# Lawrence Ferlinghetti Coming Out with Latest Novel/Autobiography "Little Boy" at Age 100 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2019, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawrence-ferlinghetti-coming-out-with-latest-novel-autobiography-little-boy-at-age-100/831403 "2019-03-20T02:22:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawrence-ferlinghetti-coming-out-with-latest-novel-autobiography-little-boy-at-age-100/831403/1 "2019-03-20T02:22:36Z")
Here is the blurb: > [@](#): > > From the famed publisher and poet, author of the million-copy-selling collection _A Coney Island of the Mind_, his literary last will and testament — part autobiography, part summing up, part Beat-inflected torrent of language and feeling, and all magical. > > In this unapologetically unclassifiable work Lawrence Ferlinghetti lets loose an exhilarating rush of language to craft what might be termed a closing statement about his highly significant and productive 99 years on this planet. The “Little Boy” of the title is Ferlinghetti himself as a child, shuffled from his overburdened mother to his French aunt to foster childhood with a rich Bronxville family. Service in World War Two (including the D-Day landing), graduate work, and a scholar gypsy’s vagabond life in Paris followed. These biographical reminiscences are interweaved with Allen Ginsberg-esque high energy bursts of raw emotion, rumination, reflection, reminiscence and prognostication on what we may face as a species on Planet Earth in the future. Little Boy is a magical font of literary lore with allusions galore, a final repository of hard-earned and durable wisdom, a compositional high wire act without a net (or all that much punctuation) and just a gas and an inspiration to read. A review of _Little Boy_: > **[Review | Lawrence Ferlinghetti is about to turn 100, and he hasn’t mellowed....](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/lawrence-ferlinghetti-is-about-to-turn-100-and-he-hasnt-mellowed-at-all/2019/03/14/bdafafc0-45c4-11e9-aaf8-4512a6fe3439_story.html)** > > “Little Boy” is a stream-of-consciousness explosion of personal memories and political rants. The last time I started (but didn’t finish) reading something of his was last century of a book published in the 1950s-60s. So I had assumed he was long since dead. But his 100th birthday is coming up March 24th, and they are celebrating it in San Francisco: > **[Literary Icon Lawrence Ferlinghetti Marks His 100th Birthday With New Work |...](https://www.kqed.org/news/11732637/literary-icon-lawrence-ferlinghetti-marks-his-100th-birthday-with-new-work)** > > The San Francisco poet, publisher and activist is coming out with a new novel and celebrating his centennial on March 24. And he's as fiery as ever. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawrence-ferlinghetti-coming-out-with-latest-novel-autobiography-little-boy-at-age-100/831403/2 "2021-02-23T23:02:13Z")
He has passed away at age 101: > **[Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and founder of City Lights bookshop, dies aged 101](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/23/lawrence-ferlinghetti-poet-founder-city-lights-bookshop-dies-aged-101)** > > Poet and countercultural pioneer put on trial for publishing Allen Ginsberg’s Howl went on to become a beloved icon of San Francisco ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawrence-ferlinghetti-coming-out-with-latest-novel-autobiography-little-boy-at-age-100/831403/3 "2021-02-23T23:11:06Z")
My first reaction is “He was still alive!”