A fix of Alexander Trocchi: Cain's Book (1960)

There will be readers (if there are any) who know of Trocchi's writings through the fairly recent movie "Young Adam" (2003) directed by David Mackenzie and starring A class actors Ewan McGregor a and Tilda Swinton. I came across his writings through a reference in a book, and the particular title in John Calder's biography, Pursuit: http://www.oneworldclassics.com/pursuit-p-305-book.html
At first glance, the book as autobiographical novel Cain's Book (1960) with its wonderful picture of a scow, is the usual tough-guy-delinquent-junkie-existentialist novel, the Jean Genet, Henry Miller, William Burroughs type. It has a quote from Sade for God's sake with MAINLINES running from top to bottom. But as soon as you cross that threshol, you find out that Trocchi belongs also to the naturalist school, the Jack London, Theodor Dreiser, James T. Farrell (Studs Lonigan) school.

My scow is tied up in the canal at Flushing, N.Y., alongside the landing stage of the Mac Asphalt and Construction Corporation. It is now just after five in the afternoon. Today at this time it is still afternoon, and the sun, striking the cinderblocks of the main building of the works, has turned them pink. The motor cranes and the decks of the other scows tied up round about are deserted.
Half an hour ago I gave myself a fix. (page. 9.)

Pardon, the expression, but after this entree, I was hooked. We really get inside the hero's head. The intertextuality and self-reflexivity of this novel, where he often refers to the notes that went into the construction of the book, and refers to the novel itself throughout, breaks that golden rule - do not write about writing. Fuck that. I love reading about how writers became writers and the process. Next chapter, we have Cocteau in French, more details about what he was doing, i.e. working on the scow. A little piece on marijuana. Then later the description of two junkies, Tom, Fay and Tom's dog. He doesn't mince words in his description. The life of a junkie that has gone on beyond the possibility of "retreat", is really an end-game of self-destruction, sinking lower and lower - to become society's untouchable. Sad. Just think in Copenhagen they are going to have fix cabins that will have videos. The hero in the novel, at this point is able to keep the habit under control - therefore preach and be metaphysical. The kind of S.T. Coleridge approach. We as readers are fix-tourists.