Beats the hell out of me

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been viewing these boards for a while now, and I never see anything mentioned, during book or literature discussions, about the beat writers.

I think Kerouac’s “On The Road” is a masterpiece. His words flow together so well that it is less like reading and more like experiencing.

Allen Ginsburg is my favorite poet. “America when will we stop the human war? Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb” Were more powerful words ever written?

William S. Burroughs is one of the creepiest, most real writers I have ever read. I read “Junky” and felt the same way someone does when the slow down to watch a car wreck. I haven’t read “Queer” yet, but I am sure I will enjoy that as well.

Well, I respect the dopers opinion, so what do you guys think of the Beat literature?

JB

2

Wasn’t Ginsberg a member of NAMBLA?

3

Yes, he was, but I believe it was some sort of statement about non-conformity as opposed to an expression of carnal desire for little boys.

4

I first read On The Road in high school, then in college discovered Wild Bill and the others. Have to think that some of the finest American literature in the 20th Century was produced by the beats. Don’t think we’ll see anything like them again, sadly.

5

doesn’t NAMBLA have something to do with men fucking young boys? Well, I can see him joining as a big Fuck you to the face of conformoty, but that is pretty strange. But as they say, “I’ve seen the best minds of my generation…”

6

Perhaps the reason you don’t see such discussions is that you’re looking in the wrong forum? We only discuss factual matters in GQ. If you want to know people’s opinions, then the appropriate forum is, oddly enough, In My Humble Opinion.

7

IIRC correctly Ginsburg was quite overt in expressing his carnal love/desire for “boys”. Whether her was simply a ped-inclined innocent and NAMBLA co-opted him (or not) for their own political purposes is a subject for biographers and historians.

8

Funny, but I have been searching the web lately for anything Ginsburg related, and I haven’t read anything about that. You figure if he was a member of NAMBLA, perhaps the most famous member, when I searched Yahoo a NAMBLA sight would pop up. I am glad it didnt.

I dont really think that Ginsburgs sexual preference was for little boys. From what I read he was in to adults, mostly men, although he had an affinity for the word “cunt” I cant imagine that word even being printed in the 50’s. I guess thats what I like about the beats, the total lack of conformity. well, any other thoughts, info, trivia, personal reflections?

JB

9

Like most people who appreciate the Beats, I started reading them when I was around 14.

Kerouac: I’ve never felt any pressing need to read ON THE ROAD again, although I read and enjoyed THE DHARMA BUMS when I was in my 20s. Of the group, I think Jack-o has dated most badly.

Ginsberg: I occasionally pull out the little City Lights editions from my poertry shelf to re-read certain work. I bought the ANNOTATED HOWL when it came out, but haven’t felt obliged to buy any of the great big hardcover collections. I think his best work was his early work, and while I own MIND BREATHS, which takes his poetry up to 1977, I certainly don’t take it out as often as HOWL or KADDISH.

Burroughs: Someone started an IMHO thread on books you didn’t finish and had to go back to later, and I cited NAKED LUNCH. Too strong for me as a teenager, but I was able to handle the homosexual auto-erotic asphyxiation material after I hit my 20s.

So much for the Big Three. Reading their work sent me back to Kenneth Rexroth, who mentored some of 'em from San Francisco, and I like him a lot. His literary essays in CLASSICS REVISITED and MORE CLASSICS REVISITED are even better than his poems, and he wrote the San Francisco section in the WPA GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA, which also makes for fine reading.

I like the IDEA of Gregory Corso and Michael McClure more than the actual poetry…I did buy MINDFIELD, the collected Corso, when it came out, though, and went to a reading by McClure when I was in college. The poetry was negligible, I thought, but we had a nice conversation afterward.

I really enjoy Gary Snyder, the Buddhist nature poet who served as the model for the protagonist in Kerouac’s DHARMA BUMS. His early work is available in RIPRAP and COLD MOUNTAIN POEMS, and NO NATURE is a nice compilation. His longish poem “The Smokey the Bear Sutra” is a laugh riot!

10

I think Jack aged very well. While I do prefer some of his less well know works to OTR (like Dharma Bums and Lonesome Traveler) I think the story of OTR is timeless. Good friends getting together to travel and explore the US, learning hard lessons along the way.

Corso I learned of from a quote in one of Jacks books “standing on a street corner, waiting for no one is POWER” I haven’t read much of his work except “marriage” and the one about loving the atom bomb which he wrote in the shape of a mushroom cloud.

I also have an old city lights edition of Kaddish, and I read it sometimes when i am feeling bad about my own mother, who is battling a shitload of demons herself. I am still looking for a City Lights edition of Howl, because it contains my favorite poem of all time, “america”

JB

11

Errrrrrr…where are you looking? Shoe stores?

HOWL AND OTHE POEMS is still City Lights’ best-selling title, and is easily available everywhere, currently priced at $5.95. Amazon.com will bring it right to your door for $5.35, plus postage.

(My copy is the 21st printing, from April, 1969, at which point it cost a buck.)

12

My brother’s English teacher, Prof. Alapi, was personally groped by Alan Ginsberg. Which puts me three degrees of separation from him.

13

I am looking for a 60’s or even 50’s edition, which is harder to find. My Kaddish is sixth edition, from '63

14

Even though this thread died hours ago, I would like to be the first to congradulate myself for starting a thread that lasted more that three posts. Whee!