And the hippos were boiled in their tanks

Resource Information

The work And the hippos were boiled in their tanks represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

And the hippos were boiled in their tanks

Statement of responsibility

William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac ; [afterword by James W. Grauerholz]

Creator

• Burroughs, William S., 1914-1997

Contributor

• Kerouac, Jack, 1922-1969

Subject

• Carr, Lucien, 1925-2005 -- Fiction
• Murder -- New York (State) | New York -- Fiction
• Beats (Persons) -- Fiction
• New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction

Genre

• Fiction

Language

eng

Summary

"On August 14, 1944, Lucien Carr, a friend of William S. Burroughs from St. Louis, stabbed a man named David Kammerer with a Boy Scout knife and threw his body in the Hudson River. For eight years, Kammerer had fawned over the younger Carr, but that night something happened: either Carr had had enough or he was forced to defend himself." "The next day, his clothes stained with blood, Carr went to his friends Bill Burroughs and Jack Kerouac for help. Doing so, he involved them in the crime. A few months later, they were caught up in the crime in a different way." "Something about the murder captivated the Beats, especially Kerouac and Burroughs, who decided to collaborate on a novel about the events of the previous summer. At the time, the two authors were still unknown, yet to write anything of note. Narrating alternating chapters, they pieced together a hard-boiled tale of bohemian New York during World War II, full of drugs and art, obsession and violence, with scenes and characters drawn from their own lives." "They submitted their manuscript - called And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks after an absurd line from a radio bulletin about a circus fire - to publishers, but it was rejected and confined to a filing cabinet for decades. Finally published, at long last, And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks tells the story of Ramsay Allen and the object of his fixation, the charismatic, idealistic young Phillip Tourian. Phillip and his friends drink and dream in the bars and apartments of the West Village, until, with his friend Mike Ryko (Kerouac's narrator), he hatches a plan to ship out as a merchant marine. They'll catch a boat for France and jump ship, then make their way through the front to Paris." "And The Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks is an engaging, fast-paced read that shows the two authors' developing styles. It is also an incomparable artifact, a legendary novel from the dawn of the Beat movement by two hugely influential writers."--BOOK JACKET

Cataloging source

BTCTA

Dewey number

813/.54

Index

no index present

LC call number

PS3552.U75

LC item number

A795 2008

Literary form

fiction