Queer Book Club: "Godlike" by Richard Hell

Thu Jul 09 2026 at 07:00 pm to 08:00 pm UTC-04:00

Greedy Reads Fells Point | Baltimore

Greedy Reads
Publisher/HostGreedy Reads
Queer Book Club: "Godlike" by Richard Hell
Advertisement
Join Greedy Reads bookseller Katya Castro for a discussion of "Godlike" by Richard Hell!
About this Event

Join Katya for Queer Book Club at Greedy Reads Fells Point! It should last for approximately an hour and will begin at 7:00 PM.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

An outrageous spectacle of love between two untamed poets, a 27-year old man and a teenage boy, written by one of America’s original punks and finest writers.

Based on Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine’s notorious affair, but set in the epochal downtown poetry scene of filthy 1970s New York, Godlike is a tribute to poetry and the beauty and mess of art, desire, and New York City.

New York poet Paul Vaughn has a trick for enjoying poetry readings: He simply imagines the reader died a long time ago. Paul is twenty-seven, married, and an admired poet himself. R. T. Wode’s mission is to give offense. He’s also a poet, freshly landed in the city, and, at age sixteen, unknown.

Paul worships T. They embark on a tempestuous affair, dropping acid and crashing parties and perambulating the grit and grime of New York City circa 1972. Paul is in love with T., but T. is in love with experience. Their relationship disintegrates.

A novel of compelling originality and transcendent beauty by legendary musician and poet Richard Hell, Godlike transposes the notorious romance of Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud to the East Village in its squalid, glorious ’70s heyday. The book comprises a version of Paul’s 1997 hospital notebooks: diaries amidst poems and essays, along with, most pertinently, the poet’s third-person memoir-novelette of his youthful time with the now-famous T. Godlike is infused as well with evocations—and sometimes actual poems—of many New York poets of the era, from Ted Berrigan and Ron Padgett to Edwin Denby and James Schuyler. It achieves a lyricism both profane and profound as it conjures the frenetic vitality as well as the existential malaise of an era. It’s a searching meditation on art, life, love, and the impossibility of everything.

Godlike is available for purchase at greedyreads.com.

Advertisement

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Greedy Reads Fells Point, 1744 Aliceanna Street, Baltimore, United States

Tickets

USD 0.00

Icon
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

Ask AI if this event suits you:

More Events in Baltimore

Sip N' Sea Ray
Thu, 09 Jul at 04:00 pm Sip N' Sea Ray

Pusser's Landing Restaurant

Caribbean Rooftop Party
Thu, 09 Jul at 06:00 pm Caribbean Rooftop Party

Lord Baltimore Hotel

Baltimore Orioles vs Chicago Cubs: Christian Faith Night
Thu, 09 Jul at 06:35 pm Baltimore Orioles vs Chicago Cubs: Christian Faith Night

Camden Yards

Earl Sweatshirt at Nevermore Hall
Thu, 09 Jul at 08:00 pm Earl Sweatshirt at Nevermore Hall

Nevermore Hall

Parking Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles
Fri, 10 Jul at 07:30 am Parking Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Summer 2026 Bereavement Ministry Trainings
Fri, 10 Jul at 08:30 am Summer 2026 Bereavement Ministry Trainings

Terry Morganthaler Theater at Roberta's House

Runaway Jouvert
Fri, 10 Jul at 03:00 pm Runaway Jouvert

Druid Hill Park

Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Fri, 10 Jul at 07:05 pm Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Baltimore is Happening!

Never miss your favorite happenings again!

Explore Baltimore Events