Buy cain s book book online at best prices in india on. In paris, he founded merlin the outstanding literary magazine, wrote novels for olympia press, experimented with heroin and became hooked. One was that they both produced only one book that was a literary success. Almost simultaneously, trocchi was charged with supplying drugs to a minor by the american authorities. The book alternates between necchi trocchi s attempts to score and flashbacks to his. The label of nihilistic writer so often attached to him is profoundly, not. Indeed, without denigrating trocchis achievements as a writer cains book is brilliant he wrote nothing of significance after 1959, and its people like morgan, finlay and veronica forrest thompson who made a more lasting contribution to the british and international avantgarde, both through their great poetry, but through their. But trocchi was an independent writer of immense gifts and cain s book, rather than being a downbeat, depressing look at a sordid subject, is quite the reverse. The prose seemed to affirm at every turn the presence of someone who, besides knowing how to write, fundamentally understood and articulated what literature is. Trocchi s personal, handpainted copy of cains book my scow is tied up in flushing, ny, alongside the landing stage of the mac asphalt and construction corporation.
Alexander trocchi was the leading british beat writer of the 1950s and 60s. Alexander trocchi and project sigma reality sandwich. His other books includes some interesting pseudonymous pornography for the olympia press. Stewart homes introduction to white thighs bookkake. English edition of the important autobiographical novel about a heroin addict adrift in new york city. Alexander trocchi was born in glasgow in 1925 to an italian father and scottish mother. Trocchi s later novel, cains book 1961 is heavily autobiographical, describing the mental processes and nonhappenings of its heroinaddicted central protagonist, joe necchi, who is also. Cains book by trocchi, alexander and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Prolific as he was, trocchis activities waned during the last 15 years of his life. Ironically, there was however much anxiety over the telling of this particular antistory. Young adam tends to catch the attention of those less interested in drugs and literary experimentation. Buy cains book book online at low prices in india cain.
Mccarthy implies that the black ocean is the void of ink. I remember reading cains book in my early twenties and be ing struck by an. In an era when poetry is increasingly compressed to fit our iphone screens, nathaniel mackey has been writing two astonishing long poemsmu and song of the andoumboulouacross multiple books for the past thirtyfive years. Dec 06, 2011 his great book, cain s book 1960, is often considered a beat classic, but it is rarely read as a situationist text. Like i found myself thinking that she could not have been more than twentytwo or so and wondering whether i looked old to her, and then i found myself envying the two young men who escorted her. Leonard cohen shares opium with alexander trocchi, goes blind. Alma classics ltd london house 243253 lower mortlake road richmond surrey tw9 2ll united kingdom. An early sequence in cains book takes us through a kind of proustmoment of perception and recall in which trocchi, watching a man urinating in an alley, becomes like a piece of sensitive photographic paper, waiting passively to feel the shock of impression. Young adam s glasgow is different from the glasgow in trocchi s cain s book, filtered through the father s memories, and from the town described in thongs olympia press. Page edges soiled, and corners a bit bumped, a very good copy in an agetoned, very good plus dustwrapper.
Banned books part 2 cains book by alexander trocchi martyn wade, chief executive and national librarian introduces cains book by scottish beat generation writer alexander. Bookmark file pdf cains book alexander trocchi once. He had a short spell in the navy before studying philosophy at the university of glasgow. The jury is still out on whether young adam or cains book is trocchis greatest work, but regardless the former remains the best introduction to his writing because it is so much more typical of his protopostmodernist approach. Walk on gilded splinters alex trocchis state of revolt. He also wrote his only nonfiction book, drugs of the mind, published in 1970. Buy cains book by alexander trocchi from amazons fiction books store. Cains book 1960 by alexander trocchi is a text about heroin addiction, but its underlying concern is with the representation of liminal experience and alterity. He was one of the organizers of the edinburgh international writer s conference. Heroin, alterity and text in alex trocchis cains book. Trocchi was then deep in the throes of heroin addiction. Author alexander trocchi s muse was drugsbut in this novel, he does not romanticize the source of his inspiration.
Allen ginsberg cant write about writing so will simply say that i find it excellent, very strong and movingall the visual writing in particularit seems to me of the highest order. A life in pieces meet mark renton, junk philosopher alexander trocchi, man at leisure scotsalec. The elusive william burroughs archive, 10 september 1965. Alexander trocchi left glasgow university with the honours of a brilliant philosophy scholar. If the experience of heroin, of the fix, is central to cains book, both its destructive force and the possibilities it holds for creativity are recognized and accepted without apology. Young adam, its predecessor, is better known, but the latter is. Trocchis personal, handpainted copy of cains book my scow is tied up in flushing, ny, alongside the landing stage of the mac asphalt and construction corporation. Cains book trocchi, alexander, seaver, richard, marcus, greil on.
Alexander trocchi was a major figure in cosmopolitan newconsciousness fifties and sixties literature, and cains book is his signal novel. A roman a clef, it details the life of joe necchi, a heroin addict and writer, who is living and. Almost simultaneously, trocchi was charged with supplying drugs to a minor by the american authorities, and with the aid of various people including future rock star. Cains film 1969 documentary on alexander trocchi 1925 84, scottish born writer, poet, translator and author of young adam and cains. This condition is the upon that will make you vibes that you must read.
Alexander trocchi a life in pieces part 12 youtube. A short film about alexander trocchi excerpt from cains film. In cains book the writing is all the words ebb and flow like the inky blackness of the hudson river. The deeper truth however is that trocchi wrote a book about human alienation in a language so precisely beautiful, so richly uncompromising in his quest to express the truth of a man at a given period in his life, that cain s book still stands as a sort of poetic documentary of the horrors of drug addiction, and anyone who feels romantic about. This is the journal of joe necchi, a junkie living on a barge that plies the rivers and bays of new. It is a tragic shame how overlooked trocchi s work has become over the years, although. A thinly veiled autobiography, cains book is part metafiction, as the writer moves back and forth in time from scotland, where he grew up in a boarding house, to nyc, either planning or working on the ms, to shooting up h, philosophising about inaction and meaninglessness, and drifting either on the what begins as a junkies selfindulgent narrative slowly opens up to become a engrossingly nihilistic portrait of a solitary and broken man who has ended up alone on a barge in the hudson river. Am article cum alma reprint of cains book intro tom mccarthy pinpoints trocchis writing as between two points, a white tundra and a black ocean. Alex trocchi s hour upon the stage we never met either ralph rumney or alex trocchi though we easily could have done so and most likely would have been welcomed. Paris, 1955, which, for themes such as sodomy and violence, could bring to mind a classic of erotic literature such as histoire do history of o, olympia press. Cains book by alexander trocchi on between the covers. There is considerable division over which trocchi book is his best, but the consensus of opinion is either young adam 1954 or cains book 1961. Alexander trocchi papers mss116, 19441984 mss manuscripts. Trocchi, alexander, seaver, richard, marcus, greil.
Alexander trocchi took life and himself seriously enough to wreck both, with literature understood as secondary, an accomplice to that wrecking. If you know are looking for the book pdf as the substitute of reading, you can find here. He was one of the organizers of the edinburgh international writers conference. Meet alexander trocchi, junk philosopher junk philosophy. The introduction s for my copy, by greil marcus and richard seaver, are two of the most dismissive, pessimistic book intros ive read. From the description of alexander trocchi collection of papers relating to the edinburgh international writer s conference, 19621967. A roman a clef, it details the life of joe necchi, a heroin. Cains book by alexander trocchi, first edition abebooks. Cains book is trocchis selfreflexive look at his life as a junky. A roman a clef, it details the life of joe necchi, a heroin addict and writer, who is living and working on a scow on the hudson river in new york. His wife lyn prostituted herself on the streets of the lower east side. Everyday low prices on a huge range of new releases and classic fiction. Mu and song of the andoumboulou are two ongoing sequences beaded with his insights on cosmology, grief. Trocchi and his friends also published samuel becketts war and memory and jean genets thiefs journal in english for the first time.
So begins cains book, alexander trocchis incredible novel of existential dread. Cains alexander trocchi cains alexander trocchi cains alexander trocchi cains book is a 1960 novel by scottish beat writer alexander trocchi. A thinly veiled autobiography, cains book is part metafiction, as the writer moves back and forth in time from scotland, where he grew up in a boarding house, to nyc, either planning or working on the ms, to shooting up h, philosophising about inaction and meaninglessness, and drifting either on the. They both read as lamentations of what could have been, what trocchi could have written. Sep 27, 2008 when we were selecting the books for bookkakes opening collection, one of the authors we wanted to include was alexander trocchi, the scottish editor of merlin and author of young adam and cains book, as well as, pseudonymously, several volumes from maurice girodias olympia press.
I picked up helen and desire after being impressed with trocchi s cain s book and young adam. Inscribed by trocchi to poet and publisher jim haynes. Martyn wade, chief executive and national librarian introduces cain s book by scottish beat generation writer alexander trocchi s and looks at some of the reasons why it was banned on. Debord was an admirer of malcolm lowry 19091957, author of under the volcano 1947, with whom trocchi had at least two things in common. Trocchi mined far more poetry out of a peripatetic junkie lifestyle than could ever be expected, and perhaps unsurprisingly, he never published again. Jan 19, 2012 trocchinecchi deftly declares in cains book that there is no story to tell. My most upright uptight relative was going to introduce me to sigma supremo, the coolest of the beats, lord junk himself, alex trocchi of interzone a, as id first encountered him in the 60s underground press, hanging out with cool dangerous people like burroughs, ginsberg and michael x. It is the trocchi who describes himself in that novel. By alexander trocchi young adam oneworld modern classics new ed 16jun2008. Alex trocchi, author of cain s book, was an american living in the united kingdom. The junky genius of alexander trocchi tony oneill the. Documentary on alexander trocchi 1925 84, scottish born writer, poet, translator and author of young adam and cain s book. Tom mccarthy on alex trocchis cains book august 9, 2008 the label of nihilistic writer so often attached to him is profoundly, not just superficially, accurate. He injected himself on camera during a live television debate on drug abuse, despite being on bail at the time.
Cain s book finds hidden eddies in the seemingly static water of banal everyday life, and the vistas this book opens up remain hardly explored 50 years on. So begins cains book, alexander trocchi s incredible novel of existential dread. Written in america while trocchi was working on a scow on the hudson river, cains book is an extraordinary autobiographical account about a junkys life. Above all, the author of cain s book is a stylist of distinction, constantly able to extract a strange contemporary beauty from situations of squalor and misery. Trocchi is a writer with an unique skill recognisable within his every sentance. His present connection with mr haynes is that one of the traverses late night entertainments at the arts consists of readings from the novel given by alex trocchi himself the author of cain. For jim haynes, wordless, dumb after our long vigil. Sep 02, 2019 trocchi was a junkie, poet, writer of porn and author of one of the landmark books about being a rebel, drifter and drug addict, cains book. Cains book first published in us by grove atlantic in 1960 first published in great britain by john calder publishers in 1963 alexander trocchi 1960 sally childs 1992 this new edition first published by oneworld classics ltd in 2011 foreword tom mccarthy 2011 introduction richard seaver, 1992 notes oneworld classics, 2011. Cains book is a 1960 novel by scottish beat writer alexander trocchi. Martyn wade, chief executive and national librarian introduces cains book by scottish beat generation writer alexander trocchis and looks.
I was wearing my heavy white seamans jersey with a high polo neck, and i sensed that the angularity of my. Young adam, its predecessor, is better known, but the latter is the scottish beat s classic. Uncommonly good collectible and rare books from uncommonly good booksellers. Banned books part 2 cains book by alexander trocchi youtube. This paradox is what gives cains book its final, brilliant ending, in which trocchi first recognises the inadequacy of art and literature in actually accomplishing anything, muttering dismissively such concepts i sometimes read about, but they have nothing in intimacy with what i am doing, exposing, obscuring then immediately, compelled as always, carries on producing work, showing us, again, the. For example, the antihero, joe necchi trocchi himself, in every relevant particular is in the middle of writing a novel, and the title of the novel is cains book. With books like trainspotting, and writers like alan warner, says scottish poet edwin morgan, who taught trocchi at glasgow university at the end of the 1940s, there was a. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Alexander trocchi, controversial scottish author who wrote. One evening, after having shot up heroin in a new york pad with some derelict cronies, he reads. He moved to paris in the mid40s where he started writing first as editor of a magazine called merlin as well as other magazines, and then erotic fiction for the. He wrote it while living in new york and even though its billed as a novel, cains book is based on trocchis own life story.
Cain s book is trocchi s selfreflexive look at his life as a junky. Scott, published a biography of alexander trocchi entitled. Alex trocchis state of revolt at the arts lab in london. Jan 21, 2009 there is considerable division over which trocchi book is his best, but the consensus of opinion is either young adam 1954 or cains book 1961. Under the name frances lengel, trocchi churned out numerous pornographic books including the now classic helen and desire 1954 and a dirty version of his own book young adam 1954. Cains book revelled in the kind of literary tricks that excited me. Although he was ostensibly working on a sequel to cains book and an unpublished novel called the long book, he was actually too ill much of the time to accomplish much. The midsixties poetry extravaganza that posthumously became known as wholly communion after the film peter whitehead made about it is often viewed as acting as midwife to the emergent hippie culture in london. But what would have been the point as it would have been no more than gawping at icons surrounded by an increasingly w. Cains book kindle edition by trocchi, alexander, marcus.
Cains book first published in us by grove atlantic. Aug 23, 2007 so begins cain s book, alexander trocchi s incredible novel of existential dread. In paris, he founded merlin the outstanding literary magazine wrote novels for olympia press, experimented with heroin and became hooked. He was seen as a man of towering literary genius, fated to cut a swath through the world. His most famous book cains book is based on his sexual and pharmaceutical adventures at this time. Alexander trocchi 192584 left glasgow university with the honours of a brilliant philosophy scholar. Oct 09, 2017 but trocchi was an independent writer of immense gifts and cain s book, rather than being a downbeat, depressing look at a sordid subject, is quite the reverse. The introductions for my copy, by greil marcus and richard seaver, are two of the most dismissive, pessimistic book intros ive read. Exiled in paris is a 1994 reprinted 2001 book by james campbell, a scottish cultural historian specialising in american literature and culture. The junky genius of alexander trocchi books the guardian. Aug 08, 2003 mean streets alexander trocchi was the smackaddled icon of beat literature, whose writings have been eclipsed by a lurid life of porn, pimping and dissolution in new york, paris and london. From the description of alexander trocchi collection of papers relating to the edinburgh international writers conference, 19621967.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading cain s book. Wholly communion alexander trocchi reading from cains book at 2. Trocchi, alexander, 19251984 social networks and archival. Trocchis later novel, cains book 1961 is heavily autobiographical, describing the mental processes and nonhappenings of its heroinaddicted central protagonist, joe necchi, who is also. Young adam, its predecessor, is better known, but the latter is the scottish beats classic. Cain s book is the first novel by scottish beat writer alexander trocchi.