Various (Honan, Park (Editor); Burroughs, William S.; Corso, Gregory; Ferlinghetti, Lawrence; Ginsberg, Allen; Holmes, John Clellon; Kerouac, Jack; Krim, Seymour; Podhoretz, Norman; Rexroth, Kenneth; Trilling, Diana; Snyder, Gary et al.)

The Beats: An Anthology of 'Beat' Writing

ISBN: 046002499X
London, England: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1987. First Edition. Softcover. "In the 1950s a new breed of writers gravitated towards Greenwich Village. They were young, radical, idealistic and 'hip,' and their work was shockingly iconoclastic. This was the start of the Beat movement. It has sometimes been dismissed as a minor cultural phenomenon characterized by a bohemian lifestyle and undisciplined expression in poetry, painting and jazz. Rejecting the values of 'square' middle-class America, the Beats used drink, drugs and sex to expand their experience, sought enlightenment through Zen Buddhism and free-wheeling travel, and placed great emphasis on inspiration and improvisation in their work...The Beats can now be seen as part of a distinct literary tradition stretching back to Whitman and Thoreau..." (from back cover) An excellent anthology of writings by the original members of the Beat Generation & their immediate colleagues & critics, edited & with an introduction & critical contribution by Park Honan (1928-2014), the prolific American-born author & academic who spent most of his life in England & wrote an acclaimed biography of William Shakespeare among his many works. Honan carefully selected exemplary poetry & prose by William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, John Clellon Holmes, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder & other primary Beat figures; contemporary criticism by colleagues & mentors who were indeed 'hip' to the movement such as Kenneth Rexroth & Seymour Krim, as well as those who dismissed the Beats & predicted the phenomenon as a short-living fad including Norman Podhoretz, & those sort of in-between like Diana Trilling. The ultimate literary-historical triumph of the Beats is demonstrated by this very, relatively early anthology compiled by such a credentialed academic-critical 'Establishment' authority as Honan. Smaller trade-format softcover original, first edition, part of publisher's Everyman Fiction series. Shoaf, Section II, No. 221, pg. 95 (re: WSB). A very well-recommended & collectible introductory anthology of the writings of & reactions to the Beat Generation. In very fine condition with only mild rubbing, scratching & short, faint creasing to front, back covers & spine; light wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same; mild browning & a touch of rubbing to edges of text block. Interior very fine with only mild browning mostly at blank margins of page leaves; tiny bumps at corners of a few of same. Very Fine. [Item #4323]

Price: $30.00