The Beat Generation
Paul Maher Jr. considers Kerouac’s Haunted Life
The Haunted Life and Other Writings / Da Capo Press / March 11, 2014 / 208 pp.Seventy years ago, in May 1944, Jack Kerouac toiled over a novella-length work set in Lowell, Massachusetts. It was written at the prompting of his two newest friends, the … [read more...]
Aural Dialectics: On Allen Ginsberg’s Musical Rendition of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience
William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1789) is a collection of illuminated poems separated into two groupings, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, that engage with their respective, eponymous forces and ostensibly present them as a … [read more...]
Calling on Paul Bowles: Tangier, Morocco, August 1979
Calling on Paul Bowles Tangier, Morocco, August 1979”There it is,” someone says, and in the darkness, in the distance, you can see Tangier sprawled across several hills, a white city illuminated by electric lights and veiled by a thin fog. … [read more...]
Literature
Book Review – Alex Preston’s In Love and War.
In Love and War is the third novel from Alex Preston, following 2010's This Bleeding City – which won The Edinburgh International Book Festival Readers’ First Book Award, and was chosen as one of Waterstones’ New Voices of 2010 – and its follow-up, The … [read more...]
Is Andy Kaufman Still Alive? The Evidence
My name is Jack Bristow -- AKA, the guy who was interviewed by the Huffington Post about Andy Kaufman being alive and well in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Though the interview took place 2013, May 15, I am still tweeted and e-mailed all kinds of questions to … [read more...]
Book Review – Vacant Lot by Oliver Rohe (trans. Laird Hunt)
Vacant Lot by Oliver Rohe, translated by Laird Hunt. Counterpath Press, 2011.“Then I was king and now I’m no more than a ghost,” says the narrator in Oliver Rohe’s novel Vacant Lot. Now “I pass haggardly through trenches at the periphery of agitation … [read more...]
Book Collecting
For collectors: where and how to buy Beat Generation books (and others)
We've gathered together booksellers, publishers, and other services for book book collectors of all stripes. Please get in touch if you'd like to suggest a resource for this list.Booksellers - Beat, small press & poetryBeat booksellersThe … [read more...]
FEATURED
London 1966: I.T., the Camel, and a Song Named Me
The camel’s unexpected appearance saved me. The raggedy texture of his fur, his massiveness, and his breath were all undeniably real, no matter how bizarre the setting and cast of characters. Snaking black power cords connecting reporters to brilliant … [Read More...]
Poetry
Pagan Days
Prayers are face down and descend in stoic gloom ...what goes up is methane and all of the other various fume and gas which punctuate a tired pain made of a planets sheer exhaust while glaciers cause the plants to bloom like ice cubes melting in … [Read More...]
Imagist Socialist Poetry and Objective Reality
[Editor's note: Serkan Engin is a socialist Laz poet-author from Turkey. He aims to launch a new movement in Turkish poetry and to that end has published numerous articles about literary theory, beginning with his 2004 manifesto, "Imagist Socialist … [Read More...]
Art
A One-Sided Knife Fight: Collages by Hoop & Stick
Artist's statement: "Everything is Collage."You - Your Mom - This Statement Your Ideas - Your Entire Worldview - Society The Universe Itself.Just as quarks come together to form atoms - to form molecules - to form complex structures - to form … [Read More...]
Cities of the Imagination
Artist's statement: I am hitting my stride after a long process of learning how to paint my way, growing beyond the obvious influences and entering my own world. These city paintings of the imagination do what I want them to do: free my imagination, … [Read More...]
Arts News & Events
Todd Clouser launches Music Mission. Here’s how you can help.
Musician Todd Clouser has launched a new project, Music Mission. He writes,I have been working with communities in need throughout the Americas - a youth orchestra in Oaxaca, a small indigenous Shipibo town in Peru, EL Faro in inner City Mexico, a … [Read More...]
Writing & Publishing
10 places to find reviewers for your self-published book
Self-publishing is a great way to get your book into the world. But when you self-publish, you take on all the responsibilities that a traditional publisher usually would, including marketing the book, soliciting reviews, sending out review copies, and … [Read More...]
