The Essential Ginsberg by Allen GinsbergGenre: Poetry/Journals/Songs
Goodreads Summary:
Featuring the legendary and groundbreaking poem "Howl," this remarkable volume showcases a selection of Allen Ginsberg's poems, songs, essays, letters, journals, and interviews and contains sixteen pages of his personal photographs.
The Essential Ginsberg collects a mosaic of materials that displays the full range of Ginsberg's mental landscape. His most important poems, songs, essays, letters, journals, and interviews are displayed in chronological order. His poetic masterpieces, "Howl" and "Kaddish," are presented here along with lesser-known and difficult to find songs and prose. Personal correspondence with William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac is included as well as photographs--shot and captioned by Ginsberg himself--of his friends and fellow rogues William Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and more.
RELEASE DATE: 26th May 2015
**Spoiler Free Review**
It had been a couple of years since I have read Ginsberg. I first read and studied "Howl" at university, which got me really fascinated and interested in the Beats movement in America. It's such an interesting period of time in America and Ginsberg captures it perfectly within his poems, letters and speeches, all full of meaning. I really wish I'd had this book at university as it would have really helped with studying Ginsberg, the history of the time and answering the question of why he joined the Beats movement.
There was so much to this volume. I particularly liked the songs that were included, with the handwritten sheet music to go with it. And the photos at the end of the book really bring the entire collection to life, drawing the reader into the American past and straight into Ginsberg's life. His speeches, journal entries and essays told me so much more about Ginsberg than I ever knew. They also place him within his period of writing - drenched in American history - with his views on censorship, wars, LSD, the Beats movement (and its definition), the influence of other authors (e.g. Whitman and Burrough), and his views on poetry and Buddhism. I particularly enjoyed his essays and speeches, especially those on censorship of writing and what makes poetry.
My favourite poems of the collected were definitely "Howl" and "On Burrough's Work". Having read some of Burrough's novels I instantly saw the connection between the two writers that I hadn't realised was there. Michael Schumacher's introduction gives even more fascinating insight into Ginsberg and his life works. Schumacher compiled a wonderful collection of Ginsberg's work which would be extremely useful to any person studying Ginsberg. I would also highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Ginsberg, who wants to give his poetry a try or, those who are interested in the period which Ginsberg wrote in.
Featuring the legendary and groundbreaking poem "Howl," this remarkable volume showcases a selection of Allen Ginsberg's poems, songs, essays, letters, journals, and interviews and contains sixteen pages of his personal photographs.
The Essential Ginsberg collects a mosaic of materials that displays the full range of Ginsberg's mental landscape. His most important poems, songs, essays, letters, journals, and interviews are displayed in chronological order. His poetic masterpieces, "Howl" and "Kaddish," are presented here along with lesser-known and difficult to find songs and prose. Personal correspondence with William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac is included as well as photographs--shot and captioned by Ginsberg himself--of his friends and fellow rogues William Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and more.
RELEASE DATE: 26th May 2015
**Spoiler Free Review**
I received a review copy of this book from Harper Perennial (Harper Collins Publishers) in exchange for an honest review. As said by Ginsberg, in this wonderful collection, banned books will live forever, and he wasn't wrong. Through his essays, journals, interviews and letters, this definitive volume inspires the reader to delve deeper into the body of work of Ginsberg's, which still remains one of the most impressive literary canons in American history.
It had been a couple of years since I have read Ginsberg. I first read and studied "Howl" at university, which got me really fascinated and interested in the Beats movement in America. It's such an interesting period of time in America and Ginsberg captures it perfectly within his poems, letters and speeches, all full of meaning. I really wish I'd had this book at university as it would have really helped with studying Ginsberg, the history of the time and answering the question of why he joined the Beats movement.
There was so much to this volume. I particularly liked the songs that were included, with the handwritten sheet music to go with it. And the photos at the end of the book really bring the entire collection to life, drawing the reader into the American past and straight into Ginsberg's life. His speeches, journal entries and essays told me so much more about Ginsberg than I ever knew. They also place him within his period of writing - drenched in American history - with his views on censorship, wars, LSD, the Beats movement (and its definition), the influence of other authors (e.g. Whitman and Burrough), and his views on poetry and Buddhism. I particularly enjoyed his essays and speeches, especially those on censorship of writing and what makes poetry.
My favourite poems of the collected were definitely "Howl" and "On Burrough's Work". Having read some of Burrough's novels I instantly saw the connection between the two writers that I hadn't realised was there. Michael Schumacher's introduction gives even more fascinating insight into Ginsberg and his life works. Schumacher compiled a wonderful collection of Ginsberg's work which would be extremely useful to any person studying Ginsberg. I would also highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Ginsberg, who wants to give his poetry a try or, those who are interested in the period which Ginsberg wrote in.
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