan, James Schuyler, Edwin Denby, and John Ashbery being invoked. It really was a great time for American poetry, and Hell was there so he's able to weave in actual anecdotes and street and apartment textures of living that enrich the story.
I thought the title Godlike might've been a bit over the top, for though Rimbaud might be worthy of that title, R. T. Wode the Rimbaud-like character did not possess the preternatural lyricism and brilliance of mind as the real Rimbaud, and to me just seemed like another very good poet of that era.
But in the end the book is actually a love story, and that part of the story offered real possible insights into the tormented yet fertile Rimbaud/Verlaine affair.
August 29, 2011
i dont like poetry and i hate books about poets. that being said, the characters in this book had enough self loathing that i could jump on the hate boat and feel better about myself
December 4, 2023
This was good. Really good, unfortunately. Short, poignant, and straightforward, a literary treat with its use of poetry and confusing narrative.
I enjoyed it, but I'm so glad I'm not a man.
I enjoyed it, but I'm so glad I'm not a man.
February 16, 2024
When I first read this second novel of Hell's, at least six or seven years ago now, as I hadn't yet joined Goodreads as there's no previous review here, I really, really loved and admired it. I was blown away in fact that Hell had written such an amazing book. On a second reading, however, I found it a tad less astonishing. I think part of my admiration the first time came from lower expectations: Hell's first novel Go Now is great for what it is, but is pretty much what you'd expect from the witty, old punk rock icon--a glorified tour diary and clever tantalizingly autobiographical romp. But this novel is very different, both far more serious and literary in a way, but also just as playful and crazy--that is to say, it's smarter but in no way betrays the spirit of punk or Hell's previous musical, poetic, and autobiographical writings. It's certainly a stepping up of his game, but a tad less of an achievement, I guess than I first gave it credit for. Still, it's great and a favorite.
The novel's form is here in every review: it's a re-telling of sorts of Rimbaud and Verlaine's raucous love affair transported to 1970's New York, specifically the Lower East Side poetry scene around St. Mark's Poetry Project, as seen in retrospect from the Verlaine character's sickbed some 40 years later. Great conceit, super well handled here. Aces.
The novel's themes are poetry and sexual abandon, cleverly intertwined and explored both in the older man looking back as well as in the real time of the love affair's events--also aces. They are linked, I think, as forms of ecstatic, partially out of mind experiences, act in which we blend intellect and physicality in a search for transcendence of both, it would seem. I guess most people do that in the gym or jogging these days, but I feel there's a whole lot less intellect in sports than physicality, except perhaps in baseball. And winning is hardly the transcendence we seek in sex, drugs, or poetry.
Thus I'm at a bit of a loss to explain why the novel wasn't as astounding the second time through, except just that my expectations were raised by my first reading's surprise and the memory of loving it so much. It's hard to be surprised twice by the same thing. But I will read again, I'm sure. The narrative is so tight and so full of beauty and wisdom, I feel myself missing it as I move on to read more "normal" novels. This one is extraordinary for sure.
The novel's form is here in every review: it's a re-telling of sorts of Rimbaud and Verlaine's raucous love affair transported to 1970's New York, specifically the Lower East Side poetry scene around St. Mark's Poetry Project, as seen in retrospect from the Verlaine character's sickbed some 40 years later. Great conceit, super well handled here. Aces.
The novel's themes are poetry and sexual abandon, cleverly intertwined and explored both in the older man looking back as well as in the real time of the love affair's events--also aces. They are linked, I think, as forms of ecstatic, partially out of mind experiences, act in which we blend intellect and physicality in a search for transcendence of both, it would seem. I guess most people do that in the gym or jogging these days, but I feel there's a whole lot less intellect in sports than physicality, except perhaps in baseball. And winning is hardly the transcendence we seek in sex, drugs, or poetry.
Thus I'm at a bit of a loss to explain why the novel wasn't as astounding the second time through, except just that my expectations were raised by my first reading's surprise and the memory of loving it so much. It's hard to be surprised twice by the same thing. But I will read again, I'm sure. The narrative is so tight and so full of beauty and wisdom, I feel myself missing it as I move on to read more "normal" novels. This one is extraordinary for sure.
May 8, 2011
The complete review is at my blog.
As soon as we let ourselves love another person we are forever wounded, because we are dying and everyone we love is already dead. It’s that certain. Life is just so much unfolding of time and spatial relationships. The wound of our mortality is with us if we dare to look honestly and directly at our lives. Godlike by Richard Hell not only looks but picks at the scab.
There is much packed into the slim book. Many of the images are inexplicably unforgettable like one of Vaughn’s old friends visiting him in the hospital, the poets’ bus ride across the south, and a particular doorway in a Memphis hotel. The love affair between the two young poets is as palpable as the breakdown that inevitably follows.
As soon as we let ourselves love another person we are forever wounded, because we are dying and everyone we love is already dead. It’s that certain. Life is just so much unfolding of time and spatial relationships. The wound of our mortality is with us if we dare to look honestly and directly at our lives. Godlike by Richard Hell not only looks but picks at the scab.
There is much packed into the slim book. Many of the images are inexplicably unforgettable like one of Vaughn’s old friends visiting him in the hospital, the poets’ bus ride across the south, and a particular doorway in a Memphis hotel. The love affair between the two young poets is as palpable as the breakdown that inevitably follows.
May 5, 2019
I would give this short novel 2 and one half stars if you could give halves. Hell's novel Go Now I thought was a little better (I would give it 3 stars, while his autobio I dreamed I was a Very Clean Tramp I think earns 5 stars). Nevertheless, Godlike is interesting although some of it is over my head. Some of the character's thoughts get complex and I was not able to figure them out. It's a very literary-type book as it deals w/ 2 writers who are unknown poets who are seriously into writing poetry. Plenty of sex and drugs in here (same as in Hell's other works).
June 13, 2017
My favorite Hell book, and I'll keep reading it until I get so sick of it. The style of this novel is exactly how and what I want to read, and I'm not surprised because Hell just gets it - he knows how to write with wit and poetry.
Godlike easily immerses you into another decade when poets roamed the streets and fell in love with each other.
Godlike easily immerses you into another decade when poets roamed the streets and fell in love with each other.
January 21, 2018
Pure gold.
January 7, 2020
wasn’t expecting this to hit so hard. wow.
April 18, 2024
liked his other stuff better
November 10, 2011
An engaging idea — what if Rimbaud and Verlaine (well, characters meant to represent them) were in New York City in the early 1970s — is let down by a belabored story-within-a-story conceit that just becomes confusing and tiresome. The language alternates between overly precious and dreadfully clunky, and the egregious typos and homophone errors in the edition didn't help the prose. Furthermore, while the unpleasantness of the characters may have been plausibly representative of the real poets on whom they were based, most of the examples of the literary cleverness (I hesitate to refer to it as poetry) attributed to the two main characters and their peers were just wretchedly written.
May 30, 2008
Another punk turned poet and author, Hell was most famous for his song "Blank Generation" with the Voidoids. His work offers a curious modern updating of several literary traditions that inspired his life. "Go Now" corrupts the Beat spirit of Kerouac and Clellon Holmes, while "Godlike" re-imagines the life of Rimbaud and Verlaine as gay New York poets on acid, all the while retaining a grasp on the frailness or pointlessness of humanity.
February 1, 2008
Richard Hell is a remarkable writer. I never read anything bad from this iconic "punk" rocker. Incredibly talented. "Godlike" is about the poetry scene in NYC circ. 70's and it is really an amazing novel where you can feel the city via his writing. I am hoping for more Hell on the printed page!
February 17, 2018
About what you can expect from the whole punker-than-thou written tradition of transgressiveness, but it does have some lovely parts and playful language I can get behind. I just might be too old for this stuff at this point.
January 20, 2008
Saw Richard Hell read from this!
September 2, 2008
You can read my review of the book at http://galatearesurrection.blogspot.com/2006/03/godlike-by-richard-hell.html.
December 19, 2017
No one read my review of Godlike (I don't think). And now I've deleted it (12/19/17).
But I've saved it too, elsewhere, for myself and further purposes.
But I've saved it too, elsewhere, for myself and further purposes.
December 15, 2010
pretty standard punk-raunch-prose, still awesome
August 15, 2013
Richard Hell is pretty smart, and he's well aware of that fact. He could stand to leave punk aesthetics in the past, but then again, so could I. Therefore, I enjoyed this book pretty good.
March 4, 2021
The last few pages... destroyed me.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews