Beats & Boiled Hippos

I am reading "And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks" (terrible title that makes me cringe every time I think of it or say it) by Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. This led to an extensive research project last night on the Beat Generation and the respective players...a fair portion of which I already knew from my Jack Kerouac phase in my late 20's, more of which I know now.

I am reading it for my Late Night Bookies book club. It was not my selection, but it has been an interesting, though not entertaining read thus far. It is based on a true life event, a murder, in New York in the 1940's. The book was written by William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac and is told with the tone of their respective experiences and memories of this event. Due to the people involved, and as a courtesy, it was agreed that this book would not be published until after the man, and mutual friend, who was convicted of this murder had passed away. Now that this has happened, the book has been published.

The story is told in an alternating chapter style, where Burroughs speaks as a character and Kerouac as a character. The premise is interesting (it is touted as a "hard-boiled detective novel"), and I was originally looking forward to the read. The writing feels very black and white and is told...written...in such a way as to truly radiate the despondency, irresponsibility and laziness of all parties involved. It is prolific in its description of drug abuse, alcoholic behaviors and lax sexuality.

As I have gotten further into the book, nothing has been surprising--every sad fact has been surprisingly mundane and predictable. Perhaps it is because we live in a socially and morally broken world ourselves and so the story is easy to see as far as how it will all play out in the end. Yes--perhaps that is it. Perhaps this was shocking in the 40's because the behaviors were not common and therefore predictable, and so the writing would have been stunning and unbelievable.

As far as "The Beats" are concerned...

I don't like William Burroughs at all, though Jack Kerouac holds a special spot in my heart due to The Dharma Bums. I LOVED The Dharma Bums. I read it when I was in my late 20's and it spoke to me and I felt like my mind stretched around it and vibrated with the electricity of new wisdom and understanding. It was a phenomenal reading experience and I have recommended it freely to many through the years. Maybe I should re-read..but I digress. Back to our friend William...William Burroughs was self-indulgent and corrupt. And while I know that he has been regaled as some kind of a master and genius of American Literature...I'm going to go ahead and beg to differ. Just because you have a circle of gifted literary friends, does not in turn make you, a literary genius yourself.

I think that Ginsberg was a user and a bad human, I don't care for him at all. I think he took advantage of the opportunities and the companionship of those around him. While I don't fault him for that, I don't care for his attitude, perspective or depravity or the way he tried to mock those who did not share his views. While I cannot in good conscience recommend that anyone read "Howl" as it's words are profane, foul and abrasive, if you do or if you have, you will see it. You cannot cover up coarseness and filth with words made from roses the like of "angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection" when all you are talking about, rolling around in and relishing, is in immoral, subversive and destructive behaviors and actions.

The Beats, talented (or not) and impactful on American literature as they were--as a general group, tended towards moral bankruptcy, were alcoholics and drug addicts, with severe social issues. While they have churned out some very interesting things, as a group, they had massive issues of every possible kind.

As a person in my 20's, I found their ideas and thoughts and writings interesting and exciting. As a person who is a little older now, and more seasoned by my own experiences, buffetings and exposure to the world, I find the repetitive debauchery tiresome and uninteresting.
Yeah--this book is not delighting me. I'm finding it predictable and depressing. Lost youth and pending doom.Nothing is surprising or interesting, though the read keeps me engaged...surprisingly...I think because it is not a complicated read.

Perhaps it's just that I know how it will all end. Perhaps it's that this was written in the 40's by someone in their 20's who thought they were being shocking by using the "F" word and talking about shooting up and smoking pot, drinking alcohol until you passed out in the park, or the subway or the landing of an apartment and illicit sex and subversive social behaviors, not realizing that by the time we read it in 2010 that none of it would be surprising, shocking or anything like what we see in our current day-to-day, carnie-indulging, over-sexualized, anything goes, all for one and ... only for one ... Girls Gone Wild ... MTV environment.

Am I jaded? No...not quite...just tired of the continual attack of the "Let's shock 'em!" writer. How about you entertain me or give me some interesting insight or something to think about that hasn't been played out ad nauseum?