The Beat Generation
Kerouac Before the Jazz: a review of “The Haunted Life”
There are some great lost manuscripts in American literature and some are truly lost. Ernest Hemingway famously lost the only draft of the first short stories he ever wrote on a French train. Most writers have "lost" manuscripts, conspicuously placed in … [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
The Novel as History: An essay on the book Homer and Langley by E L Doctorow
The novel Homer and Langley is part history and part fiction: a distinction without a difference within its pages. Doctorow has gained a reputation for taking considerable liberties with recorded history, for frequently transgressing the boundaries … [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...]
How to Identify a First Edition Book
This page has lots of information on it! Here are some quick links to the most important topics.General guidelines for identifying a first edition Identifying 1st editions from specific publishers Identifying book club editions On printings & … [read more...]
Top Ten Books Lists
Anna MacDonald’s Ten Favorite Books
1. The Snow Geese: A Story of Home by William Fiennes2. The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald3. Rodinsky's Room by Rachel Lichtenstein and Iain Sinclair4. Lights Out for the Territory: 9 Excursions in the Secret History of London by Iain … [Read More...]
Poetry
Keeping the Darkness Out
How fast the sun arrives And disappears, its arc Belongs to yesterday As whiskey and cigarettes Future forward. The night turns to lust To keep the darkness out. We are addicted to The warmth of bodies Genuflecting bedposts, … [Read More...]
THE END OF THE WORLD THROUGH A FISH BOWL
In summer time I am an air conditioned icicle ...in winter, the steam which haunts the house.I will not go into the grocery store with you Rachel ...I will ride along in the car and be a witness to the distant terror of the world. Images pass … [Read More...]
Art
Diorama: Photographs by Ido Abramsohn
Artist's StatementModels of Israeli soldiers and Palestinian insurgents and civilians were photographed and enlarged to human size. The new scale of the models casts the original meaning of the images in doubt, and enables us to scrutinize the … [Read More...]
Film
Movie Review – Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
As a kid in the 1960s, I remember asking my mom why we didn't ever have Granny Smith apples in the house. She replied that she refused to buy anything from South Africa because of what the government did to its people. As the years passed and I became more aware of the world around me, I began to … [read more...]
Writing & Publishing
So You Want to Be a Writer?
Writing can be very rewarding, but both beginning and experienced writers sometimes have trouble getting motivated, staying inspired, finding the time, and continuing their work. Here are ten tips to jump start your writing - and keep it going.1. … [Read More...]
Music
(Music Review) IR 29.1: New Generation Dub
One of the biggest crimes committed by the music industry has been their ability to co-opt, dilute and turn even the most radical of genres into something safe for mass consumption. Disco, punk and rap have all been taken and watered down so they would … [Read More...]
