no
then, hipster apologetics draws
~
romantic picture. Indeed, the
New Bohemians themselves, like
any other segment of the middle
class, overwhelmingly favor ·the
bottle over the needle. To be
sure, there really are suicidal
hipsters like those
in
The Con–
nection,
but they are the rela–
tively
rarae aves
of American
addiction.
But even if they weren't so
rare, they would still share the
nature of the whole bird spe–
cies: the drug addict is not an
oracle, but a victim. Though we
are all in one way or another
victims, the effect of hipster
apologetics,
since
it ignores the
$7,500
AWARD
for the winning novel in the
1982 MACMILLAN
FICTION CONTEST
Contest opens December 1. 1961.
and closes February 28. 1962.
For Official Rules, write
Fiction Award Editor
The Macmillan Company
SO Fifth Avenue. New York
n.
N. Y.
economic and social roots of ·the
addict's victimization (and, thus,
his affinity with the non-addict):,
and endows
him
with a. swing–
ing, . cynical knowingness in
which no mere square can par–
take, is to turn the Junkie back
into the Dope Fiend. And, since
the hip junkie seems to have
elected
heroin out of cool hip
awareness, the square is not apt
to feel especially responsible for
his tribulations.
Still, the nation is
gett~
hooked on the Junkie. Agail ..
and again our authors lay his
raffish secrets bare. In this mass
culture, apparently, there is
room even for the last of the
traditional pariahs. While con–
temporary culture can domesti–
cate the traditional pariahs, it
can also mistake their identities
almost as grossly as our fore–
fathers· did. Judging by much of
the current literary evidence, the
Junkie has suffered this ironical
misfortune. The addict's anguish
elicits a horrified shudder, and
his outlaw's wiseness evokes a
poignant throb of envy-in the
square these are starts of non–
recognition and non-responsibil–
ity. Indeed, that's one of the
main charms of the cult of the
goldenarmed oracle: the square
needn't be responsible at all.
Don
W. Kleine
