A quick birthday shout-out to neglected literary luminary Herbert Huncke (“rhymes with junkie”), the Beatest of the Beats, who would have turned the big one-oh-oh today if he hadn’t died in 1996.
Author Hilary Holladay says happy hundredth Herbert Huncke (that, fittingly, is a whole heap of H) as she reflects on the writer’s last public appearance. Holladay, author of American Hipster, joins other Hunckian devotees in a centennial celebration at San Francisco’s Beat Museum next week.
Further reading
Huncke burning love
Huncke Burning Ghat
Pearls: Herbert Huncke
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Beatest of the Beats, indeed!
His short story about the hermaphrodite Elsie is just priceless. What a witness of his times (Chicago during the 40’s – with a fast set).