Mason Hoffenberg(1922-1986)
- Writer
Mason Hoffenberg was an American writer whose major claim to fame is
having written the famous "dirty book"
Candy (1968) in collaboration with
Terry Southern. In December 1922,
Hoffenberg was born in New York City into a wealthy Jewish family
headed by patriarch Isidore Hoffenberg, a successful, self-made
businessman. He was attending Olivet College in 1944 when he was
drafted and became a member of the U.S. Army Air Force.
Hoffenberg was stationed in England and later in Belgium, France and Germany as part of the post-war Allied occupation army. He returned to New York and studied on the G.I. Bill, though he continued to return to Paris, where he used his G.I. benefits to study at The Sorbonne. In New York, he lived in Greenwich Village during the rise of the beatniks and shared an apartment with the African American novelist James Baldwin.
He became part of the Village literary scene of the 1950s, where he knew Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Back in Paris, he married a Frenchwoman in 1953, with whom he had children. Working for Agence France Presse, he became friends with other American expatriates, including Kerouac and Ginsberg's close friend William S. Burroughs.
He was one of the writers who wrote "dirty books" for the Olympia Press, which brought him into collaboration with Southern, which became a best-seller when it was published in the U.S. in the 1960s. Hoffenberg never had another writing success after Candy, unlike Southern, who became famous. He became a heroin addict and then kicked the habit with the help of methadone. He eventually became an alcoholic.
Mason Hoffenberg died of cancer on June 1, 1986 in New York City. He was 63 years old.
Hoffenberg was stationed in England and later in Belgium, France and Germany as part of the post-war Allied occupation army. He returned to New York and studied on the G.I. Bill, though he continued to return to Paris, where he used his G.I. benefits to study at The Sorbonne. In New York, he lived in Greenwich Village during the rise of the beatniks and shared an apartment with the African American novelist James Baldwin.
He became part of the Village literary scene of the 1950s, where he knew Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Back in Paris, he married a Frenchwoman in 1953, with whom he had children. Working for Agence France Presse, he became friends with other American expatriates, including Kerouac and Ginsberg's close friend William S. Burroughs.
He was one of the writers who wrote "dirty books" for the Olympia Press, which brought him into collaboration with Southern, which became a best-seller when it was published in the U.S. in the 1960s. Hoffenberg never had another writing success after Candy, unlike Southern, who became famous. He became a heroin addict and then kicked the habit with the help of methadone. He eventually became an alcoholic.
Mason Hoffenberg died of cancer on June 1, 1986 in New York City. He was 63 years old.
