I Celebrate MyselfI Celebrate Myself
the Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg
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Book, 2006
Current format, Book, 2006, , Available .Book, 2006
Current format, Book, 2006, , Available . Offered in 0 more formatsA portrait of the influential Beat generation poet draws on interviews with friends as well as his journals and correspondence to discuss such topics as his political views, practice of Tibetan Buddhism, and capacity for self-expression.
Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Howl, an all-encompassing portrait of the influential Beat-generation poet draws on interviews with members of his inner circle as well as his journals and correspondence to discuss such topics as his political views, practice of Tibetan Buddhism, and capacity for self-expression.
Allen Ginsberg was much more than just one of America's most famous poets. As Bill Morgan writes in this new biography, the first since the poet's death in 1997 and the only one to cover his entire life - Ginsberg was one of our greatest citizens, a true American hero.
Drawing on his deep knowledge of Ginsberg's largely unpublished private journals, Morgan offers a revealing portrait of a complicated and flamboyant character. Ginsberg was a tenacious man who was driven by ambition and curiosity. He had an insatiable desire for fame and was always longing for acceptance and recognition, but was plagued by loneliness, depression, and self-doubt. He was compassionate, resourceful, loyal, and generous, and seemed to thrive on the madness of those around him. His story is also a love story, or at least a search for love that was rarely fulfilled.
Morgan sheds new light on some of the pivotal moments of Ginsberg's life - his years at Columbia University when he met Kerouac and Burroughs; his visions of William Blake in Harlem; his vow with Neal Cassady at an Oklahoma crossroads in 1947; his journeys to Mexico, South America, and India - and examines his tremendous impact on society from many different angles: his political views, his battles with censorship, his approach to drugs. He also provides a more complete picture than previously told of Ginsberg's complex relationship with his lifelong partner, Peter Orlovsky, and of his involvement with Tibetan Buddhism.
Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Howl, an all-encompassing portrait of the influential Beat-generation poet draws on interviews with members of his inner circle as well as his journals and correspondence to discuss such topics as his political views, practice of Tibetan Buddhism, and capacity for self-expression.
Allen Ginsberg was much more than just one of America's most famous poets. As Bill Morgan writes in this new biography, the first since the poet's death in 1997 and the only one to cover his entire life - Ginsberg was one of our greatest citizens, a true American hero.
Drawing on his deep knowledge of Ginsberg's largely unpublished private journals, Morgan offers a revealing portrait of a complicated and flamboyant character. Ginsberg was a tenacious man who was driven by ambition and curiosity. He had an insatiable desire for fame and was always longing for acceptance and recognition, but was plagued by loneliness, depression, and self-doubt. He was compassionate, resourceful, loyal, and generous, and seemed to thrive on the madness of those around him. His story is also a love story, or at least a search for love that was rarely fulfilled.
Morgan sheds new light on some of the pivotal moments of Ginsberg's life - his years at Columbia University when he met Kerouac and Burroughs; his visions of William Blake in Harlem; his vow with Neal Cassady at an Oklahoma crossroads in 1947; his journeys to Mexico, South America, and India - and examines his tremendous impact on society from many different angles: his political views, his battles with censorship, his approach to drugs. He also provides a more complete picture than previously told of Ginsberg's complex relationship with his lifelong partner, Peter Orlovsky, and of his involvement with Tibetan Buddhism.
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