Poppy Z. Brite

Poppy Z. Brite (née Melissa Ann Brite le 25 mai 1967) est un auteur américain né à la Nouvelle-Orléans.

Carrière littéraire
Au début de sa carrière, Brite fut d'abord remarquée pour ses romans et nouvelles d'horreur et de fantastique inspirée en partie par le mouvement gothique. Ses marques de fabrique étaient l'utilisation d'hommes gays comme personnages principaux, la description crue d'actes sexuels ainsi que le traitement froid et distant d'actes choquants. Certains de ces romans les plus connus de cette période sont Âmes Perdues (1992), Sang d'Encre (1993) et Le Corps Exquis (1996); elle a également publié des recueils de nouvelles: Les Contes de la fée verte (1993), Self-Made Man (1998), Wrong Things (avec Caitlin R. Kiernan, 2001), et Petite cuisine du diable (2003). Elle a également écrit une biographie de la chanteuse Courtney Love (1996), qui bien qu'officiellement non-autorisée, a été faite à la suggestion de Love et avec sa coopération.

A la fin des années 90 et au début des années 2000, elle s'est détachée de la fiction d'horreur tout en continuant à écrire sur des personnages gays (mais plus réalistes). Ses romans acclamés par la critique Liquor (2004), Prime (2005) et Soul Kitchen (2006) sont des comédies d'humour noir prenant place dans le milieu des restaurants de la Nouvelle Orléans. (Brite vit avec un chef cuisinier depuis 1989). Son roman court The Value of X (2002) décrit le début de carrière des protagonistes de la série Liquor --Gary "G-Man" Stubbs and John "Rickey" Rickey; d'autres histoires, dont plusieurs du recueil Petite cuisine du diable et la novella à venir D*U*C*K, chroniquent les événement de la vie des membres de la famille Stubbs au sens large, un clan catholique profondément enraciné dans la culture traditionnelle de la Nouvelle Orléans. Brite prévoir d'écrire au moins trois romans supplémentaires dans la série Liquor, qui seront probablement nommés Dead Shrimp Blues, Hurricane Stew, et Double Shot. En Novembre 2006, Brite a signé un contrat avec Subterranean Press pour poublier un quatrième recueil de nouvelles intitulé Antediluvian Tales.

Brite a fréquemment déclaré que, bien qu'elle autorisera toute adaptation filmée de son oeuvre, elle n'a que peu d'intérêt dans les films et n'est pas particulièrement impatiente de voir son travail à l'écran. En 1999, sa nouvelle "The Sixth Sentinel" (filmé sous le nom "The Dream Sentinel") composa une partie de l'épisode 209 de The Hunger,, une série d'horreur sans lendemain sur la chaine de télévision cablée américaine Showtime. De tous ses livres, seuls Le Corps Exquis a vu ses droits acquis, par le producteur Simon Rumley.


Vie personnelle
Née dans le corps d'une femme, Brite a beaucoup parlé et écrit à propos de son problème de dysphorie de genre. Elle affirme s'identifier intérieurement plus comme un homme que comme une femme, mais ne cherche pas pour autant à s'habiller comme un homme ou à paraitre masculine et ne demande pas à ce qu'on l'appelle "il"[1].

La maison de Brite et de son compagnon DeBarr est devenue de facto au fil du temps un refuge pour chats, et ils possèdent, à tout moment, entre quinze et vingt chats. Ils maintiennent une page web comprenant les photos des différents félins, qui peut-être trouvée ici.

Pendant l'Ouragan Katrina en 2005, Brite avait d'abord choisi de rester chez elle, mais elle se réfugia finalement à 130 kilomètres de là chez sa mère dans le Mississippi. Elle continua à informer régulièrement les lecteurs de son blog de sa situation, ainsi que de celle de sa maison et de ses nombreux animaux de compagnie restés sur place[2], et est devenue depuis l'une des 100 000 premiers habitants de la Nouvelle-Orléans à venir repeupler la ville.

Un essai critique sur la fiction de Brite est paru dans The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004) par S. T. Joshi.

A la fin de l'année 2006, Brite a annoncé sa décision de cesser toute apparition publique suite à de graves problèmes de dos qui ont affecté sa capacité à se tenir debout, à s'assoir ou à marcher sur de longues périodes.[3]


Œuvres

Romans et Novellas [modifier]
Âmes Perdues (Lost Souls, 1992)
Sang d'Encre (Drawing Blood, 1993)
Le Corps Exquis (Exquisite Corpse, 1996)
The Crow: le cœur de Lazare (The Crow: The Lazarus Heart, 1998)
Plastic Jésus (Plastic Jesus, 2000)
The Value of X (2002)
Liquor (2004)
Triads (avec Christa Faust - 2004)
Prime (2005)
Soul Kitchen (2006)
D*U*C*K (novella - 2007)

Recueils de Nouvelles
Les Contes de la fée verte (Wormwood, aussi publié sous le nom Swamp Foetus au Royaume-Uni, 1993)
Self-Made Man (1998)
Wrong Things (avec Caitlin R. Kiernan, 2001)
Petite Cuisine du Diable (The Devil You Know, 2003)
Antediluvian Tales (à paraître en 2007)

Non-Fiction
Courtney Love: The Real Story (biographie, 1997)
Guilty But Insane (essais, 2001)


______________________________________________

Poppy Z. Brite (born Melissa Ann Brite on May 25, 1967) is an American author born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Literary history
Early in Brite's career, she was best known for writing gothic and horror novels and short stories. Her trademarks have included using gay men as main characters, graphic sexual descriptions in the works, and an often wry treatment of gruesome events. Some of her better known novels include Lost Souls (1992), Drawing Blood (1993), and Exquisite Corpse (1996); she has also released short fiction collections: Swamp Foetus (also published as Wormwood, 1993), Are You Loathsome Tonight? (also published as Self-Made Man, 1998), Wrong Things (with Caitlin R. Kiernan, 2001), and The Devil You Know (2003). She has also written a biography about singer Courtney Love (1996), which was officially "unauthorized" but is widely known to have been done at Love's suggestion and with her cooperation.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s Brite has moved away from horror fiction and gothic themes while still writing about gay (but more realistic) characters. Her critically acclaimed Liquor novels -- Liquor (2004), Prime (2005), and Soul Kitchen (2006) -- are dark comedies set in the New Orleans restaurant world. (Brite has been in a committed relationship for 17 years with Chris DeBarr, chef of The Delachaise in New Orleans.) The Value of X (2002) depicts the beginning of the careers of the protagonists of the Liquor series--Gary "G-Man" Stubbs and John "Rickey" Rickey; other stories, including several in her most recent collection The Devil You Know and the forthcoming novella D*U*C*K, chronicle events in the lives of the extended Stubbs family, a Catholic clan whose roots are sunk deep in the traditional culture of New Orleans. Brite plans to write at least three more novels in the Liquor series, tentatively titled Dead Shrimp Blues, Hurricane Stew, and Double Shot. In November 2006 Brite signed a deal with Subterranean Press to release a fourth short story collection titled Antediluvian Tales.

One interesting and popular aspect of Brite's work is her use of recurring characters in works that are not necessarily "series" or "sequels": friends/bandmates Steve and Ghost (Lost Souls, "Angels," "How to Get Ahead in New York," "America"); her fluidly gendered alter ego Dr. Brite, the coroner of New Orleans ("Monday's Special," "O Death, Where Is Thy Spatula?", "Marisol," "Crown of Thorns," "Wound Man and Horned Melon Go to Hell"); and most recently longtime companions/chefs Rickey and G-man (The Value of X, Liquor, Prime, Soul Kitchen, D*U*C*K, numerous short stories). About her fondness for revisiting characters, Brite has said, "If I really get obsessed with a character or set of characters, it's usually not enough for me to write about them once; I like to revisit them over the course of time, at different periods in their lives, learning new things about them, getting to know them better and better over the course of several stories." Of her various recurring characters, Brite has stated that she is finished writing about Steve and Ghost and suspects she may be done with Dr. Brite as well. She plans to continue writing about Rickey, G-man, and the Stubbs family.

Brite has often stated that, while she will allow some of her work to be optioned for film under the right circumstances, she has little interest in movies and is not overly eager to see her work filmed. In 1999, her short story "The Sixth Sentinel" (filmed as "The Dream Sentinel") comprised one segment of episode 209 of The Hunger, a short-lived horror anthology series on Showtime. Of all her books, only Exquisite Corpse is currently under option, by producer Simon Rumley.


Personal life
Born a biological female, Brite has written and talked much about her gender dysphoria/gender identity issues. She self-identifies almost completely as male rather than female but makes no attempt to dress or appear male and does not expect to be referred to as "he".[1] Brite is comfortable with the term "non-operative transsexual".

She lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Athens, Georgia prior to returning to New Orleans in 1993. She loves UNC basketball and is a sometime season ticket holder for the NBA, but she saves her greatest affection for her hometown football team, the New Orleans Saints.

Brite and DeBarr run a de facto cat rescue and have, at any given time, between fifteen and twenty cats. Photos of the various felines are available on the "Cats" page of Brite's website. They have been known to have a few dogs and perhaps a snake as well in the menagerie.

During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Brite at first opted to stay at home, but she eventually left New Orleans and relocated 80 miles away to her mother's home in Mississippi. She used her blog to update her fans regarding the situation, including the unknown status of her house and many of her pets,[2] and in October 2005 became one of the first 70,000 New Orleanians to begin repopulating the city.

In the following months, Brite has been an outspoken and sometimes harsh critic of those who are leaving New Orleans for good. She was quoted in the New York Times and elsewhere as saying, in reference to those considering leaving, "If you’re ever lucky enough to belong somewhere, if a place takes you in and you take it into yourself, you don't desert it just because it can kill you. There are things more valuable than life."[3]

A critical essay on Brite's fiction appears in The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004) by S. T. Joshi.


Bibliography

Novels and novellas
Lost Souls (1992)
Drawing Blood (1993)
Exquisite Corpse (1996)
The Crow: The Lazarus Heart (1998)
Plastic Jesus (novella - 2000)
The Value of X (2002)
Liquor (2004)
Triads (with Christa Faust - 2004)
Prime (2005)
Soul Kitchen (2006)
D*U*C*K (novella - 2007)

Short story collections
Wormwood (also published in limited edition and in the UK as Swamp Foetus - 1993)
Are You Loathsome Tonight? (also published in the UK as Self-Made Man - 1998)
Wrong Things (with Caitlin R. Kiernan - 2001)
The Devil You Know (2003)
Antediluvian Tales (forthcoming in 2007)

Anthologies (as editor)
Love in Vein
Twice Bitten (Love in Vein II)

Chapbooks
R.I.P. (1998)
The Seed of Lost Souls (1999)
Stay Awake (2000)
Would You? (2000)
Pansu (2001)
Con Party at Hotel California (2002)
The Feast of St. Rosalie (2003)
Used Stories (2004)
Crown of Thorns (2005)
Liquor for Christmas (2007)

Nonfiction
Courtney Love: The Real Story (biography, 1997)
Guilty But Insane (essays, 2001)

Uncollected short fiction
The Freaks (juvenilia) (The Spook #12, 2002; also appears on Brite's website along with other early/unpublished fiction)
Fuck It, We're Going To Jamaica! (webzine Necromantic; also appears on Brite's website)
The Curious Case of Miss Violet Stone (1894) (co-written with David Ferguson; Shadows over Baker Street, 2003; Ballantine Books)
Wandering the Borderlands (Masques V, 2006; Gauntlet Press)