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Book Near Fine Like New. Dustwrapper. b&w frontispiece photo (illustrator). 8vo. First Printing (stated) novel by Michael McClure; b&w frontispiece photo by Donald Dane (same image to dustwrapper); quarter cloth spine with green, silver, blue titling, green titling to front board; Super clean, tight bound copy. 151pp. 8vo.
- GenresFiction
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
113 people want to read
About the author
Michael McClure
221 books62 followersMichael McClure (born October 20, 1932 in Marysville, Kansas) is an American poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist. After moving to San Francisco as a young man, he found fame as one of the five poets (including Allen Ginsberg) who read at the famous San Francisco Six Gallery reading in 1955 rendered in barely fictionalized terms in Jack Kerouac's Dharma Bums. He soon became a key member of the Beat Generation and is immortalized as "Pat McLear" in Kerouac's Big Sur.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 2, 2018
It is very rare indeed to encounter a good poet who is also a good novelist. Most poets are terrible novelists and most novelists are "failed poets" as Faulkner once famously said.
Therefore, this book was surprisingly good considering that McClure is more famous for his poetry and plays.
After his average novel debut in The Mad Cub (often mistakenly called 'The Mad Club' for some bizarre reason), I was expecting more of the same - a poet trying to break through into the world of novel-writing.
Well, this one was surprisingly good. The story is about Nicholas and Rark who head down to Arizona (or is it Mexico) to make a big cocaine deal but things get interesting (without giving too much away). What I loved about this book was not only McClure's poetic descriptions of scenes and settings and character but through the prose of a novel but also how there are flash-forwards and flash-backs throughout the novel which give the reader the sensation of a good/bad trip on acid or the feeling of haunting memories. McClure very accurately transposes that tenuous feeling you get when high on cocaine or grass and does it with great skill.
The only thing that detracts from the overall enjoyment of the novel for the reader, in my opinion, is the overelaborate 'flowery' style that McClure sometimes adopts. Bukowski, who I think admired McClure's poetry to some degree did once describe him as a 'pansy'. To my mind he comes across as an arrogant, vain but highly intellectual Edwardian fop of some sorts who happens to be in the 20th Century. He carries around all the decadence of Rimbaud and all the philosophical ideas of the French and German poets and philosophers (Nietzche and Mallarme just to name two) which comes across as a bit annoying at times. I loved this book but not quite as much as McClure probably loved it himself, if you know what I mean.
Apart from that, I can't really say there is anything wrong with the book. It's a great story, well-written (mostly) and builds to a fantastic climax in the last third of the book.
Highly recommended but if you find that McClure's flowery expressiveness grates on the senses a bit, then it might be best to avoid it. However, I do think he has great potential as a novelist and it's a shame he hasn't written more than 2 novels to date.
Therefore, this book was surprisingly good considering that McClure is more famous for his poetry and plays.
After his average novel debut in The Mad Cub (often mistakenly called 'The Mad Club' for some bizarre reason), I was expecting more of the same - a poet trying to break through into the world of novel-writing.
Well, this one was surprisingly good. The story is about Nicholas and Rark who head down to Arizona (or is it Mexico) to make a big cocaine deal but things get interesting (without giving too much away). What I loved about this book was not only McClure's poetic descriptions of scenes and settings and character but through the prose of a novel but also how there are flash-forwards and flash-backs throughout the novel which give the reader the sensation of a good/bad trip on acid or the feeling of haunting memories. McClure very accurately transposes that tenuous feeling you get when high on cocaine or grass and does it with great skill.
The only thing that detracts from the overall enjoyment of the novel for the reader, in my opinion, is the overelaborate 'flowery' style that McClure sometimes adopts. Bukowski, who I think admired McClure's poetry to some degree did once describe him as a 'pansy'. To my mind he comes across as an arrogant, vain but highly intellectual Edwardian fop of some sorts who happens to be in the 20th Century. He carries around all the decadence of Rimbaud and all the philosophical ideas of the French and German poets and philosophers (Nietzche and Mallarme just to name two) which comes across as a bit annoying at times. I loved this book but not quite as much as McClure probably loved it himself, if you know what I mean.
Apart from that, I can't really say there is anything wrong with the book. It's a great story, well-written (mostly) and builds to a fantastic climax in the last third of the book.
Highly recommended but if you find that McClure's flowery expressiveness grates on the senses a bit, then it might be best to avoid it. However, I do think he has great potential as a novelist and it's a shame he hasn't written more than 2 novels to date.
January 18, 2016
From 1971, an impressionistic short novel that involves a scary trip to Arizona to execute a drug deal.
October 9, 2025
a truly unique book. it follows two friends as they go through with a drug deal far from home. I like how the reader is simply dropped into the characters' world for a few days with little explanation. it is a great 'fly on the wall' experience. it shows a very gritty story with all the joys and pains of a sordid life.
the use of flashbacks and flashforwards is so well executed throughout. it provides a feeling like you're right there doing drugs with them, all mixed up and laser focused at the same time.
the book feels a lot like when I picked up Kerouac for the first time. really great prose and evocative passages are common. I would certainly recommend this to any punks I know.
the use of flashbacks and flashforwards is so well executed throughout. it provides a feeling like you're right there doing drugs with them, all mixed up and laser focused at the same time.
the book feels a lot like when I picked up Kerouac for the first time. really great prose and evocative passages are common. I would certainly recommend this to any punks I know.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews