[Item #3843] A Different Beat: Writings by Women of the Beat Generation. Richard Peabody, Carolyn Cassady, Diane di Prima, Joyce Johnson, Jan Kerouac, Edie Kerouac Parker, Joanna McClure, Anne Waldman, Ruth, Weiss.
A Different Beat: Writings by Women of the Beat Generation

A Different Beat: Writings by Women of the Beat Generation

New York, NY: Serpent's Tail, 1997. First Edition. Softcover. Well, this is quite a collection--and it's an understatement to say (non-tokenistically, I'll add) that there is simply a ton of writing in here that the Beat Scholar / Beat Enthusiast should be aware of. It can be read as "historical," -- as in, parts regarding Elise Cowen are inseparable from understanding her role in the life of Allen Ginsberg and Hettie Jones in the life of LeRoi...how these two-way relationships reflected the cultural climate of the time as well as the personal lives and development of the participants. But besides that, and to Peabody's point, much of it is just objectively good writing--which is the larger or meta-point of Peabody's collection. It is simply impossible to read this book and not come away with a wider understanding of the Beat phenomenon, which perhaps is precisely what the Editor, Richard Peabody, intended. "This book is an outgrowth of a class I taught on Beat Writers at Georgetown University in the fall of 1993. There were some fifteen women in that class who'd signed up to learn about Kerouac and company, and might well have benefitted more from learning about the women Beats instead. Plus, none of the material by the twenty-six women in this book duplicates any of the material by the seven women this book shares in common with Ann Charters 'Portable Beat Reader,' and duplicates only one poem by by one of the three women included in Anne Waldman's 'The Beat Book: Poems & Fiction from the Beat Generation.' I realize many Beat purists wouldn't make the same choices or selections I have in this anthology. Consider that my editorial prerogative...I was after a certain feeling. I wanted this collection to be both a rediscovery and a celebration. I wanted a book filled with work that rejoiced in female independence of mind and spirit. Work that would defy conventions and yet speak for women coming of age in both the fifties and sixties, and even beyond...I wanted to focus specifically on the Beat period (roughly 1957-65) and only reprint material that would reflect that period (for the most part) and represent their point of view...Think of them as the Beat Grrrls (sic)." Book in fine condition with only modest shelf wear to fine-edges; small bump to bottom right-hand corner of front cover; slight stain to front cover near bottom right fine-edge at center-middle; tiny bump to bottom left-hand corner of same; moderate bump to spine near top-most fine-edge; minute chipping to top right-hand corner of back cover. Fine. [Item #3843]

Price: $30.00