A good primer to convince readers who have not experienced the work of Ferlinghetti and Ginsberg to give them a try.
Literary archivist Morgan (Beat Atlas: A State by State Guide to the Beat Generation in America, 2011, etc.) collects the correspondence of Ferlinghetti (Blasts Cries Laughter, 2014, etc.) and Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), beginning with Ginsberg’s first publication Howl and Other Poems (1955).
Limiting his comments to background information, Morgan lets Ginsberg’s personality emerge above and beyond what his poetry reveals. In addition to his work as a leading poet and painter, Ferlinghetti founded City Lights Books in San Francisco, a haven for beat poets and other countercultural writers. Their relationship, during which he published much of Ginsberg’s work, lasted for the next 25 years. The letters are a perfect picture of the San Francisco Renaissance and the rise of the beat poets, with Ginsberg at the top of the heap. Not only was he the best, but Ginsberg also knew everyone and their work. He ceaselessly recommended writers to Ferlinghetti, who tended away from the Buddhist-inspired poets toward the more European-inspired ones. While there is some discussion of editing problems, these letters are much more tuned to both men’s work, the “hip” generation that experimented with drugs and the poetry that was influenced by their use. The big New York publishers often tried to lure Ginsberg away, but Ferlinghetti’s defense of Howl and Other Poems against obscenity charges ensured Ginsberg’s loyalty, as well as their friendship. Ginsberg was not only a poet; he was a world traveler who kept copious journals, many of which were later printed. He was also totally honest about his drug use and noted which works were accomplished under the effect of a specific substance. Having some familiarity with both men’s work is actually unnecessary, as their lives and outlooks come through in this compilation of their correspondence.
A good primer to convince readers who have not experienced the work of Ferlinghetti and Ginsberg to give them a try.Pub Date: June 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-87286-686-7
Page Count: 292
Publisher: City Lights
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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