Terry SouthernRed Dirt Marijuana & Other Tastes

Red Dirt Marijuana is a collection of Terry Southern's short stories.What's appealing about this are the snapshots of Beat and Hippie culture, which Southern captures within the adventures and colloquialisms of his writing. The stories themselves are variable (as with many collections of short stories) but largely speaking no more than reasonably good, some with quite neat twists. However there's the odd phrase here and there which really make this worth reading. He does crown it by the final story, The Blood Of A Wig, which is very good indeed.

Terry Southern's "Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes" is a superb collection of Southern's shorter work, containing what is, for my money, the essence of Terry Southern. The varied imagination of Southern is on full display here. "Red-Dirt Marijuana" and "Razor Fight" are classic depictions of life in Texas(these stories and one other here would later be worked into his novel "Texas Summer"). "Apartment to Exchange"(a favourite of yrs. truly) and "The Sun and the Still-Born Stars" explore the surrealistic side of Southern's imagination while his classic "the Road Out of Axotle" explores the artistic boundary where the real and the surreal meet and mix. "You Gotta Leave Your Mark" seems more in the vein of Farrell-like realism whereas the uncharacteristically understated (and underrated)stories "The Butcher" and "The Automatic Gate" employ a kind of hyper-realism bordering on magic realism. Terry Southern examines the perils of being hip in his stories "You're Too Hip, Baby"(an unspeakably great story and a favourite of mine) and "The Night the Bird Blew For Doctor Warner." "Put-Down" is a priceless depiction of bored, thrill-seeking students - perhaps also an ironic examination of the perils of being hip. In spite of his stated admiration for Hemingway, Southern seems to take a sly poke at the Hemingway mentality in "The Face of the Arena", deflating the whole 'macho' world of Spanish bullfighting(another underestimated story, in my opinion). Big T even proves himself to be a pioneer of the so-called New Journalism in his stories "Twirling at Ole Miss"(quintessential Southern) and the hilarious "I Am Mike Hammer"(a favourite of Mordecai Richler). William Burroughs seemed to think "Blood of a Wig" sums up modern (post-modern?) reality - I'd take the good doctor's word for it. The only negligible pieces here are "Scandale at the Dumpling Shop" and "A Change of Style"(the latter of which seems like the sort of joke Lenny Bruce would tell on an off-night). These are easily ignored. Glory in the weird and wonderful perceptions of the late, great Terry Southern. There are many rooms in Terry Southern's mansion - feel free to look around. This collection is absolutely essential and never, ever should go out of print. Every generation deserves the right to discover the Big T. Hip, baby. Greg Cameron, Surrey, B.C., Canada.