Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs on 1940s New York

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  11.06.08 | 12:05 PM ET

imageAfter years of legal wrangling, a collaborative novel by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs—written years before either of them found fame—has finally been published. And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, a crime story, had remained in limbo for decades because it was based on the real-life murder of one of Kerouac’s and Burroughs’s acquaintances.

The Independent explores the novel’s fascinating origins. After filling in the history, writer John Walsh also gives his verdict on the book, and argues that its greatest strength lies in its powerful evocation of post-war Manhattan.

“It’s not the most sophisticated crime novel, and it doesn’t show either writer at his best,” he writes. “But ... it’s a fascinating snapshot from a lost era. If you’re looking for the link between Hemingway’s impotent post-war drifters in The Sun Also Rises, the barflies and Tralalas of Last Exit to Brooklyn and the zonked-out kids of Bret Easton Ellis’s Less Than Zero, look no further.”

Tags: Jack Kerouac, Literature, North America, United States, New York, Literary Travel

Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


1 Comment for Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs on 1940s New York

dr larry myers 11.08.08 | 11:19 AM ET

the jack kerouac literary group has kerouac-inspired activites scheduled periodically in nyc
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