Alexander Trocchi

Alexander Trocchi was a Scottish novelist, who was born in Glasgow in 1925 as the son of an italian father and died in London on April 15, 1984.

He lived in Paris late 1940s to early 1950s and edited the literary journal "Merlin." Trocchi claimed that this journal came to an end when the US State Department cancelled its many subscriptions in protest over an article by Jean-Paul Sartre.

Maurice Girodias published many of Trocchi's novels through the notorious Olympia Press.

It was at this time that Trocchi acquired his lifelong heroin addiction. He left Paris for the United States and spent time in Taos, New Mexico, before settling in New York City. His time is chronicled in the novel "Cain's Book" which became something of a sensation at the time.

In October 1955 he became involved with the Lettrist International and subsequently with the Situationist International.

After an appearance at the 1962 Edinburgh Writers Festival Trocchi moved to London, where he remained for the rest of his life. He began a new novel, "The Long Book" which never appeared, although it was announced by his publisher. Much of his sporadic work of the 1960s was collected as "The Sigma Portfolio."

Trocchi continued writing but published little. He also became a book dealer/drug dealer with a small business near his Kensington home. He was known locally as Scots Alec.