Iceberg Slim - Definition and Overview

Iceberg Slim is the pen name of Robert Beck (1918 - 1992), an African American writer.

Born into abject poverty, Beck quickly drifted into criminality, and became a pimp in the brutal Chicago underworld. It was during a 10 month prison sentence in solitary confinement at the Cook County House of Corrections that he finally decided to "square up", and turn to writing.

Beck's first work, 'Pimp' was published in 1969 and was quickly categorised as being typical of the black 'revolutionary' literature then being created; however, Beck's vision was considerably bleaker than most other black writers of the time. 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).