Herbert Huncke facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Herbert Huncke
|
|
|---|---|
Huncke in 1985
|
|
| Born | Herbert Edwin Huncke January 9, 1915 Greenfield, Massachusetts, US |
| Died | August 8, 1996 (aged 81) New York City, US |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Literary movement | Beat Generation |
Herbert Edwin Huncke (January 9, 1915 – August 8, 1996) was an American writer and poet, and an active participant in a number of emerging cultural, social and aesthetic movements of the 20th century in America. He was a member of the Beat Generation and is reputed to have coined the term.
Early life
Huncke was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts and raised in Chicago. He left Chicago as a teenager after his parents divorced and began living as a hobo, jumping trains throughout the United States and bonding with other vagrants through shared destitution and common experience.
New York City and Times Square
Huncke hitchhiked to New York City in 1939. He was dropped off at 103rd and Broadway, and he asked the driver how to find 42nd Street. "You walk straight down Broadway," the man said, "and you will find 42nd Street." Huncke, always a stylish dresser, bought a boutonnière for his jacket and headed for 42nd Street. For the next 10 years, Huncke was a 42nd Street regular and became known as the "Mayor of 42nd Street."
During World War II, Huncke shipped out to sea as a United States Merchant Marine to ports in South America, Africa, and Europe. He landed on the beach of Normandy three days after the invasion.
Writing career
Huncke himself was a natural storyteller, a unique character with a paradoxically honest take on life. Later, after the formation of the so-called Beat Generation, members of the Beats encouraged Huncke to publish his notebook writings (Huncke's Journal), which he did with limited success in 1965 with Diane DiPrima's Poet's Press. Huncke used the word "Beat" to describe someone living with no money and few prospects. Huncke coined the phrase in a conversation with Jack Kerouac, who was interested in how their generation would be remembered. "I'm beat," was Huncke's reply, meaning tired and beat to his socks. Kerouac used the term to describe an entire generation.
His autobiography, titled Guilty of Everything, was published in 1987.
Huncke died in 1996 at age 81. He had been living for several years in a basement apartment on East 7th Street near Avenue D in New York City, supported financially by his friends.
Huncke in film
Huncke was featured in several documentaries about the Beat generation, including Janet Forman's "The Beat Generation: An American Dream," Richard Lerner and Lewis MacAdams' "What Happened to Kerouac?", John Antonelli's "Kerouac, the Movie", and Howard Brookner's documentary about William Burroughs, Burroughs: the Movie. He also starred in his only acting role in "The Burning Ghat" by James Rasin and Jerome Poynton.
Works
- Huncke's Journal (Poets Press, 1965). Out of Print. Edited by Diane Di Prima, foreword by Allen Ginsberg.
- The Evening Sun Turned Crimson (Cherry Valley, NY: Cherry Valley Editions, 1980), ISBN: 0-916156-43-5.
- Guilty of Everything (excerpt) Edited by Raymond Foye. (New York & Madras: Hanuman Books, 1987), ISBN: 0-937815-08-X
- Guilty of Everything: The Autobiography of Herbert Huncke (New York: Paragon House Publishers, 1990), Edited by Don Kennison, foreword by William S. Burroughs. ISBN: 1-55778-044-7.
- Again–The Hospital (White Fields Press, Louisville, 1995). 1/50 copies. (Broadside; single sheet, measuring 12 by 22 inches, illustrated with a photograph of Huncke.)
- Herbert E. Huncke 1915-1996 (New York: Jerry Poynton 1996). (Limited edition of 100 copies of the program for the Herbert Huncke memorial at Friends Meetinghouse, New York City. Includes original texts.)
- The Herbert Huncke Reader edited by Ben Schafer (New York: Morrow, 1997), ISBN: 0-688-15266-X. (Includes the complete texts of The Evening Sun Turned Crimson and Huncke's Journal).
- From Dream to Dream (Dig It! 567912-2, Music & Words, Netherlands, 1994, cd)
- Herbert Huncke - Guilty of Everything. Double-CD of Huncke's 1987 live reading at Ins & Outs Press, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Co-production released by Unrequited Records, San Francisco (2012).
See also
In Spanish: Herbert Huncke para niños
