The Herbert Huncke Reader

by Herbert E. Huncke, Benjamin G. Schafer (Editor)

A collection of the full text of master storyteller Herbert Huncke's long out-of-print classics features excerpts from his autobiography and a wide selection from unpublished letters and diaries.

Genres: Fiction, 20th Century, Drugs, American

374 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Writer, outlaw, and legendary storyteller who introduced the writers of the Beat Generation to New York’s underworld of sex, drugs, and crime, and whose use of the word “beat” lent the literary movement its name.

Reviews

[stenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Certains auront pour Dieu de la Beat Generation Kerouac ou Burroughs. Mais pour moi il n'a toujours été question que de Herbert Huncke. Le hobo par excellence, qui faisait baver d'envie un Jackie perdu sur sa route de petite bourgeoisie à la recherche de son encanaillement. Huncke a vécu la vie de misère, lâché par sa condition de classe moyenne. Les pas assez bien, ceux qui ne peuvent pas prétendre. Pourtant, le bonhomme a de l'or dans les doigts quand il s'agit d'aligner sa vie foutrac sur papier. Un homme bouffé par la drogue, qui aura fait de sa vie d'errance une oeuvre littéraire à part entière. Si on veut comprendre l'esprit beat, il faut lire Huncke. Pas parce que c'est hype ou tendance, mais parce qu'il représente un témoignage à part entière de la contre-culture.

[Legrand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of one of the beat generation's inner circle, and inspiration for Kerouac and Holmes. Narrative of the life of a junkie, hustler and writer primarily during his years in New York City.

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scoring drugs, using drugs. Stealing. Constantly on the go. Jail terms. Rehab. Setting sail. Heroin.
Hebert Huncke basically lives off everyone and everything and has sex with anyone and does any drug available. And has a distinct and influential way of writing about it. I am impressed that he was able to live as long as he did!

My review of Part Three - "Guilty of Everything":
Not a riveting read, but an important piece of the "Beat" movement in here! Huncke is very involved with the people who become icons of that movement, mostly through drug use, but in other ways as well. And he has a lot to say, not only about his experiences, but about life in general. I think he would have been fascinating to meet, but I wouldn't let him move in!

[R.]

Herbert Huncke on Cats:
I had made friends with several colored cats in the colored section downtown where I'd cop some pot, and one of the cats who owned a record store would let me borrow one of his record players - and I'd hook it up in my room and turn on while listening to some good sounds which my man had either recommended or I had selected.
This weekend had been no different - except when I hit the hotel after picking up the record player I ran into a cat who was a seaman - young, maybe twenty or twenty-one - and after talking with him a while, invited him up to my rooms. He was a beautiful cat and he spent the night with me - smoking and talking and listening to records. -- "Bill Burroughs, Part II"(pg. 158, The Herbert Huncke Reader)

[Scotty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like his writing style, but he doesn't have many tricks up his sleeve (which is kind of ironic for a carny). It gets pretty redundant after a while. Maybe if you're one of those people that likes reading diaries or memoirs, or even if you like reality television, this could be a fairly enjoyable read. He opens a wide window into his underworld lifestyle, with a very blunt honesty. That's just not my cup o' tea, though.

[Tommy]

THIS is actually/mostly a reread. Read it during a bout of severe depression and tears and 2 dogs and 2 cats would comfort me. THEY KNEW. HH's stories are remarkable. Sad and honest. That was a nice week of my life reading these stories as comfort/companionship. The preface and introduction are great and I read them about twice a year. NOW, onto the stories...

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

I miss this book.

[Bill]

lots of vignettes and essays some odd a few very good personal emotional survival briefs

[Zack · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-83...

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fans of booze-and-drugs memoirs will find Huncke (rhymes with "junkie") more interesting than Charles Bukowski, author of the dire Post Office, and nowhere near as good as Jeffrey Bernard (Low Life). For someone Kerouac and friends considered a brilliant raconteur, Huncke can deliver a master class in how not to tell a story.

Blackie seemingly delighted in telling of his exploits and one could sense the amusement he stressed conversationally as being part of his interest in all of his activities involving the manner in which he lived and -- at one point -- he told of taking advantage of several opportunities to make money and named several people they both knew as victims -- while they both gossiped and reminisced.

Or, of the summer in the late 1940s he spent at William Burroughs' marijuana farm in East Texas:

Time flew and spring burst all around us. Then came summer and the heat. And before any of us really realized us, fall was upon us -- our crops were picked and we were ready to split back to New York. Talking of speaking of all that took place during that period of time would fill many pages. Let it suffice -- it was an experience I'll never forget.

Then there's an agonizing venture into automatic writing, and a description of Bryant Park by night that actually uses the phrase "ebon glades."

Still, for the most part, it's an absorbing account of the hustlers, hookers, junkies and petty thieves he knew in Times Square, on the Lower East Side and on Rikers Island from the 1940s onward, told in language so unembellished it might have been written by George Orwell, if Orwell had added heroin addiction to his down-and-out cosplay. It gets less interesting as Huncke is taken up by the poets and poseurs of the New York Beats and their successors. But I guess if they hadn't made him a mascot, none of this would have ever seen print.

[John Cagle · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Art lets us be the best and truest that we are, all drugs do. I always get stranded waiting for a bus on the coldest days.--As at certain moments Utaemon's tragedy--the secret personal tragedy (who knows what it is?) of that great Kabuki dancer who in a lifetime of acting has never betrayed a leg withered six inches shorter than the other by infantile paralysis-- fits the tragedy of the The Courtesan so absolutely as to make me ashamed of the bullshit I live in along with the other swine when I am not dreaming."

[Andrea Janov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Journals are always interesting because it is always interesting to pull back the curtain, see how another writer interacts with and processes the day to day world, see what eventually triggers their writing. But, at the same time, it is all the things that they decided not to work on, all the things that they thought were not interesting enough work on or publish. This was interesting in spots, but took a lot of time to slog through in comparison to the Evening Sun Turned Crimson or Guilty of Everything.

[Laurel Zito · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to read this book I got it from the library as it's fairly expensive. But I had a hard time following yet I think because perhaps the author was on drugs and what he saying is really disjointed. I have a hard time following it if this book was available on Kindle and I think it is it might be something that I would turn to again, since I had to return the original copy to the library. I might look at this book again if it were more readily available.

[Filip Deptula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fully enjoy Huncke’s storytelling. This collection of his life’s work deserves the time and effort, putting the book down and picking it up later. My only qualm was how repetitive some topics were. You can only write about the sensation of drug use where it is still interesting.

[Kristian Lindberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very uneven collection of short texts from this original beatwriter. Interesting descriptions of writer william Burroughs

[Kristian Lindberg]

Very uneven collection of short texts from this original beatwriter. Interesting descriptions of writer william Burroughs

[Nicolas Sarnin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incroyable conteur d'une époque de New York et de personnages désœuvrés.