EP 2: BRUCE BENDERSON asks in his latest book, TOWARD THE NEW DEGENERACY, AN ESSAY: "What's missing from the American underground? Not publicity or funding, but vital links to the culture of poverty." Bruce Benderson, novelist and commentator, takes you on a philosophical and personal journey into new and old bohemia. His last stop is vanishing Times Square, where middle class thrill-seekers used to have contact with underclass dealers and hustlers. In this book-length essay, written in the tradition of the old-style manifesto, Benderson seeks to "restore id to the creative act." His perverse yet courageous goal is to invent a "new degeneracy."

BRUCE BENDERSON is the author of two works of fiction about urban decay. His most recent novel, User (Dutton/Plume, 1994), is a lyrical descent into the world of junkies and male hustlers, which The Los Angeles Times called "unmistakably brilliant." TOWARD THE NEW DEGENERACY: AN ESSAY is now in its second printing, paperback, June 1997, 64 pp., sewn, bound and printed in Italy, with a two-color cover and a black and white photograph of the author on the frontispiece. (ISBN: 0-9646466-3-3)