HOWL and Other Poems (The Pocket Poets - 50th Anniversary edition) "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked---"

Allen Ginsberg, with an Introduction by William Carlos Williams [Edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti]

ISBN 10: 0872860175 / ISBN 13: 9780872860179

Published by City Lights Books, San Francisco, California, USA, 2006

About this Item

The special 50th Anniversary edition of this famous work by Allen Ginsberg, published as a paperback original in 2006. City Lights originally published the book in 1956. Number Four in the Pocket Poets Series. With a two-page Introduction entitled "Howl for Carl Solomon" by William Carlos Williams. ***Near fine in the iconic black & white glossy card covers. ***Please note that the covers are in fine condition as they have been laminated by a previous owner. No creases or tears. Internally also near fine with no inscriptions or annotations. Pages clean. No creases or tears. The endpapers are dark red. Spine tight. ***158mm x 124mm. 57 pages plus a two-page complete list of published works by Allen Ginsberg at the back of the book. ***"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked---" [The mesmerising first line of "Howl"] ***'Irwin Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 - April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Generation. He vigorously opposed militarism, economic materialism, and sexual repression, and he embodied various aspects of this counterculture with his views on drugs, sex, multiculturalism, hostility to bureaucracy, and openness to Eastern religions. Ginsberg is best known for his poem "Howl", in which he denounced what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States. San Francisco police and US Customs seized "Howl" in 1956, and it attracted widespread publicity in 1957 when it became the subject of an obscenity trial, as it described heterosexual and homosexual sex at a time when sodomy laws made (male) homosexual acts a crime in every state. The poem reflected Ginsberg's own sexuality and his relationships with a number of men, including Peter Orlovsky, his lifelong partner. Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled that "Howl" was not obscene, stating: "Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemisms?" Ginsberg was a Buddhist who extensively studied Eastern religious disciplines. He lived modestly, buying his clothing in second-hand stores and residing in apartments in New York City's East Village. ***The lead poem "Kaddish" also known as "Kaddish for Naomi Ginsberg (1894-1956)", was written in two parts by Beat writer Allen Ginsberg, and was first published in Kaddish and Other Poems 1958-1960. The book was part of the Pocket Poet Series published by City Lights Books. In the table of contents, the poem is titled "Kaddish: Proem, narrative, hymmnn, lament, litany, & fugue". Along with Ginsberg's "Howl", Kaddish is said to be one of his greatest masterpieces. Ginsberg wrote the poem about his mother Naomi after her death in 1956, who struggled with mental problems throughout her life. Naomi suffered many psychotic episodes both before Allen was born and while he was growing up. She went in and out of mental hospitals and was treated with medication, insulin shock therapy, and electroshock therapy. She died in an asylum in 1956. ' [Wiki] ***A near fine copy (with laminated covers) of the 50th Anniversary edition of this iconic City Lights Pocket Poets 'Howl' by Allen Ginsberg, first published as a paperback original in 1956. One of the most important and influential poems of the 20th Century. A landmark book of poetry published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti of the iconic (and still running) City Lights Bookshop. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc. Seller Inventory # PB464

Bibliographic Details

Title: HOWL and Other Poems (The Pocket Poets - ...

Publisher: City Lights Books, San Francisco, California, USA

Publication Date: 2006

Binding: Original Wraps

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket, as Issued

Edition: First Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

"Ginsberg reigned as the raucous poet of American hippiedom and as a literary pioneer whose freewheeling masterwork, Howl, prevailed against government censorship in a landmark obscenity trial 50 years ago."–New York Times

Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems was originally published by City Lights Books in the Fall of 1956. Subsequently seized by U.S. customs and the San Francisco police, it was the subject of a long court trail at which a series of poets and professors persuaded the court that the book was not obscene. Howl & Other Poems is the single most influential poetic work of the post-World War II era, with over 1,000,000 copies now in print.

"Howl was Allen's metamorphosis from quiet, brilliant, burning bohemian scholar trapped by his flames and repressions to epic vocal bard." Michael McClure

"It is the poet, Allen Ginsberg, who has gone, in his own body, through the horrifying experiences described from life in these pages." William Carlos Williams

"At the height of his bardic powers, Allen Ginsberg could terrify the authorities with the mere utterance of the syllable om” as he led street throngs of citizens protesting the Vietnam War. Ginsberg reigned as the raucous poet of American hippiedom and as a literary pioneer whose freewheeling masterwork Howl” prevailed against government censorship in a landmark obscenity trial 50 years ago."   New York Times

"Fifty years ago, on October 3, Judge Clayton Horn ruled that Allen Ginsberg's great epic Beat-era poem HOWL was not obscene but instead, a work of literary and social merit. This ruling allowed for the publication of HOWL and exonerated the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who faced jail time and a fine 50 years ago for publishing HOWL."   Pacifica.org

Allen Ginsberg was born June 3, 1926, the son of Naomi Ginsberg, Russian émigré, and Louis Ginsberg, lyric poet and schoolteacher, in Paterson, New Jersey. To these facts Ginsberg adds: "High school in Paterson till 17, Columbia College, merchant marine, Texas and Denver copyboy, Times Square, amigos in jail, dishwashing, book reviews, Mexico City, market research, Satori in Harlem, Yucatan and Chiapas 1954, West Coast 3 years. Later Arctic Sea trip, Tangier, Venice, Amsterdam, Paris, read at Oxford Harvard Columbia Chicago, quit, wrote Kaddish 1959, made tape to leave behind & fade in Orient awhile. Carl Solomon to whom Howl is addressed, is a intuitive Bronx dadaist and prose-poet."

From the Back Cover:

The prophetic poem that launched a generation when it was first published in 1956 is here presented in a commemorative 40th Anniversary Edition. When the book arrived from its British printers, it was seized almost immediately by U.S. Customs, and shortly thereafter the San Francisco police arrested its publisher and editor, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, together with the City Lights Bookstore manager, Shigeyoshi Murao. The two of them were charged with disseminating obscene literature, and the case went to trial in the Municipal Court of Judge Clayton Horn. A parade of distinguished literary and academic witnesses persuaded the judge that the title poem was indeed not obscene and that it had "redeeming social significance". Thus was Howl and Other Poems freed to become the single most influential poetic work of the post World War II era, with over 800,000 copies now in print.