The Herbert Huncke Reader Author:Herbert Huncke, Benjamin G. Schafer (Editor) Herbert Huncke was the original Beat. A hustler, carny, addict, petty thief, street philosopher, and chronicler of the demimonde, he was the archetype on which a generation modeled itself. In the 1940s, Huncke befriended the young William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg, guiding them through New York's underground and introducing... more » them to a world of volatile experience they had never imagined. His extraordinary ability to relate his life story in pared-down, unaffected prose inspired them to create a new type of literature, free of constraint and self-consciousness.
Huncke's work is a vital part of Beat literature, but until now has remained relatively unknown. The Herbert Huncke Reader includes the full texts of Huncke's long out-of-print classics; Huncke's Journal and The Evening Sun Turned Crimson; excerpts from his autobiography, Guilty of Everything; and a wide selection from his unpublished letters and diaries.
Huncke's journal. Song of self --
Untitled ("This morning more self-indulgence ... ") --
Suicide --
Youth --
Cuba --
Dancing in prison --
A story --
New York --
Untitled ("I left Bob about two o'clock ... ") --
Strangers --
Hallowe'en --
Peter --
Phill --
Frisky --
The magician --
Beware of fallen angels --
Ponderosa Pine --
In the park --
Cat & his girl --
Untitled ("Am completely exhausted following last night ... ") --
Faery tale. The Evening Sun Turned Crimson. The evening sun turned crimson --
Brief autobiography --
Brief autobiography II --
New Orleans, 1938 --
Tattooed man --
Elsie John --
Spencer's pad --
Russian Blackie --
Detroit redhead, 1943-1967 --
Tattooed woman --
Johnnie I --
Johnnie II --
Ed Leary --
Sea voyage --
Bill Burroughs --
Bill Burroughs, part II --
Irving, in part --
The party --
The law of retribution. (Cont. 2) Cruiser on Avenue B --
Arrested --
Alvarez --
Courtroom scene --
Quagmire --
Florence --
M?enage?a trois --
Whitey --
Again, the hospital --
Joseph Martinez --
Fantasy. Guilty of Everything. Excerpts from Guilty of everything. Previously uncollected material. Bryant Park --
A fix --
A letter to Dad --
Alone --
Love --
Cosanyl --
When I die --
Easter --
Hart's Island: letters from prison, February-June 1964 --
Didi --
Katmandu Valley --
Ted Berrigan --
Boxcar Bertha --
Introduction to Pipe dreams by Marty Matz --
An oral history of benzadrine use in the U.S.A. --