Alexander Trocchi

Alexander Trocchi was a Scottish novelist, who was born in Glasgow in 1925 as the son of an Italian father and died in London on April 15, 1984.

Related Topics:
Glasgow - 1925 - April 15 - 1984

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He lived in Paris late 1940s to early 1950s and edited the literary magazine Merlin, which published Henry Miller, Samuel Beckett, Christopher Logue and Pablo Neruda, among others. Trocchi claimed that this journal came to an end when the US State Department cancelled its many subscriptions in protest over an article by Jean-Paul Sartre praising the homo-eroticism of Jean Genet. Though established somewhat in rivalry with the Paris Review, George Plimpton also served on its editorial board.

Related Topics:
1940s - 1950s - Merlin - Henry Miller - Samuel Beckett - Christopher Logue - Pablo Neruda - US State Department - Jean-Paul Sartre - Jean Genet - Paris Review - George Plimpton

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maurice Girodias published many of Trocchi's novels through the notorious Olympia Press. He often wrote these under pen names, such as Frances Lengel, Frank Harris and Carmencita de las Lunas.

Related Topics:
Maurice Girodias - Olympia Press

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was at this time that Trocchi acquired his lifelong heroin addiction. He left Paris for the United States and spent time in Taos, New Mexico, before settling in New York City. His time is chronicled in the novel Cain's Book which became something of a sensation at the time.

Related Topics:
Heroin - Taos, New Mexico - New York City

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In October 1955 he became involved with the Lettrist International and subsequently with the Situationist International.

Related Topics:
1955 - Lettrist International - Situationist International

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the late 1950s he lived in Venice, California, then the center of the southern California Beat Generation.

Related Topics:
1950s - Venice - California - Beat Generation

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His text "Invisible Insurrection of a Million Minds" was published in the Scottish journal New Saltire in 1962 and subsequently as "Technique du Coup du Monde" in Internationale Situationniste number 8. It proposed an international "spontaneous university" as a cultural force and marked the beginning of his movement towards his sigma project, which played a formative part in the UK Underground.

Related Topics:
1962 - UK Underground

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After a memorable appearance at the 1962 Edinburgh Writers Festival (where Hugh MacDiarmid denounced him as "cosmopolitan scum"), and Trocchi claimed "sodomy" as a basis for his writing, Trocchi then moved to London, where he remained for the rest of his life. He began a new novel, The Long Book which never appeared, although it was announced by his publisher. Much of his sporadic work of the 1960s was collected as The Sigma Portfolio.

Related Topics:
1962 - Hugh MacDiarmid - 1960s

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Trocchi continued writing but published little. He also became a book dealer/drug dealer with a small business near his Kensington home. He was known in the Notting Hill locale as 'Scots Alec'.

Related Topics:
Small business - Kensington

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Interest in Trocchi and his role in the avant-garde movements of the mid 20th century began to rise soon after his death. Edinburgh Review published a "Trocchi Number" in 1985 and their parent house published a biography and anthology in 1991. During the 1990s, various American and Scottish publishers (most notably Rebel Inc.) reissued his originally pseudonymous Olympia Press novels and a retrospective of his articles for Merlin and others, A Life in Pieces (1997), was issued in response to revived interest in his life and work by a younger generation. His early novel Young Adam was finally adapted to film in 2003 after several years of wrangling over finance.

Related Topics:
Edinburgh Review - Rebel Inc. - Young Adam - 2003

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~