NOW DIG THIS:
THE UNSPEAKABLE WRITINGS OF TERRY SOUTHERN 1950-1995
Review by Jason Quinn
It feels very appropriate that Grove Press has released this collection of Southern’s work. One associates a level of literary rebelliousness when it comes to Grove, especially the work of Henry Miller, D.H. Lawrence, Genet, William S. Burroughs and Hubert Selby Jr. So the release of NOW DIG THIS comes to us from the best of all possible places.
NOW DIG THIS:
THE UNSPEAKABLE WRITINGS
OF TERRY SOUTHERN 1950-1995
Edited by Nile Southern
and Josh Alan Friedman
Grove Press, 2001, 261 pages.
Southern was on the scene during many key moments which affected
social change during the ‘50s and deep into the late ‘70s, so it’s worthwhile
to examine his work as a reflection of those changes. Southern was the guy
who wrote novels (FLASH AND FILIGREE, CANDY, THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN, BLUE MOVIE),
screenplays (BARBARELLA, DR. STRANGELOVE, THE CINCINNATI KID, THE LOVED ONE,
and EASY RIDER), as well as stories and essays which would serve as a precursor
to Tom Wolfe’s and Hunter S. Thompson’s brand of New/Gonzo Journalism (RED
DIRT MARIJUANA AND OTHER TASTES). He was touring with the Rolling Stones and
Truman Capote during the Cocksucker Blues days of ’72. He was at Larry Flynt’s
mansion trying to do some scriptwriting with Dennis Hopper about Jim Morrison
when Frank Zappa dropped by (and if this combination of characters doesn’t
get your brow sweating…). He was chosen by the Beatles to be on the cover of
Sgt. Pepper’s; the only one wearing shades.
The collection is composed of pieces published by the likes of quality lit
mags like New York Herald Tribune, Esquire, and The Paris Review to the low
brow journals of Oui and High Times. It speaks highly of Southern’s writing
that his work fits comfortably in either camp. His mix of satire and morality
has the ability to dig under your skin ‘til it strikes deep and leaves a scar.
Southern’s infectious style leaves you not just thinking of what you’ve read,
but also in the style it’s been written.
NOW DIG THIS has been divided into six sections which help demonstrate Southern’s
range: Tales, Letters, Behind the Silver Screen, New Journalism, The Quality
Let Game, and Strolls Down Memory Lane. These sections are book-ended by two
interviews; the first being conducted by Lee Server and the last in the company
of Victor Bockris, William S. Burroughs and a shopping bag full of drug samples
given to Terry by a “gregarious chemist.”
Picture if you will, Bill Burroughs sitting over a table where Terry has just
poured aforementioned substances – and these ain’t the usual safe, sure bets
of Thompson’s Fear-and-Loathing-trips. These are heavy-hitting samples directly
from the drug companies. The two are attempting to decide which to take. In
the voice that can make one no longer look upon growing old as being utterly
terrible, Bill croaks:
Now then, what is all this shit, Terry?
TS: Bill, these are pharmaceutical samplesswent by drug companies to Big Ed
Fales, the friendly druggist, and to Doc Tom Adams, the writing croak. Anything
that won’t cook up, we’ll eat. Give them good scrutiny, Bill.
WS: I shall indeed.
TS: We’ll get them into the ol’ noggin one way or the other. On double alert
for Demerol, Dilaudid, and the great Talwin!
WS: “Pain.” I’m only on the look out for the word “pain.” I’ll just go through
these methodically. Anything of interest I’ll put to one side… [scrutinizing
bottle] I don’t really know about this one may be…
TS: Well then, down the old gullet, Bill. Better safe than sorry… Here’s one,
Icktazinga….
WS: “Chewable.” I’m not much interested in anything chewable.
TS: But they’re saying, “Chew one at a time,” and I’m saying, “Cook up eight!”
Some of Mr. Southern's sage advice.The introductory interview with Server provides a useful prologue as it manages
to touch upon each of the various sections: the fiction; working with the great
Stan Kubrick; Terry’s experience alongside Jean Genet, Abbie Hoffman, Allen
Ginsberg and W.S. Burroughs when the police tossed tear gas and pounded the
piss out of various demonstrators during the 1968 Democratic National Convention;
his experiences working on early episodes of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE; and, true
to form, he exposed Kubrick to his first porn which would later lead to EYES
WIDE SHUT.
As he also mentions in the Server interview, Southern’s involvement with Kubrick
came about:
“...when Kubrick realized that the hydrogen bomb and the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it were just too unusual to be treated in any conventionally dramatic fashion, and had decided to go the ‘black comedy’ route. This was a decision not without certain immediate adverse ramifications; [Kubrick’s] partner, James Harris, who had acted as producer for most of his previous films, was so much against it that he withdrew from the production… It seems that not long before that, Peter Sellers had discovered my book, THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN, and had actually bought one hundred copies of it –which he then gave to friends, on their birthdays, at Christmas, and so on; and he gave one to Stanley.
So Stanley phoned me from England, and I went over to work. We worked together
on the script before and throughout the filming… I had once referred to Kubrick,
whom I had never met but greatly admired, as ‘big Stan Kubrick’ because I liked
the ring and lilt of it…”
Nile Southern, Terry’s son and executor, had been compiling this collection
since the late '80s and needed a hatchet man to advise him on what to exclude.
He would’ve been hard-pressed to have found any better than Josh Alan Friedman.
It was Friedman, admittedly influenced by Terry’s work, who managed to compose
and shape the volume. The mark of quality is on every piece. The assembling
of these pieces is at once a solid and admirable job. The collection serves
as a worthy epitaph for Terry’s humor, presence and insight.
Dig it.
Paperback
$10.40 at Amazon.com
TerrySouthern.com
