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The Last of the Moccasins
Le livre culte du dernier des beats. Enfin !Infatigable voyageur, hipster avant l'heure, figure incontournable de San Francisco qui oeuvra à la rencontre entre Beat Generation et hippies, Charles Plymell a encore trouvé le temps d'abuser de toutes les drogues en vogue dans les années 1960, du jazz au peyotl. Le Dernier des mocassins raconte dans un style incomparable cette vie haute en couleurs. Son auteur le dédie à tous les junkies, freaks, arnaqueurs, criminels, artistes, poètes, homos, flics, cow-boys, camionneurs, ainsi qu'à tous ceux qui ont fait le voyage avec lui sur l'autoroute de la benzédrine.
- GenresFiction
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
43 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 11, 2017
Единственный — и прекрасный — роман пост-битника и пре-хиппи, одного из незримых солдат американской литературы. Ну, как роман — скорее, конечно, автобиография человека, который не только пережил 60-е, но и кое-что об этом помнит. Особенно в начале десятилетия. Как запомнил, так и написал, в общем. Получилась такая неистовая байка — смесь Керуака и Джима Доджа, «живая, как жизнь».
Плаймелл приятельствовал с Нилом Кэссиди, Алленом Гинзбёргом, дружил с Робертом Крамбом (и издавал его), знал Керуака и Барроуза. Это поколение и сцена примерно Бротигана — Сан-Франциско, культурный хаб, который втягивал в себя всех, — «пизда СФ», как он называл этот город. Второй центр книги — Уичита, Кэнзас, место странноватое как очаг культуры (и контркультуры), но вот так вышло. На самом деле, Плаймелл и был той самой «Воронкой Уичиты», которую воспел Гинзбёрг. Но наши представления о культурном ландшафте Америки середины прошлого века от этой книжки несколько меняются. И хорошо, что автор еще жив, конечно.
Плаймелл приятельствовал с Нилом Кэссиди, Алленом Гинзбёргом, дружил с Робертом Крамбом (и издавал его), знал Керуака и Барроуза. Это поколение и сцена примерно Бротигана — Сан-Франциско, культурный хаб, который втягивал в себя всех, — «пизда СФ», как он называл этот город. Второй центр книги — Уичита, Кэнзас, место странноватое как очаг культуры (и контркультуры), но вот так вышло. На самом деле, Плаймелл и был той самой «Воронкой Уичиты», которую воспел Гинзбёрг. Но наши представления о культурном ландшафте Америки середины прошлого века от этой книжки несколько меняются. И хорошо, что автор еще жив, конечно.
January 25, 2026
This book is a real ...... trip, but in a good way. Even a great way.
Charles Plymell is very loosely lumped into the category of 'Beat writers' but like McClure and Conner, who were also part of the SF scene, he originally hails from Wichita. It is quite fascinating that these three artists (and maybe more?) all come from a relatively unpopulated part of America but all ended up as major artists within the whole Beat Phenomenon.
In this book, Plymell writes about his early years in Wichita before the story turns to his times in San Francisco. Beat legends Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Janine Pommy-Vega and even Herbert Huncke make some 'cameo' appearances in this novel and as far as I can tell, these stories are based on Plymell's actual encounters with them and his memories of that time. It is an interesting portrait of the final days of the Beats before it slowly wanes into the rise of the Hippies, the Aquarian age, and the Haight-Ashbury scene.
I really love Plymell's writing style - at times it reads like a Kerouackian travelogue, at other times the story slowly threads its way along on a tightrope of these beautiful fragment-chains of prose, like a poetic Burroughsian cut-up, and at other times, his writing sounds very poetic, sometimes sounding a bit like Ginsberg at his best but Plymell certainly has his own signature sound. I can tell, just through reading this, that Plymell must be a very good poet. You read some beautiful prose .... and the meaning is just out of reach ..... which allows you to dwell on the beautiful sounds of the words that he lines up. A true craftsman.
This ranks up there among the best Beat novels I have read to date - if you have been through all of Kerouac's major prose works as well as Burroughs, definitely try reading Plymell next. There is no actual plot driving it forward (which is a common criticism / trademark of Kerouac's own prose too) but the strength of the prose drives the reader onwards to the next story, the next party, the next orgy, the next bar and ..... before long, you find yourself bleary-eyed but exhilarated. It's suddenly 5 AM, and the fog of San Fran comes in your windows and another day dawns .......
Beautiful prose. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is that some parts were completely baffling to me. I need to read this again .......
I'm on a Beat novel bender right now - first Kirby Doyle, then Charles Plymell, next on the list is Alexander Trocchi.
Charles Plymell is very loosely lumped into the category of 'Beat writers' but like McClure and Conner, who were also part of the SF scene, he originally hails from Wichita. It is quite fascinating that these three artists (and maybe more?) all come from a relatively unpopulated part of America but all ended up as major artists within the whole Beat Phenomenon.
In this book, Plymell writes about his early years in Wichita before the story turns to his times in San Francisco. Beat legends Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Janine Pommy-Vega and even Herbert Huncke make some 'cameo' appearances in this novel and as far as I can tell, these stories are based on Plymell's actual encounters with them and his memories of that time. It is an interesting portrait of the final days of the Beats before it slowly wanes into the rise of the Hippies, the Aquarian age, and the Haight-Ashbury scene.
I really love Plymell's writing style - at times it reads like a Kerouackian travelogue, at other times the story slowly threads its way along on a tightrope of these beautiful fragment-chains of prose, like a poetic Burroughsian cut-up, and at other times, his writing sounds very poetic, sometimes sounding a bit like Ginsberg at his best but Plymell certainly has his own signature sound. I can tell, just through reading this, that Plymell must be a very good poet. You read some beautiful prose .... and the meaning is just out of reach ..... which allows you to dwell on the beautiful sounds of the words that he lines up. A true craftsman.
This ranks up there among the best Beat novels I have read to date - if you have been through all of Kerouac's major prose works as well as Burroughs, definitely try reading Plymell next. There is no actual plot driving it forward (which is a common criticism / trademark of Kerouac's own prose too) but the strength of the prose drives the reader onwards to the next story, the next party, the next orgy, the next bar and ..... before long, you find yourself bleary-eyed but exhilarated. It's suddenly 5 AM, and the fog of San Fran comes in your windows and another day dawns .......
Beautiful prose. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is that some parts were completely baffling to me. I need to read this again .......
I'm on a Beat novel bender right now - first Kirby Doyle, then Charles Plymell, next on the list is Alexander Trocchi.
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December 20, 2021Le livre culte du dernier des beats.
Infatigable voyageur, hipster avant l'heure, figure incontournable de San Francisco qui oeuvra à la rencontre entre Beat Generation et hippies, Charles Plymell a encore trouvé le temps d'abuser de toutes les drogues en vogue dans les années 1960, du jazz au peyotl. Le Dernier des mocassins raconte dans un style incomparable cette vie haute en couleurs. Son auteur le dédie à tous les junkies, freaks, arnaqueurs, criminels, artistes, poètes, homos, flics, cow-boys, camionneurs, ainsi qu'à tous ceux qui ont fait le voyage avec lui sur l'autoroute de la benzédrine.
Infatigable voyageur, hipster avant l'heure, figure incontournable de San Francisco qui oeuvra à la rencontre entre Beat Generation et hippies, Charles Plymell a encore trouvé le temps d'abuser de toutes les drogues en vogue dans les années 1960, du jazz au peyotl. Le Dernier des mocassins raconte dans un style incomparable cette vie haute en couleurs. Son auteur le dédie à tous les junkies, freaks, arnaqueurs, criminels, artistes, poètes, homos, flics, cow-boys, camionneurs, ainsi qu'à tous ceux qui ont fait le voyage avec lui sur l'autoroute de la benzédrine.
June 27, 2015
Definitely an education in the difference between Beat and Hippie and the tumble onward life of poet Charley Plymell's early adulthood presented as a work of creative fiction. Raw in its depictions. Contains marvelous odes to the most unexpected groups of people from the Beats to the Wichita farmer, to pork and bean factory workers to unionize dock workers, native Americans, and his sister Betty--all of whom he appreciated for whom they were--artists, workers, people--each surviving as best they could whoever they were, wherever they found themselves.
December 16, 2025
🇺🇸 READ TO THE END, LIKED IN PIECES 🇺🇸
I was not a big fan of this book, even if the experience was sometimes really interesting.
I found this book by chance in a mystery book selection at a bookstore, and I expected a real travel story. In the end, it was not that at all. This book did not make me travel, but it made me feel many things.
During the reading, I felt a lot of emotions. There are interesting ideas, and some parts really carried me. In these moments, I just wanted to read and stay in the author’s thoughts, without thinking too much. These parts were truly strong.
But these moments are almost always broken by an old way of thinking. The book wants to be progressive, but there is a lot of sexism, toxic masculinity, and also some racism. Many times, one sentence or idea pulled me out of the story, even just after a passage I really liked.
In the end, this was an uneven reading. I did not like the book as a whole, but it stayed with me. More for the experience it gives, and for what it shows about its limits, than for the escape or travel I expected.
***
🇺🇸 LU JUSQU'AU BOUT, AIME PAR FRAGMENTS 🇺🇸
Je n’ai pas été particulièrement fan de cette lecture, même si l’expérience a été, par moments, vraiment intéressante.
Je suis tombée sur ce livre par hasard, dans un lot de livres mystères en librairie, et je m’attendais à une vraie ode au voyage. Finalement, rien à voir. Ce n’est pas un roman qui m’a fait voyager au sens classique du terme, mais plutôt un texte qui m’a confrontée à beaucoup de choses.
J’ai ressenti énormément d’émotions pendant la lecture. Il y a des idées intéressantes, une matière brute, et certains passages m’ont réellement portée. À ces moments-là, j’avais juste envie de lire, de me laisser aller, d’être dans les pensées de l’auteur sans chercher à tout analyser. Ces instants étaient sincèrement forts.
Mais ils sont presque toujours rattrapés par le poids d’une pensée très datée. Le livre se veut progressiste, pourtant le sexisme, une forme de masculinité toxique et même du racisme prennent souvent le dessus. À plusieurs reprises, une remarque ou une vision du monde est venue casser l’élan, parfois juste après un passage que je trouvais pourtant beau ou intense.
Au final, c’est une lecture en dents de scie. Je ne l’ai pas aimée dans son ensemble, mais elle m’a marquée malgré tout. Plus pour l’expérience qu’elle propose, et pour ce qu’elle révèle de ses limites, que pour l’évasion ou le voyage que j’en attendais.
I was not a big fan of this book, even if the experience was sometimes really interesting.
I found this book by chance in a mystery book selection at a bookstore, and I expected a real travel story. In the end, it was not that at all. This book did not make me travel, but it made me feel many things.
During the reading, I felt a lot of emotions. There are interesting ideas, and some parts really carried me. In these moments, I just wanted to read and stay in the author’s thoughts, without thinking too much. These parts were truly strong.
But these moments are almost always broken by an old way of thinking. The book wants to be progressive, but there is a lot of sexism, toxic masculinity, and also some racism. Many times, one sentence or idea pulled me out of the story, even just after a passage I really liked.
In the end, this was an uneven reading. I did not like the book as a whole, but it stayed with me. More for the experience it gives, and for what it shows about its limits, than for the escape or travel I expected.
***
🇺🇸 LU JUSQU'AU BOUT, AIME PAR FRAGMENTS 🇺🇸
Je n’ai pas été particulièrement fan de cette lecture, même si l’expérience a été, par moments, vraiment intéressante.
Je suis tombée sur ce livre par hasard, dans un lot de livres mystères en librairie, et je m’attendais à une vraie ode au voyage. Finalement, rien à voir. Ce n’est pas un roman qui m’a fait voyager au sens classique du terme, mais plutôt un texte qui m’a confrontée à beaucoup de choses.
J’ai ressenti énormément d’émotions pendant la lecture. Il y a des idées intéressantes, une matière brute, et certains passages m’ont réellement portée. À ces moments-là, j’avais juste envie de lire, de me laisser aller, d’être dans les pensées de l’auteur sans chercher à tout analyser. Ces instants étaient sincèrement forts.
Mais ils sont presque toujours rattrapés par le poids d’une pensée très datée. Le livre se veut progressiste, pourtant le sexisme, une forme de masculinité toxique et même du racisme prennent souvent le dessus. À plusieurs reprises, une remarque ou une vision du monde est venue casser l’élan, parfois juste après un passage que je trouvais pourtant beau ou intense.
Au final, c’est une lecture en dents de scie. Je ne l’ai pas aimée dans son ensemble, mais elle m’a marquée malgré tout. Plus pour l’expérience qu’elle propose, et pour ce qu’elle révèle de ses limites, que pour l’évasion ou le voyage que j’en attendais.
September 27, 2018
This book has a number of brilliant moments offset by a number of tedious, rambling pages. Further editing to break it into cohesive sections would have been an improvement. Though for stream-of-conscious writing it is impressive; I imagine this is the type of book Kerouac wishes he could've written.
It's interesting to think how this book was published when Plymell was feeling old and disconnected from the youth movement of the late '60s/early '70s, and how he is still alive today, fifty years later. I can only wonder how he feels in 2018.
It's interesting to think how this book was published when Plymell was feeling old and disconnected from the youth movement of the late '60s/early '70s, and how he is still alive today, fifty years later. I can only wonder how he feels in 2018.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews