Iceberg Slim

Pen name for Robert Beck 1918-1992. Born into abject poverty, Beck quickly drifted into criminality, and became a pimp in the brutal Chicago underworld. He was incarcerated several times in conjunction with his crimes, including a stretch in Leavenworth and spent a 10 month prison sentence in solitary confinement at Cook County House of Corrections in 1960. It was this last stretch that finally motivated Iceberg to "square up", and take to writing about his life experiences rather than pursuing a life of crime. His first work 'Pimp' was published in 1969 and was quickly categorised as being typical of the black 'revolutionary' literature then being created: Beck's vision was considerably bleaker than most other black writers of the time, however. Other novels include 'Trick Baby' (1973) and 'Death Wish'. As a Guardian obituary put it, 'each one of his novels seemed bleaker and more violent than the last'. Beck is one of the most powerful of black writers, as well as being part of the long tradition of American writers who turned their back on the mainstream (writers like Hubert Selby Jr. and William Burroughs).