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Product Description
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In 1944, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs were charged as accessories to murder. One of their friends, Lucien Carr, had stabbed another, David Kammerrer, whose sexual advances he’d seemingly grown tired of rejecting. Carr, still in bloodstained clothes, had come to each of them and confessed; Kerouac helped him get rid of the weapon – neither told the police. For this failing they were arrested. Months later the two writers – unpublished at the time – collaborated on And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, a fictionalized account of the summer of the killing. They wrote alternating chapters – Burroughs writing as sometime bartender and workaday detective Will Dennison, Kerouac as Mike Ryko, an Irish merchant seaman. From this intensely personal material they made a hardboiled account of a group of friends moving through each other’s apartments, killing time drinking, necking, talking and taking drugs, and haphazardly drifting towards a bloody crime – flabby, likeable Ramsey Allen trailing after the beautiful Phillip Tourian, constantly angering him with his endless desire to please. Unpublished until now, this is a kind of crime novel of humans stewing in their inactivity, and a remarkable insight into the lives and literary development of two great writers.
About the Author
William S. Burroughs was born in 1914. His first published novel was the largely autobiographical Junky, which remains a classic depiction of the constant cycle of drug dependency, cures and relapses he was victim to for most of his life. In 1951, in a drunken William Tell stunt, he accidentally shot and killed his common law wife. He is most famous for his use of the ‘cut-up’ technique of writing and the novel Naked Lunch. His other major works included Queer, Exterminator!, the ‘Nova Trilogy’ (The Soft Machine, Nova Express and The Ticket That Exploded) and the ‘Red Night Trilogy’ (Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads and The Western Lands). He died in 1997. Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1922. In 1947, enthused by bebop, the rebel attitude of his friend Neal Cassady, and the throng of hobos, drug addicts and hustlers he encountered in New York, he decided to discover America and hitchhike across the country. His writing was openly autobiographical and he developed a style he referred to as ‘spontaneous prose’ which he used to record the experiences of the Beat Generation. Among his many novels are On the Road, Visions of Cody, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums and Big Sur. He died in 1969.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
At Last,
By M. Dowden (London, UK) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
I am not a big fan of the Beat Generation, apart from the poetry - especialy Allen Ginsberg, but when I first heard that this book was going to be published I thought I must get a copy of this when it comes out in paperback - and now I have. Like a lot of people my age I look at the whole beat phenomenom and think strange, and I have never got into Kerouac's On The Road, the only novel of his that I tried to read but I was interested in what he and Burroughs had written about this infamous murder. Before Burroughs and Kerouac were famous they collaborated in writing this semi-fictional work on the Lucien Carr - David Kammerer case in what can only be described as a crime pulp style.
Writing alternate chapters William Burroughs wrote as Wil Dennison and Jack Kerouac as Mike Ryko they cover the normal day to day activities and events leading up to the murder. These include heavy drinking, getting jobs, women (no lurid descriptions of sex), drug usage etc. Indeed the lives of the characters leading up to the murder, and shortly thereafter. At the time they wrote this they did pass it around different publishing houses but it was never accepted for publication, possibly beacuse it isn't that particularly literary or sensational enough, and also because they were a long way from becoming household names. Nowadays this is more of a period piece showing mid 1940s New York and has a certain novelty factor in todays market - but don't let that put you off. This book still makes fascinating reading, and those really into the whole Beat Generation or interested in true crime may find this of interest. It is of interest in seeing how two famous authors first started and how their style and technique altered over the years, and how due to them being called as witnesses and later becoming well known this murder still kept rearing its head. There is an excellent afterword by James Grauerholz which helps to place the real names to the characters (I did work out who some of them were only because I knew about the murder anyway), which people really into the Beat Generation will probably know. This isn't a great read, but it does keep you interested and is also a quick read. There is also some great humour - I particularly love the part where they go into a gay bar to have a drink and some sailors who have wandered in are complaining that there are no women (I am not the most observant of people, but I think that even I would know if I had walked into a gay bar). All in all then this isn't great but it is good.
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best,
By
This review is from: And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
ATHWBITT is a great insight in the lives of the beats before they became "real" authors. I am recommending this to everyone who has even a slight interest in the beat generation. This is truly one of my all time favorites from both Kerouac and Burroughs.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant introduction to the Beatnik world,
By
This review is from: And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (Hardcover)
After reading several Burroughs and Kerouac books I was excited to find an unpublished "debut" novel was to be released, and this book does not disappoint. Kerouac and Burroughs write alternate chapters from two different characters within the same group of friends, and how they deal with their friend murdering someone.
This book is a little different from other Burroughs and Kerouac books in that it is a lot easier to read than other books, but it still keeps has the humour and the intrigue to keep you turning pages. Even though the story is based on a true event in their lives, and I already knew the ending I still found myself wondering what was going to happen. I would recommend this book to experienced fans as it gives a brilliant insight into where both authors came from, and how their writing style has evolved, or to people new to the Beatnik world as this book reads easier than some other books and would definitely encourage you to find more books.
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