“The touchstone of Nile Southern’s compilation lies half-hidden in the deliciously disgusting correspondence between its disreputable heroes, who come shifting off the page in hipster mode just as, years ago, they leaned out of the shadows of the Dôme in Montparnasse. Old poops, puritans, and the politically correct may choke on indignation and outraged sensibilities, but the rest of us ... Read moremust laugh along with these anarchic voices. Such wild metaphors and riffs of fervid imagination, daring to celebrate our frailties and folly, are the stuff of literature and life.” —Peter Matthiessen "Thoroughly enjoyable . . . a highly successful example of an underexploited genre, the biography of a book." —New York Times “In a magnificent epistolary style . . . offers valuable insight into the Beat scenes of Paris and New York, as well as into the publishing world [and] . . . the lives and minds of two wildly creative literary characters: the authors themselves.”—Publishers Weekly "At times more fascinating and readable than the original novel . . . An important chapter in the history of popular culture and a worthy second look at one of the . . . masterpieces of erotic literature." —Booklist “The touchstone of Nile Southern’s compilation lies half-hidden in the deliciously disgusting correspondence between its disreputable heroes, who come shifting off the page in hipster mode just as, years ago, they leaned out of the shadows of the Dôme in Montparnasse. Old poops, puritans, and the politically correct may choke on indignation and outraged sensibilities, but the rest of us must laugh along with these anarchic voices. Such wild metaphors and riffs of fervid imagination, daring to celebrate our frailties and folly, are the stuff of literature and life.” —Peter Matthiessen "Thoroughly enjoyable . . . a highly successful example of an underexploited genre, the biography of a book." —New York Times “In a magnificent epistolary style . . . offers valuable insight into the Beat scenes of Paris and New York, as well as into the publishing world [and] . . . the lives and minds of two wildly creative literary characters: the authors themselves.”—Publishers Weekly "At times more fascinating and readable than the original novel . . . An important chapter in the history of popular culture and a worthy second look at one of the . . . masterpieces of erotic literature." —Booklist Show Less