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The Herbert Hunke Reader
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 17, 2009
Herbert Hunke is brilliant, and i suggest reading any & everything you can get your hands on by him. The raw unschooled writings, of a man who lived on the street all over the country, but especially in New York City in the 1940- till his death at the Chelsea Hotel in 1996. God Bless Hunke. He's the reason I write.
March 19, 2020
Raw, honest stories from a master storyteller. This guy makes the beats look like they were half-assing things. Huncke can inflict stories on your psyche, you can feel the conflicting emotions of curiosity and aversion of young Huncke in "In The Park", feel his sense of isolation and barely controlled panic in "And The Evening Sun Turned Crimson". His pity for those afflicted with the human condition is tangible throughout his work, but never seems to extend to himself in any significant way. Huncke is one of those rare writers possessed of the ability to be unflinchingly honest about the worst things in themselves and others while, at the same time, always staying on the lookout for the best. Kerouac described Huncke as "ready to introduce new worlds with a shrug", but I say he does something far more profound; he makes the same old world feel new again.
December 11, 2012
I love this man and if you have read hunke and like him then I love you too.
November 30, 2021
Sometimes I could read only 2 pages. When I finished I was sad to give it up. It puts to shame the writing of lesser & greater mortals.
December 15, 2007
A Very interesting and a new persp. on the beats
December 17, 2007
Everyone leads quite different lifestyles.
June 14, 2013
Original heroine hipster poet. Rolled with the Beats but to unsavory for the time. I've read this collection a few times. Interesting bio too
November 17, 2009
Like no Beat before or since. Hunke the Junky is in a class (or a dirty room) by himself.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews