as an aside, i plan to start writing more. i watched a documentary on allen ginsberg tonight and his life has inspired me to write again. like kerouac always does.
first thought, best thought...
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Read a book recently you would I think find innaresting (Burroughs' spelling) - the Beat Hotel, about Ginsy, Corso and mostly Burroughs living in the Beat Hotel in Paris from '58 through '63. Herein you learn a few things: 1) These guys were really dedicated. it took Burroughs a couple of years to get Naked Lunch published by Girodias, later hailed as an underground publishing hero, and then only because of Ginsberg's incredible persistence. So getting published has never been easy - and despite the writer myth, may have been harder then. Which I find both comforting and distubing.
2) These guys were really nuts. Reading this book, you're not sure you'd want them as friends, or at least not as friends you had living next door. The dope, and all that gay sex - they really didn't like women. Ironically, only Ginsberg seemed to like women as women. Corso liked to fuck them, but didn't much like them, and Burroughs, that wacky guy, wanted to see them wiped off the face of the earth.
it's a great book, because it doesn't pull punches about them - that they were basically mysoginistic - and that a lot of their flaws became the flaws of the counter-culture which persisted right until said counter-culture expired somewhere back in the 90's. But it also captures their wonderful and very American energy and playfulness - brilliant children one and all. Worth it just for the description of Ginsberg and Corso meeting Breton and some of the other surrealists - stiff, formal Frenchman, bound by old world social rules whatever their ideology confronted by these insane and very drunk Americans. Ginsberg cuts off Breton's tie and attempts to eat it - because it's a surrealist thing to do.
sounds interesting for sure. i'll check it out. ginsberg just liked people in general. amazing guy.
the ginsberg doc, btw, is simply incredible ('life and time of allen ginsberg'). incredibly intimate portrait of the guy. for example, he talks about the time he lost his virginity...to neal cassady. he talks about how introverted and shy he actually was. incredible film.
also there's a short clip of ginsberg and dylan at kerouac's grave tlaking about poets and famous gravesites they've both visited.
on the bonus disc are dozens of interviews with friends of his, including johnny depp and bono. depp almost breaks down crying while talking about ginsberg. bono has a great story of how when ginsberg dies they auctioned off all his belongings. bono noticed an oscar wilde book on the block, and realizing he had lost his copy years before, decided to bid on it. when it arrived in the mail,bono opened the cover and found the inscription: "to allen, from bono".
2 comments:
Read a book recently you would I think find innaresting (Burroughs' spelling) - the Beat Hotel, about Ginsy, Corso and mostly Burroughs living in the Beat Hotel in Paris from '58 through '63. Herein you learn a few things:
1) These guys were really dedicated. it took Burroughs a couple of years to get Naked Lunch published by Girodias, later hailed as an underground publishing hero, and then only because of Ginsberg's incredible persistence. So getting published has never been easy - and despite the writer myth, may have been harder then. Which I find both comforting and distubing.
2) These guys were really nuts. Reading this book, you're not sure you'd want them as friends, or at least not as friends you had living next door. The dope, and all that gay sex - they really didn't like women. Ironically, only Ginsberg seemed to like women as women. Corso liked to fuck them, but didn't much like them, and Burroughs, that wacky guy, wanted to see them wiped off the face of the earth.
it's a great book, because it doesn't pull punches about them - that they were basically mysoginistic - and that a lot of their flaws became the flaws of the counter-culture which persisted right until said counter-culture expired somewhere back in the 90's. But it also captures their wonderful and very American energy and playfulness - brilliant children one and all. Worth it just for the description of Ginsberg and Corso meeting Breton and some of the other surrealists - stiff, formal Frenchman, bound by old world social rules whatever their ideology confronted by these insane and very drunk Americans. Ginsberg cuts off Breton's tie and attempts to eat it - because it's a surrealist thing to do.
sounds interesting for sure. i'll check it out. ginsberg just liked people in general. amazing guy.
the ginsberg doc, btw, is simply incredible ('life and time of allen ginsberg'). incredibly intimate portrait of the guy. for example, he talks about the time he lost his virginity...to neal cassady. he talks about how introverted and shy he actually was. incredible film.
also there's a short clip of ginsberg and dylan at kerouac's grave tlaking about poets and famous gravesites they've both visited.
on the bonus disc are dozens of interviews with friends of his, including johnny depp and bono. depp almost breaks down crying while talking about ginsberg. bono has a great story of how when ginsberg dies they auctioned off all his belongings. bono noticed an oscar wilde book on the block, and realizing he had lost his copy years before, decided to bid on it. when it arrived in the mail,bono opened the cover and found the inscription: "to allen, from bono".
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