A Literary Movement Born of a Murder

The authors of the novel are Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. The novel was written in 1945. When I read this novel, it was 2012.

David Krammer is killed by Lucien Carr. The body is thrown into the Hudson River in New York. Both Kerouac and Burroughs learn of the murder when Carr confesses to them. However, they do not report the murder to the police. After Carr confesses to the crime, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs also have to be questioned by the police and even arrested. Both are arrested briefly. Then they write a novel about the days before the murder and their days in New York. The novel is written but lies dormant for 63 years.

Jack Kerouac died in 1969, and William S. Burroughs died in 1997. Kerouac's friend James Grauerholz was very keen to publish the novel. After Kerouac's death, he contacted Lucien Carr. His aim was to convince Lucien Carr to publish the book. But Lucien Carr did not want the novel to be published until he died.

The novel is titled "And the Hippos Boiled in Their Tanks". In other words, the novel has a humorous title that states that hippos were boiled in pools of water. The focal subject is the murder of David Krammer. The novel tells about hippos that were boiled when the water in the pools of water heated up after a fire broke out in the London Zoo, and wild animals that escaped from the zoo were shot on the streets by the London police. Not real names, but imaginary names were used. Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs learn about the fire that broke out in the zoo while chatting in a bar. There are various ideas about why the novel was given this name, but there is no definitive information.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Hippos-Were-Boiled-Their-Tanks/dp/0802144349

When Lucien Carr died in 2005, the obstacle to the publication of the novel by Penguin Books was removed. The novel appeared on book shelves in November 2008.

Recently, while I was searching for a movie on the internet due to my curiosity about movies, I came across the story of a movie released in 2013. When I saw the words Beat, Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg in the text that summarized this movie called "Kill Your Darlings", I bought the movie and watched it. The movie opens with the murder committed by Lucien Carr and the dropping of David Krammerer into the Hudson River by Lucien Carr. The script is not based on the novel by Kerouac and Burroughs, but it tells the story of the events experienced by these young poets who would later create the Beat movement in the days before the murder.

I can't say it's very good for the novel. It's not really possible to say that it sheds light on the philosophy of the formation of the Beat movement, neither in terms of literature nor content. However, the story of the novel extends from 1945 to 2008. In the 1950s, the Beat poets were producing works one after another. I've mentioned their adventures in another article on this blog.

While Beat grew, developed and became more known, the novel quietly lay aside. I have not come across a Turkish translation of the novel. I think it has not been translated. For Beat enthusiasts, there is a novel that is not rich in content or literary taste but has a very interesting story. The novel was written before there was a Beat and was first published before there was a Beat. It is both very Beat and very far from Beat.