Now It's Jazz: The Messiah of the Beat Fraternity
Ever since I read Allen Ginsberg's poem 'Howl' (and the accompanying 'Footnote' and the "Dedication of Howls"), Ginsberg's madness, creativity as well as the Beat Generation as a whole have hold certain amount of fascination for me. The "Dedication of Howls" is also the place, where I came across the name of Jack Kerouac for the first time.In Ginsberg's words:
"Jack Kerouac, new Buddha of American prose, who spit forth intelligence into eleven books written in half the number of years (1951-1956)- On the Road, Visions of Neal, Dr. Sax, Springtime Mary, The Subterraneans San Fransisco Blues, Some of the Dharma, Book of Dreams, Wake Up, Mexico City Blues, and Visions of Gerard- creating a spontaneous bop prosody and original classic literature. Several phrases and the title of Howl are taken from him.
William Seward Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch, an endless novel which will drive everyone mad.
Neal Cassady, author of The First Third, an autobiography (1949) which enlightened Buddha.
All these books are published in Heaven." (from, Dedication of Howls)
These words came back to me, as I watched a documentary entitled, "What happened to Kerouac" a few months ago.
Now, I do not aim to write an essay on Kerouac; I am not qualified to do that. Nor is there actually any necessity to write a blog on him, as there are many interesting and important essays on him by many different people. Rather, my interest in this blog is focussed on Herbert Huncke.
Now, I do not aim to write an essay on Kerouac; I am not qualified to do that. Nor is there actually any necessity to write a blog on him, as there are many interesting and important essays on him by many different people. Rather, my interest in this blog is focussed on Herbert Huncke.
Before watching, "What Happaned to Kerouac", I never heard of this man. But as the documenraty progressed, this man, Huncke, seemed to have taken the centerstage while narrating the stories of the past about the Beat Generation. It was apparent that this person, more than anyone else, had played the most crucual role of the central figure in the development of the whole 42nd Street group (which would later became the Beat Generation) and their philosophy, without much conscious knowledge or intention.
Later, I would borrow Kerouac's book "Desolation Angels" (which I would call part diary and part autobiography) in which Kerouac pays a glowing tribute to Hencke as follows:
"Hunky, whom you'll see on Times Square, somnolent and alert, sad, sweet, dark, holy. Just out of jail. Martyred. Tortured by sidewalks, starved for sex and companionship, open to anything, ready to introduce a new world with a shrug."
Herbert Huncke was an interesting character: Writer, homosexual pioneer, common criminal, drug addict, friend (and enemy to some) of the pioneers of the Beat Generation, one of America's most important social movements of the 20th century, all in one. A man who moved in and out of jail for a large part of his life, he also lived a remarkable life, spending decades writing. "Human, all too human", in Nietzsche's words!
It was Huncke who introduced Williams S. Burroughs to drugs. Burroughs, in turn, made Huncke a lead character in his first pulp novel, "JUNKIE: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict."
However, what I liked most about Huncke in the documentary was his straight-talk, brutal honesty and nonchalant openness. In spite of being a homosexual person himself, he candidaly refered to people such as Borroughs as "fag" and told that, for a long time he considered Kerouac to be a "fag" because, during his earlier trips to Hencke's place on the 42nd street, the handsome and single Kerouac was often accompanied by (and were friends with) other "fag"s such as Ginsberg and Kerouac.
All in all, he appeared to be an immensely humane person, who was not ashamed of his past, or of who he was, and was candid about everything. He also appeared to be a great storyteller. But then, this was no new observation. As Wikipedia puts in:
Huncke was a bisexual hustler, drug user, thief and burglar. His autobiography, entitled Guilty of Everything, was lived in the 1940s and 1960s but published in the 1990s. He was a non-violent man and an exceptionally good story teller."
Ginsberg, Kerouac and Burroughs, who met him when they were aspiring but unpublished writers, each was inspired by Hencke's stories, his criminal life, his street slang and his experience with drugs. Hencke also initiated them to drugs.
A lion-hearted man, Huncke never ratted out on his friends. Once Ginsberg, and some of his friends flipped a car, while trying to run down a motorcycle cop. Although not present at the crime scene, Huncke was picked-up, because he lived with Ginsberg then, and received the heavy prison sentence. Huncke never opened his mouth; "Someone had to do the bit.", was all he would say years later.
It was Huncke who coined the term 'Beat' that eventually came to describe an entire generation. He lived for many years (during the later part of his life) in the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, supported financially by his friends, and his rent for the hotel room being paid by Jerry Garcia (of The Greatful Dead), a man himself no less eccentric, and whom Huncke never met.
Probably the world needs more whimsical, crazy people like HUncke, and I am sure, Kerouac would have agreed.
"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!' "
__________________________________________________________________
Sources: http://imdb.com/title/tt0090312/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac
http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/page.jsp?what=JackKerouac
http://www.literaryrags.com/litragsmain.html
http://members.tripod.com/~Sprayberry/poems/dedicate.txt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desolation_Angels_(novel)
http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/jack_kerouac/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Huncke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Burroughs
http://www.litkicks.com/People/AllenGinsberg.html
http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/page.jsp?what=AllenGinsberg
http://www.spress.de/author/ginsberg/english/poetry/list.htm
http://imdb.com/title/tt0261558/
http://imdb.com/title/tt0107411/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Garcia
Photo Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HerbertHuncke.jpg
It was Huncke who introduced Williams S. Burroughs to drugs. Burroughs, in turn, made Huncke a lead character in his first pulp novel, "JUNKIE: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict."
However, what I liked most about Huncke in the documentary was his straight-talk, brutal honesty and nonchalant openness. In spite of being a homosexual person himself, he candidaly refered to people such as Borroughs as "fag" and told that, for a long time he considered Kerouac to be a "fag" because, during his earlier trips to Hencke's place on the 42nd street, the handsome and single Kerouac was often accompanied by (and were friends with) other "fag"s such as Ginsberg and Kerouac.
All in all, he appeared to be an immensely humane person, who was not ashamed of his past, or of who he was, and was candid about everything. He also appeared to be a great storyteller. But then, this was no new observation. As Wikipedia puts in:
Huncke was a bisexual hustler, drug user, thief and burglar. His autobiography, entitled Guilty of Everything, was lived in the 1940s and 1960s but published in the 1990s. He was a non-violent man and an exceptionally good story teller."
Ginsberg, Kerouac and Burroughs, who met him when they were aspiring but unpublished writers, each was inspired by Hencke's stories, his criminal life, his street slang and his experience with drugs. Hencke also initiated them to drugs.
A lion-hearted man, Huncke never ratted out on his friends. Once Ginsberg, and some of his friends flipped a car, while trying to run down a motorcycle cop. Although not present at the crime scene, Huncke was picked-up, because he lived with Ginsberg then, and received the heavy prison sentence. Huncke never opened his mouth; "Someone had to do the bit.", was all he would say years later.
It was Huncke who coined the term 'Beat' that eventually came to describe an entire generation. He lived for many years (during the later part of his life) in the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, supported financially by his friends, and his rent for the hotel room being paid by Jerry Garcia (of The Greatful Dead), a man himself no less eccentric, and whom Huncke never met.
Probably the world needs more whimsical, crazy people like HUncke, and I am sure, Kerouac would have agreed.
"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!' "
__________________________________________________________________
Sources: http://imdb.com/title/tt0090312/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac
http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/page.jsp?what=JackKerouac
http://www.literaryrags.com/litragsmain.html
http://members.tripod.com/~Sprayberry/poems/dedicate.txt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desolation_Angels_(novel)
http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/jack_kerouac/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Huncke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Burroughs
http://www.litkicks.com/People/AllenGinsberg.html
http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/page.jsp?what=AllenGinsberg
http://www.spress.de/author/ginsberg/english/poetry/list.htm
http://imdb.com/title/tt0261558/
http://imdb.com/title/tt0107411/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Garcia
Photo Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HerbertHuncke.jpg
