Long, John (Burroughs, William S.; Ginberg, Allen; Kerouac, Jack)

Drugs and the "Beats": The role of drugs in the lives and writings of Kerouac, Burroughs and Ginsberg

College Station, TX: Virtual Book Worm Publishing, 2005. First Edition. Softcover. “The ‘bad trip’ of Kerouac’s was henceforth reflected in his work. He never had anything good to say about hallucinogens. He supported the idea that LSD was part of a Russian plot to subvert the country by attacking its young people. Contrary to the usual reactions to this powerful and remarkable drug, he found none of the mystical or magical, only a sort of temporary insanity, as he explained in Vanity of Duluoz, writing of ‘…those LSD heads in newspaper photographs who sit in parks gazing rapturously at the sky to show how high they are when they’re only victims momentarily of a contraction of the blood vessels and nerves in the brain that causes the illusion of a closure (a closing up) of outside necessities’” (pg. 52). Gather round, fellow bohemians & Beat literary scholars, and see what one among our kindred has offered. In the case of TMB Item #5292, it is the underappreciated (& largely untraceable) John Long, appearing here with “Drugs and the Beats: the Role of Drugs in the Lives and Writings of Kerouac, Burroughs, and Ginsberg.” An expansive and self-styled work of Beat literary scholarship, Long’s book largely unfurls in the manner implied by the excerpt which inaugurates this curation. By welding testamentary evidence to ‘material evidence’ in analytical matrimony, Long establishes a bridge that his contentions can “drive across.” This basic structural soundness allows the work to retain the homeostatic clarity that books like Long’s require. Trade-format softcover original: the First Edition of this little-known work of Beat scholarship. In very fine condition with only slightest shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of front, back cover; lone spot-like exhibit of browning at/near bottom right-hand corner of title page, else pristine. Very Fine. [Item #5292]

Price: $20.00