Ginsberg, Allen

Spontaneous Mind: Selected Interviews 1958-1996

New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2001. First Edition, Second Printing. Hardcover. “Spontaneous Mind: Selected Interviews 1958-1996” justifies the cost of admission rather quickly, and features heavy-hitters all-around. Before one can even begin to praise the Ginsberg-authored content contained herein, they are welcomed into the work by way of a Preface by Czech poet-dissident [& eventual politician] Vaclav Havel. Havel, as students of history will no doubt remember, was a legend in his time, and the first democratically-elected president of his country. As if this weren’t enough, it is followed by an Introduction from the celebrated biographer Edmund White, whose book on Jean Genet one William S. Burroughs closely read (as evidenced by a memorable presentation given by Friend of Third Mind Books, Jim Pennington, at one of the storied European Beat Studies Network conferences). As the contents of the book (as authored by Ginsberg) show, he was the Dizzy Gillespie of Beat Poetics: a man who would share the secrets of his craft and life if you were willing to share yours. A revealing epigram appears before the book officially begins, the text reading as follows: “A long time ago I figured out that the interview and the media was a way of teaching. If you talk to people as if they were future Buddhas, or present Buddhas, that any bad karma coming out of it will be their problem rather than yours, so you can say anything you want, and you talk on about the highest level possible.” One is quick to note the appearance of “Allen Ginsberg the Media Genius” in the first half of the quote, that “…the interview and the media” is a “…way of teaching.” The final flourish of the quote is perhaps the reason these interviews are—if you’re a poet or a writer of any aspiration—priceless, to be cherished and revisited for the earned wisdom and revitalizing instruction to be found there. These interviews, which begin with Marc D. Schleifer’s October 15, 1958 interview-profile of Ginsberg in the Village Voice, span all the way to Steve Silberman’s December 16, 1996 interview of Ginsberg for HotWired in San Francisco. In this writer’s not-so-humble-opinion, the 1966 Paris Review Interview with Tom Clark is the GOAT; the greatest of all Paris Review Interviews, and you’ll be happy to know that it’s collected, here. As the cult-favorite psych-rock band, Ultimate Spinach, advised back in ’68, Behold & See. [ISBN: 0-06-019293-3]. Hardcover in unclipped dust-jacket: First Edition, as indicated on copyright page; Second Printing, as indicated by number sequence thereon. From the collection of Allen Tobias, formerly the assistant of Allen Ginsberg, curator, critical writer, scholar, our good friend & esteemed colleague at the European Beat Studies Network (ebsn.eu). In very fine condition with only slightest shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of front, back cover & spine; bordering on “As New” designation. Dust-jacket in strong fine condition with only corresponding moderate shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; mildly pronounced rubbing due to tight shelving placement near rightmost fine-edge of back cover, else pristine. An extra handling charge will be added for shipping due to the weight of this item. Very Fine / Fine. [Item #5384]

Price: $20.00