Herbert Huncke: The Times Square Hustler Who Inspired Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation - Softcover

It is impossible to write about the Beat Generation without paying keen attention to the life and legacy of Herbert Huncke. Hilary Holladay does a magnificent job of documenting Huncke s high-and-low cultural accomplishments. . . . An essential book. Douglas Brinkley, author, "Cronkite""

Herbert Huncke, heretofore a footnote in biographies of the Beats, has long deserved his own biography, and Hilary Holladay, a renowned Kerouac scholar, has given us a fascinating portrait of the man who gave the Beat movement its name . . . a tender and affecting book. "Lambda Literary Review""

"Huncke not only gave Jack Kerouac the word 'Beat, ' but also introduced him to a truly beat world . . . and had an important impact on American literature. We owe Holladay a deep debt for tracing Huncke s influence with care and wisdom." Dennis McNally, author, "Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, The Beat Generation, and America""

"This biography goes to the heart. Hilary Holladay has uncovered a life of sublime improbabilities. The facts she reveals are more affecting than the myth." Jan Herman, author, "The Z Collection: Fugitive Portraits (of Algren, Burroughs, Mailer, and other writers)" and "A Talent for Trouble: The Life of William Wyler""

Muse and mentor to Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac—who said of him, “Huncke is the greatest storyteller I know, an absolute genius at it”— Herbert Huncke steps out of the shadow of his more famous peers in this absorbing and tender biography by Hilary Holladay. In this richly-layered portrait, the unsung bard of the streets emerges in all his tattered glory: his painful childhood and adolescent rebellion; run-ins with the law; adventures at sea and riding the rails; and later life in his beloved New York City where he became a legendary denizen and guide to the new bohemians eager to learn from the wily master.