The Finger

'He felt a sudden deep pity for the finger joint that lay there on the dresser, a few drops of blood
gathering around the white bone.' A deliberately severed finger, a junky's Christmas miracle and a
Tangier con-artist, among others, feature in these hallucinogenic sketches and stories from the infamous beat legend. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic
Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary,
international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin,Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Stevie Smith; essays radical and inspiring poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outerspace.