Wasn't it Norman Mailer's "Naked and the Dead"? He wrote the
language the soldiers spoke, but had to change it to
"fug".
As for it being accepted into literature, I'm all for that. I
mean, there's a big difference between what being literary
really means (pushing boundaries, keeping up to date or a
step ahead of language, unique and individual way to see the
world) vs. what so many people think being literary is
"supposed" to mean (lush, overly-poetic, archaic-sounding,
delicate). While it can be that, too, it isn't only that.
That's why I've been really big lately on hard-boiled folks
like Ellroy and Pelecanos who are playing on the boundaries,
writing really strong stuff by making it messy. It's just
more interesting to see the form morph in these ways that
stick to the standard "coloring in the lines".
Neil Smith
> Am just reading Pelecanos's "The Sweet Forever" and
liking it very
> much. But alongside with Ellroy, it made me think
when the words
> "fuck" and "fucking" got accepted into literature,
i.e. what was the
> first book where those words were mentioned.
.
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