Four Down
The books on top are the ones I’ve finished so far on my journey through the Burroughs-iad. I’m still putting my thoughts down on the Red Night trilogy, but I just wanted to say a couple words about “Hippos”.
Hippos was interesting in that we get to see the nascent talents of William Burroughs and the other guy start to take form. In regards to Burroughs we can see the emergence of his dark, acidic, cynical wit. His chapters, which alternate with Kerouac’s, emit flashes of his future canon - low life, eccentrics (he writes about eccentrics so well, even then), opiate addiction, misogyny, his critical eye on the gay set, aloofness, and alienation. There are moments when Burrough’s alter ego (Will Dennison) relates incidents of violence with vibrant flair - much like what I’ve read in his latter books.
My favorite bit is at the end, when I realized that Burroughs sets his alter ego up as a member of a loosely affiliated national criminal organization very, very similar to the Johnson Family in Jack Black’s “You Can’t Win”.
I can understand why
WSB (Will Dennison), is portrayed by Kerouac (Mike Ryko) as a shady, mysterious figure with gangster connections, who has the mark of the American West about him - but more the desert gambler and not a cowboy.
Other than that, the book could’ve used some editing - not that this isn’t a good first attempt for any writer. It boils down to a lot of NEET’s walking around NYC from bar to bar, apartment to apartment, drinking constantly, and committing sophomoric pranks. It feels like Burroughs was trying to be Hemingway-esque in the way he writes about food - but overdoes it. Kerouac’s bits are boring for me - just drinking, jock antics and placating the wife. However, his descriptions of the waterfront during wartime are pretty incredible. He gets a little John Dos Passos in there.
All in all, Hippos is an interesting artifact of the Lucien Carr affair.
(Also, having read his last three books first - it’s a real trip to circle around. His style is so primitive in Hippos compared to the Red Night books.)