Knight, Brenda (Bowles, Jane; Burroughs, Joan Vollmer Adams; Cassady, Carolyn; Kerouac, Edie Parker; Kerouac, Jan; di Prima, Diane; Johnson, Joyce; Kyger, Joanne; Waldman, Anne; Weiss, Ruth et al.)

Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution

ISBN: 1573240613
Berkeley, CA: Conart Press, 1996. First Edition. Hardcover. "A one-of-a-kind biographical anthology, Women of the Beat Generation reverberates with the howls, raps, and roars of 40 writers, artists, and muses who broke with convention during the rigidly conformist fifties to help forge one of the most fascinating chapters of American literary history." (from front flap) A pioneering, already classic compilation describing the lives & legends of the women behind (as well as alongside & even in front of) the key male figures of the Beat Generation. Brenda Knight, an acclaimed scholar, author & editor, offers fascinating biographies of important Beat-related women such as Jane Bowles (wife of Paul & an important author in her own right); Joan Vollmer Adams Burroughs, the ill-fated wife of Beat-&-Beyond Icon William S. Burroughs; Carolyn Cassady, long-suffering wife of Neal whom he left behind while On the Road with Jack Kerouac & Co.; Edie Parker Kerouac, Jack's first wife; Diane di Prima, the great primary Beat poet & publisher; Joanne Kyger, former wife of Gary Snyder & herself a most noted poet; Joyce Johnson, author of the seminal Beat memoir Minor Characters; Ruth Weiss (who very recently passed away as of this writing), "Holocaust survivor and Beat jazz innovator (back cover)"; & many more. With a Foreword by Anne Waldman, the great New York School, Beat-&-Beyond poet; & an Afterword by Ann Charters, the first & foremost Kerouac biographer & bibliographer. Also with many vintage images of the subjects throughout. Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with $19.95 price printed on front flap), first edition, first printing as indicated by number sequence on copyright page. An absolutely essential Beat Generation collectible in its rarest original form. Book in fine condition with light rubbing, scratching to front, back covers & spine; a touch of wear at edges & corners of same; slight loss of silver-gilt at letters on spine; small areas of fading/spotting to back cover at black spine-cloth; a bit of rubbing to edges of text block. Interior very fine with only very light browning to margins/edges of blank grey paste-downs & endpapers; tiny bumps at lower corners of a few page leaves. Dust jacket very fine with only a hint of rubbing, faint scratching to front, back covers & spine; a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same & flaps. Fine / Very Fine. [Item #5416]

Price: $50.00