In 1977, twenty years after the publication of his landmark poem "Howl," and Jack Kerouac's seminal book On the Road, Allen Ginsberg decided it was time to teach a course on the literary history of the Beat Generation. Through the creation of this course, which he ended up teaching five times, first at the Naropa Institute and later at Brooklyn College, Ginsberg saw an opportunity to present the history of Beat Literature in his own inimitable way. Compiled and edited by renowned Beat scholar Bill Morgan, and with an introduction by Anne Waldman, The Best Minds of My Generation presents the lectures in edited form, complete with notes, and paints a portrait of the Beats as Ginsberg knew them: friends, confidantes, literary mentors, and fellow revolutionaries.
Ginsberg was seminal to the creation of a public perception of Beat writers and knew all of the major figures personally, making him uniquely qualified to be the historian of the movement. In The Best Minds of My Generation, Ginsberg shares anecdotes of meeting Kerouac, Burroughs, and other writers for the first time, explains his own poetics, elucidates the importance of music to Beat writing, discusses visual influences and the cut-up method, and paints a portrait of a group who were leading a literary revolution. For Beat aficionados and neophytes alike, The Best Minds of My Generation is a personal yet critical look at one of the most important literary movements of the twentieth century.
Published for the first time, a seminal series of lectures on Beat history given by Ginsberg himself
Selling and Marketing Points
Necessary reading for anyone interested in Beat history, A Literary History of the Beat Generation is the only collection of Ginsberg's lectures, which were given at Naropa Institute for the first time in 1977, and later at Brooklyn College. This is an ideal resource for students and academics, as well as fans of Beat writing.
Refreshingly unacademic, the lectures are personal and digressive - Ginsberg shares anecdotes of meeting Kerouac and Burroughs and other writers for the first time, explains his own poetics, elucidates the importance of music to Beat writing, discusses visual influences and the cut-up method, and paints a portrait of a group who were leading a literary revolution.
The lectures contain passages from many literary works by Beat writers together with Ginsberg's exegesis. As such, the book functions as an introduction to many key Beat texts.
The book is edited by Ginsberg specialist Bill Morgan, who worked extensively with Ginsberg in his archives.
This edition is introduced by renowned poet Anne Waldman, whom Ginsberg has called his "spiritual wife." Waldman was cofounder, with Ginsberg, of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.
Grove is bolstering its backlist Ginsberg titles, including Wait Till I'm Dead, Indian Journals, and Journals: Early Fifties, Early Sixties.
Praise for The Best Minds of My Generation:
"A marvelous feat of editing and reorganization . . . A compact and often spellbinding text, preserving intact the story of the literary movement Ginsberg led, promoted and never ceased to embody . . . Put together by an erudite genius of encyclopedic recall."
-New York Times Book Review
"Scholarly, wide-ranging and full of penetrating insight and fascinating literary gossip, the book is a major contribution to the core Beat canon, and provides an astonishingly intimate view of a homegrown American literary movement that would have a generative influence worldwide . . .
Best Minds situates the Beats in cultural history in a way that no other exploration of their work does."
-San Francisco Chronicle
"Bill Morgan has culled
The Best Minds of My Generation from two decades of lectures
delivered by Ginsberg, the Beats' chief mouthpiece, lit hustler, chronicler and flamekeeper . . .
The Best Minds of My Generation is a reminder that great writing is not always about good taste or approved schools of technique, but engagement, energy and revolt."
-Irish Times
"Jack Kerouac may have coined the term
Beat Generation, but it was Ginsberg's indefatigable energy that shaped and sustained one of the most significant movements in American literature . . . Morgan, a leading authority on Ginsberg and author of numerous books on the Beat Generation, has done a superb job organizing and editing the material, while preserving the poet's voice and lecture style . . . Essential reading."
-Library Journal
"A gold mine for anyone interested in beat literature . . . Ginsberg reads and thinks like a poet; interested in language and style, he abandons narrative to leap from image to image, yoking grandiloquent statements with pungent summations and deadpan remarks. Fans of the period will embrace Ginsberg's raconteur style and insider knowledge about his friends and their achievements."
-Publishers Weekly
"Authoritatively edited by Morgan from course material and tapes . . . While many classes were as free-wheeling, digressive, and opinionated as anyone might expect from Ginsberg, most offered close readings, literary background, candid recollections, and cogent analyses, highlighting both craft and literary influence . . . A rich sourcebook for literary historians and fans of the passionate, iconoclastic Beats."
-Kirkus Reviews
"A compilation sure to please followers of the Beat Generation's Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and others."
-OutClique
