Oh, I almost forgot. It's been over a week since my actual birthday (unless they've been lying to me), but one of the presents I got was in a plain brown wrapper.
I joked, 'It better be pornography.'
It was 'Candy' by Terry Southern, one of my favorite writers ever. I remember finding the paper back in Dad's shelves, and his retreival of it, horrified that a grade-schooler would read it. The paperback he had, it had a disclaimer along the 'adults only' line on the cover.
I mentioned to him a while back that I love Southern, but haven't gotten around to grabbing that book. 'The Magic Christian' is my favorite, 'Flash and Filligree' is disappointing in a way, but in context was brilliant. His later work, 'Texas Summer' and 'Red Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes' was good, if not as great. Even then, 'Big Nail' is an awesome character, lots of thematic implications.
What was in the plain brown wrapper? 'Candy.' Hardback, Putnam sixth 'impression' with Mason Hoffenberg given co-author credit I'd previously missed. I haven't collected 'Blue Movie,' but I have seen a blue movie made from the Southern book. It even made the same up-front allusion to Volataire's 'Candide,' but it's typical early 1970s porno. In fact, the version I saw was on Betamax. Gotta wonder if 'Blue Movie' wasn't inspired by a porno flick adpated without permission from 'Candy.' There was a U.K. produce 'Candy' which was both lame and wildly off-course. But probably the result of the Dr. Strangelove connection, since Southern collaborated on the Dr. Strangelove flick and Sellers is on record that 'Magic Christian' is the funniest novel ever.
So maybe Terry Southern, like Jazz and the atomic bomb is more widely appreciated overseas than at home...
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