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.Rosenthal writes, Ginsberg may be wrong; reasons behind his harsh discipline.Huncke washis writing may certainly have many false notes sexually molested as a boy, a story he first revealedand postures.But that is all beside the point.to Alfred Kinsey as part of his sex survey in 1946The agony, in any case, is real; so are the threats (see GUILTY OF EVERYTHING).When his parentsfor the future that it signals. were divorced in 1927, Huncke fell into a wild life- 144 Huncke, Herbertstyle of free sex, of drug and alcohol abuse, and of Burroughs s Herman in JUNKY, and in John Clel-hoboing around the country.He had a particularly lon Holmes s GO as Albert Ancke.Huncke is alsoopen relation with his mother, with whom he lived the figure Ginsberg had in mind when he wrote,after the divorce, admitting his homosexuality as dragging themselves through the negro streets atwell as his heroin addiction to her.He taught her dawn looking for an angry fix, the second line ofhow to smoke marijuana and gave her tips about HOWL. sexual techniques.He first learned about heroin Huncke, in turn, introduced these writers tofrom reading a book called The Little White Hag, and the underworld, and Burroughs s hardboiled stylethrough his Aunt Olga s connections in Chicago s and subject matter of Junky and QUEER can be at-Chinatown, he learned where he could easily keep tributed in large part to this association.In thissupplied in high-quality drugs.Huncke also had a regard, Jack Kerouac is often quoted as saying (inclose relationship with his maternal grandmother, a letter he wrote to Neal Cassady on Septemberwho was wealthy, and it was through her influence 13, 1947), [Huncke] is the greatest storyteller Ithat he acquired a refined sensibility about the finer know, an actual genius at it, in my mind. Huncke,things in life, evidenced in his writings.In the 1930s as Jerome Poynton concludes, was remarkably aptHuncke traveled to the West.He also traveled to at contributing to the intellectual growth of hisNew Orleans and Detroit, learning about jazz.friends. In fact, and in spite of his sense of beingIn 1939 Huncke moved to New York City and intellectually inferior to the Beats, Huncke notdecide to live in the Times Square area simply be- only continued to inspire these artists but also,cause it was the only part of New York about which during this period, began to write the sketches andhe had ever heard anything.He would live there keep the notebooks that would eventually be pub-for the rest of his life.In the New York of the 1930s lished as The EVENING SUN TURNED CRIMSON andand early 1940s, he lived as a male hustler, picking HUNCKE S JOURNAL.up sexually frustrated businessmen in Bryant Park.On and off during the 1940s Huncke workedHe also picked up his heroin and morphine habit as a merchant seaman.At one point, he and Philagain.He was a friend and associate of many of the White shipped out to kick their junk habits (seeTimes Square grifters, con men, and prostitutes at The Evening Sun Turned Crimson).In 1947 Hunckethe time, including Vickie Russell, Little Jack Mel- lived as Burroughs s farmhand near New Waverly,ody, Phil White, and Bob Brandenberg.Texas, where they attempted to grow opium pop-It was through Brandenburg, a want-to-be pies and had some success growing marijuana (seegangster who worked at a drugstore soda fountain, Guilty of Everything).A few years later, Hunckethat Huncke first met WILLIAM S.BURROUGHS.was also involved in the crime that led to Gins-Burroughs had acquired a machine gun and several berg s stay at the Columbia Presbyterian Psychiat-cases of morphine syrettes, and Brandenburg told ric Institute, which is where he met Carl Solomonhim that White and Huncke would know how to and the inspiration for Howl began (see Guiltydispose of them.Huncke was initially suspicious of of Everything).Burroughs, who dressed conservatively and did not Huncke spent most of the 1950s in jail forknow the language of the underworld.However, possession and for burglary charges: He probablywhen Burroughs allowed Huncke to shoot him up committed more than 100 burglaries in the Newwith morphine, he was convinced of Burroughs s York area in the 1940s and 1950s.Many of his besttrustworthiness.Burroughs introduced Huncke writings describe his experiences in various pris-to ALLEN GINSBERG, JACK KEROUAC, GREGORY ons.While he was in jail, his Beat friends becameCORSO, NEAL CASSADY, and many other members famous, and Huncke would read about them inof the Beat group.In Kerouac s case, Huncke with the newspapers.He appears to have been genu-his beat lifestyle of living on the street, came inely happy that they had reached the potential heto represent a whole generation s attitude toward had always seen in them.None of the Beats wrotesociety.The Huncke of these years is captured Huncke in prison, nor did they visit him, a fact heas Junky in Kerouac s The TOWN AND THE CITY, did not hold against them. Huncke s Journal 145When he returned to the outside in the vious books) published to wide acclaim and veryearly 1960s, his social life revolved around Gins- positive critical reception in 1998.berg and Peter Orlovsky s apartment on Avenue C Huncke died at the age of 81 in 1997.In thein what was being called the East Village
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