Allen Ginsberg

"Wake-up nightmares in Lower East Side, musings in public library, across the U.s. in dream auto, drunk in old Havana, brooding in Mayan ruins, sex daydreams on the West Coast, airplane vision of Kansas, lonely in a leafy cottage, lunch hour in Berkeley ... a wind-up book of dream notes, psalms, journal enigmas, & nude minutes from 1953 to 1960 poems scattered in fugitive magazines here collected now book."

"The prophetic poem that launched a generation when it was first published in 1956 is here presented in a commemorative 40th Anniversary Edition." "When the book arrived from its British printers, it was seized almost immediately by U.S. Customs, and shortly thereafter the San Francisco police arrested its publisher and editor, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, together with the City Lights Bookstore manager, Shigeyoshi Murao. The two of them were charged with disseminating obscene literature, and the case went to trial in the Municipal Court of Judge Clayton Horn. A parade of distinguished literary and academic witnesses persuaded the judge that the title poem was indeed not obscene and that it had "redeeming social significance."" "Thus was Howl and Other Poems freed to become the single most influential poetic work of the post World War II era, with over 800,000 copies now in print."--BOOK JACKET.

"A collection of essential poems, essays, letters, songs, and photographs which aims to introduce new readers to the scope of Allen Ginsberg's work in its prolific and profound diversity"--

Famous for energizing the Beat Generation literary movement upon his historic encounter with Gregory Corso, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs in mid-century New York City, Ginsberg influenced several generations of writers, musicians, and poets. This volume of final poems commemorates the anniversary of Ginsberg's death, and includes the verses he wrote in the years shortly before he died.

These are earliest journals and never-before-published poems of legendary Beat Generation avatar and poet extraordinaire Allen Ginsberg. Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) kept journals throughout his entire life, beginning at the age of eleven. These first journals detail the inner thoughts of the awkward boy from New Jersey, who would become the major poet and spokesperson of the literary phenomenon called the Beat Generation. "The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice" covers the most important and formative years of Ginsberg's storied life. It was during these years that he met Jack Kerouac and William S Burroughs, both of whom would become lifelong friends and significant literary figures. Ginsberg's journals - so candid he insisted they be published only after his death - also document his relationships with such notable figures of Beat lore as Carl Solomon, Lucien Carr and Herbert Huncke. Conversations with Kerouac, his beloved muse Neal Cassady and others have been transcribed from Ginsberg's memory and information will be found here relating to the famous murder of David Kammerer by Carr - a startlingly violent chapter in Beat prehistory - which has been credited in "New York" magazine as "giving birth to the Beat Generation". It was also during this period that he began to recognize his homosexuality, and to think of himself as a poet. Illustrated with photos from Ginsberg's private archive and enhanced by an appendix of over 100 of his earliest poems, "The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice" is a major literary event.

"The interviews collected in Spontaneous Mind, chronologically arranged and in some cases previously unpublished, were conducted throughout Allen Ginsberg's long career. Always a candid and engaging subject, Ginsberg considered the interview an art form, as well as an opportunity to get his message across to many people, which, as a student of Eastern religions, he believed was his spiritual obligation. In these interviews, dating from the late 1950s to the mid-1990s, Ginsberg speaks frankly about his life, his work, and the events of his time.". "Ginsberg's progressive and controversial views on politics and censorship dominate his interviews, from his conversation with the conservative William F. Buckley on PBS to his comments in the Dartmouth Review about U.S. policy in Central America to his testimony at the Chicago Seven trial. Ginsberg discusses his literary influences, including Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Walt Whitman, and William Blake, and offers insights into his own poetry, particularly his innovations in rhythm, meter, and syllable emphasis. A well-known experimenter with drugs, campaigner for their legalization, and believer in their ability to expand consciousness, Ginsberg here describes his LSD trips and his marijuana highs, and explains how they influenced the creation of "Kaddish" and other works. And he talks about his personal life with candor, revealing details of his sexual affairs with fellow Beats Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, and Neal Cassady, and his longtime relationship with Peter Orlovsky."--BOOK JACKET.