Angel's Inferno by William Hjortsberg

 

(pb; 2018: sequel to Falling Angel)

From the back cover

“Private investigator Harry Angel is in a jam. Handcuffed in his apartment along with the cops and a corpse, he stands accused of violently murdering three people. The good news is he knows who did it. But in order to exonerate himself, Harry must first make his escape—and figure out his own identity.

“With the authorities hot on his heels, Harry travels from New York and Boston to Paris and the Vatican in search of an elusive stage magician. Eventually piecing together his mysterious past, he descends into the dark world of the occult. And very soon he will have vengeance upon the devil himself.”

 

Review

Angel’s Inferno picks up in the same scene where its prequel, Falling Angel, ends—if you’ve read Falling Angel, or seen its resulting 1987 film Angel Heart, you know what that scene looks like. After Angel escapes from police custody, accused of murders he may or may not have committed, he goes down another dark, increasingly ambitious rabbit hole littered with more death, voodoo, music, regret, and famous, real-life personalities (Ada “Bricktop” Smith, William S. Burroughs, Kenny Clarke, others).This time out, though, Angel’s head isn’t the only one on the main chopping block.

Angel’s is an excellent, more-intense-than-its-source-novel read, one with—like its prequel—full of effectively foreshadowed, character-based twists and not-quite-revelations. Great book, one of my favorite reads this year.

**One of my older poems, The return sidetrips, was published in Smashed Cat ezine

One of my older mainstream poems, The return sidetrips, was published in Smashed Cat ezine today.  (Again, gratitude goes to editor Earl S. Wynn, a.k.a. E.S. Wynn, for this.)

This poem, which details the lysergic William S. Burroughs-esque (and hopefully brief) madness of an apartment-bound writer, has not been published anywhere else, so check it out if you're so inclined!

Queer, by William S. Burroughs

(pb; 1985: sequel to Junky)

Review:

Queer was written shortly after the publication of its source novel, but Queer wasn't published until almost thirty years later. Publishers weren't interested in it, "although Junky sold well" (by publishing standards).

Queer picks up where Junky left off.

Lee now lives in Mexico, where his G.I. Bill money keeps him financially afloat, floating between local bars, hoping to score junk (but largely not succeeding) and securing companionship (carnal or otherwise). He's lonely, but he can't return to America, where a long prison stretch (stemming from drug charges detailed in Junky) awaits.

When ranconteur, bleak-humored Lee meets a pretty young man, Eugene Allerton, he falls for Allerton hard, even though he knows Allerton is using him as a sugar daddy. It's a slow, depressing, finance-minded affair that becomes nakedly businesslike when Lee invites the tactiturn, equally self-absorbed Allerton to travel to the Amazon jungle (specifically, the town of Puyo) with him, to find a mystical hallucinogen ("Yage. . . Bannisteria caapi").

Throughout Queer, Burroughs maintains the edgy, bleak tone of Junky, but this time out the structure is less rigid, sometimes rambly (interspersed with strange jokes, outbursts of human warmth, and abrupt social departures).

As Burroughs notes in his 1985 introduction to Queer, "In. . . Junky, the protagonist 'Lee' comes across as integrated and self-contained, sure of himself and where he is going. In Queer, he is disintegrated, desperately in need of contact, completely unsure of himself and his purpose."

Queer is an outgoing juxtaposition to Junky, a worthwhile sequel that shows the other side of Burroughs's heroin-laced coin; that is, taken together, these two books form a fuller portrait of a man maturing, facing larger -- often harsher -- veracities.

Check these two books out.

Bukowski And The Beats, by Jean-François Duval

(pb; 1998, 2002: non-fiction)

From the back cover:

"There are several reasons for this book. The principle one is pleasure -- the pure joy of returning to Charles Bukowski and to the Beats, by dipping into their legend -- particularly since the Beat movement is now enjoying a lively revival of attention through new editions, appearances of previously unpublished material, exhibitions, and other events.

"There is also the pleasure of rediscovering Charles Bukowski, cult author whose reputation continues to grow steadily all over the world. The full drama of his humor, fits of anger, memories, frustrations, and distinctive grace come to life during Dvual's long interview with Buk -- An Evening at Buk's Place. In February 1986, drinks in hand, the two hit it off with unusual rapport, providing a dialogue that is an essential part of Bukowski's canon.

"The pleasure also consists of having a close look at the links and contradictions between Bukowski and the Beat constellation -- a subject on which the enfant terribles of American literature have variously reacted with hatred, resentment, and, at times, actual admiration.

"Jean-François Duval, novelist, essayist and journalist, gives us an inspired commentary, plus a bibliography, a Who's Who, some never-before-seen photos, and much more."

Review:

Entertaining, informative read about Charles "Buk" Bukowski's relationship with the Beat writers and the rest of the world, on and off the page.

First, an abbreviated Beat-related history.

According to Duval:

"Originally 'Beat' was an imprecise term created in Times Square, New York by the poet and thief Herbert Hunke. Kerouac took the term and gave it it content. At the beginning the expression was quite meaningless -- 'Man, I'm beat,' Hunke would say. He hadn't a cent to his name, he slept in the Underground, it didn't really bother him that nothing ever went right. Straight away, seeing the light in Hunke's eyes, the light that radiated from him, Kerouac understood that 'beat' didn't simply mean worn out, but also blessed -- blessed because he was worn out. This light contradicted the apparent state of degeneration that the expression entailed.

"In 1948, John Clellon Holmes (future chronicler of the movement) asked how Kerouac would characterize the term, and conscious of Hunke's words [Kerouac] replied: 'I guess you might say we're a beat generation.' Holmes used the expression for the first time in a famous article in The Sunday Times on November 16, 1952, and also in his novel Go in which he used Kerouac's material. . . [Kerouac's] On The Road appeared only five years afterwards in 1957." (p. 38)

In the year prior to On The Road's publication, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, founder of the publishing house City Lights (now City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco), had published Allen Ginsberg's politically provocative poem Howl. Publication of this poem cemented Ginsberg's celebrity in the literary world, and earned Ferlinghetti a court conviction: when he published the poem, Ferlinghetti had violated obscenity laws.

These two events started a literary firestorm that inflamed society -- especially pop culture.

According to Duval, "soon it was everywhere, the new look, the 'twisted' slouchy look; finally it began to appear in movies (James Dean) and on television. . . the bop visions became common property. . . carried over to the new rock n' roll youth via Montgomery Clift (leather jacket), Marlon Brando (T-shirt) and Elvis Presley (long sideburns). . ." (p. 48)

Bukowski began getting published in the mid-Fifties, and his raw (a word usually associated with Bukowski), crude-language style inevitably got him compared to the Beats, who, in their own distinctive ways, eschewed the narrative rules: Kerouac loved his rambly, poetic, nostalgic descriptions; William S. Burroughs was hygenically stark and/or hallucinogenic, depending on which novel you read; Ginsberg was political, provocative, with his crazy word flights; Ken Kesey's love of psilocybine, mescaline and LSD impelled him to write the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest; there are others, but I don't want to belabor the point.

The truth of it was that Bukowski (born Henry Bukowski) didn't get on with most of the Beat writers -- e.g., the cold, "disturbing" (Duval's word) Burroughs had no interest in meeting Bukowski (the feeling was mutual); Ginsberg was too "silly" (Bukowski's word) and shrill in his political posturings, on and off the page; Kerouac was off on his own trip, as was Bukowski.

And so it goes.

Given the scope of these authors' popularity, an inevitable cross-pollination of influence seeped into some of these writers' works and lives (sometimes, years later, as was the case with Bukowski).

However, for the most part, Bukowski and the Beats were separate entities, born of similar societal and literary dynamics.

This excellent, reader-friendly study is, appropriately, published with Duval's February 1986 interview with Bukowski. Titled "An Evening At Buk's," Bukowski's grace, humor and warmth, usually glimpsed between the lines of his sex- and booze-drenched works, shines through.

At heart, Bukowski comes off as a honest guy who understands all too well that everyone has their own store of bullsh*t that they have to sort through, and that one's walk should gibe with his talk. For the most part, Bukowski seems to accomplish the latter, as well.

Exemplary, fascinating book, this. Check it out. For Bukowski fans, it's (probably) worth owning.

Junky, by William S. Burroughs

(pb; 1953: prequel to Queer)

This stark, semi-autobiographical account of a post-World War II bisexual heroin junkie is one of Burroughs's best, and most blunt, works. Written under the pseudonym William Lee, the low-life elements of Burroughs's/Lee's thinly-fictionalized experiences (drug addiction, being a fugitive from the law) are off-set by obviously-educated, minutiae-rich observations about living on "junk time," as well as his repeated, failed attempts to kick the life-draining habit for good.

Harrowing, bold, unforgettable book. It's a grim 158 pages, but its perfectly-telescoped and -honed writing, with its semi-cliffhanger-ish finish, makes this stand out from other drug-addiction memoirs that currently clog bookshelves.

Followed by Queer.