Book Description
An epic poem celebrating the activist, visionary, and original poetic mind, Allen Ginsberg--in many ways the avatar of the Beat Generation--inaugurated the countercultural zeitgeist of the '50s and '60s with his brazen poetry and fluorescent persona. In this allusive, inspired narrative poem, Edward Sanders, one of the Beats' favorite sons and a Ginsberg contemporary and friend, charts a path through what he calls the "Forest Ginsberg."
An unsentimental elegy, a grand tribute, a masterful blazon, The Poetry and Life of Allen Ginsberg shares with us the man, his art, and his times in the confident folksy cadence of a Ginsberg intimate and fellow poet, a man who shares the ecumenical outlook and resolute social conscience of the king of the Beats. Sanders takes us chronologically through history as witnessed, reflected, and created by Ginsberg, introducing us to Ginsberg's friends and foes and the luminaries and common men alike at the center and on the periphery of his sphere. This is a dazzling portrait of a man and his passionately promulgated world view that mines the riches of the literary, cultural, and political history of the 20th century to celebrate the poet whose influence pervades history and whose history comments on an aspect of who we are as Americans.
About the Author
Edward Sanders is a poet and journalist. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in poetry and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in poetry, he is the editor of the Woodstock Journal and author of many books of poetry, most recently 1968: A History in Verse and volume one of America: A History in Verse. His chronicle of Charles Manson and associates, The Family, was a national bestseller.
Poetry and Life of Allen Ginsberg: A Narrative Poem FROM THE PUBLISHER
Ginsberg's powerful and unflinchingly honest poetry empowered the counterculture of the 50s and 60s along with his memorable persona and his messages of peace and love. In this biographical narrative poem, Ed Sanders, a Ginsberg contemporary and friend, and one of the Beats' favorite sons, charts a path through what he calls the "Forest Ginsberg."" "An unsentimental elegy, an epic tribute, a dramatic documentary portrait, The Poetry and Life of Allen Ginsberg reveals in detail the man and the artist through the eyes and in the voice of a Ginsberg intimate, a fellow poet and admirer, a man who shares the ecumenical outlook and resolute social conscience of one of our century's most popular and controversial literary figures. Sanders leads us chronologically through history as witnessed, reflected and created by Ginsberg, introducing us to Ginsberg's friends and foes and the luminaries and common men and women alike that populated his world. Ed Sanders's poem is a journalistic biography of a man and his passionately unique world view.