When I was in high school, boys would walk up to me and say, "Candy, like the book?" I knew the book existed because my friends in South America had told me about it. I knew it was pornographic. I had no idea what it was though. I would always say, "No." (To this day, I can't figure out how the boys knew about this book.)I finally got a copy of Candy. It is by Terry Southern who died in 1995. The book was written in 1958 when I was 5 years old.
The dust cover says it is a satire on Voltaire's Candide. Candide was a Freshman Studies book at Lawrence, so having taught it I know it pretty well. Candy also appears to be considerably less pornographic (and probably more interesting) than I thought. It will be interesting reading both Candy and Lolita. Maybe I'll read them back to back.Here are some comments on Candy by "Dunzy," who responded to my post on the subject on BookCrossing. (Dunzy happens to be very knowledgeable about a lot of things.)
Southern's credits go on and on: "Dr. Strangelove", "Barbarella", "Easy Rider", protogonzo journalism, etc. See the lively site maintained by his son, Nile: http://www.terrysouthern.com/. (Nile is the author of "The Candy Men", an affectionate memoir that came out last year.)
Dunzy's BookCrossing website is at http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Dunzy.
Here's more from Dunzy:
“Maxwell Kenton” was Southern’s nom-de-plume on Candy’s first edition. Southern had two other books in typescript and didn’t want to identify himself with a hot-and-hasty bit of Olympia Press trash. Southern asked Mason Hoffenberg to help him for the sake of a quick turnaround. They were both young writers starving picturesquely in Paris, and they needed the money. Though the book was a huge success, no real money went to the writers or the original publisher; bootleggers made a fortune.
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