Ginsberg, Allen; Ignatow, David

The One in the many: A Poet's Memoirs with: Handwritten Manuscript by Allen Ginsberg

Middleton, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1988. First Edition. Hardcover. “David Ignatow is “the one.” “The many,” of which the one is a part, are the others who shaped and inspired—or sometimes impeded—his life as a writer. This book is a memoir of an artist-in-process. It is, first, a work of memory of his early life in Brooklyn, the struggle to find the freedom to write, his life as reluctant son, employee, and employer, as eager reader and teacher. It is also a work of friendship and influence in its portraits of fellow poets, whose relationship with him, lifelong or transient, transcended family—among them, Walt Whitman, his surrogate father, to whom he was a dissident son; William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens, the mentors he resisted then discovered; Robert Bly, Paul Blackburn, James Wright, Wendell Berry, Paul Zweig, Charles Reznikoff, Louis Zukofsky, and others, whose work and lives were and are the source of continuing strength. ‘The One in the Many’ is, finally, also a reflection of the mind of the poet: his need for the city and for escape from the city; his search for identity apart from class, condition, and circumstance; his commitment to poetry as life, the idea of wholeness, the interconnectedness of all things.” (from Front Flap). So we introduce the criminally-overlooked David Ignatow, whose memoir “The One in the Many” is typically loved by all who read it and glossed over by those who footnote him in their mind only to never return. The reason why, as other lesser-known poets elsewhere have posited, is the double-edged sword that was the Public Poetic Blessing of Allen Ginsberg. Entire swaths of people would, yes, take notice of a poet and perhaps read them if Allen spoke positively about them and encouraged people to take a look at the poet in question’s work. There was also another contingent of people—especially in Academia at that time—who would never give the time of day to anyone Allen had suggested, as if they had become tainted by the endorsement. Ignatow was slightly older than many of Allen’s mid-late period poetic endorsements, so the likelihood that he falls squarely within this dynamic is slimmer than most, but it remains that a tangential relation to Ginsberg comes to mind for many who consider reading Ignatow. In the extraordinary circumstances of this particular book, we must unfortunately continue the dynamic of carrying on that associations because of the presence of an extraordinary handwritten manuscript card by Allen Ginsberg found in this particular copy of “The One in the Many.” The handwritten manuscript in black pen ink (composed on the back of an appx. 4-1/4” x 3-1/2” card ‘with compliments of the author’ and from, curiously, a different publisher [Atlantic-Little Brown]) reads, in part: “On the American traditions of open verse form, Ignatow is a healthy transmitter of natural intelligence + grounded perception – intuitive, factual, realistic -eyes seeing what’s in front of him. Most poetry, especially in recent closed forms, is idealistic daydreaming, egoism enchanted…” The manuscript is believed to be unpublished, to the best of our knowledge—making this an incredible Ginsberg collectible as well as an incredible Ignatow collectible. Book in very fine condition, virtually as new/as issued by publisher. Dust-jacket in very fine condition with only two moderate creases to inside of dust-jacket at front flap; slightest shelf-wear to fine-edges; minute scuffing at spine near topmost fine-edge. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #4482]

Price: $300.00