Robert Duncan in San Francisco

by Michael Rumaker

Nonfiction. Michael Rumaker centers his memoir in 1957 San Francisco, where many fellow Black Mountain students are migrating since the close of the College. Allen Ginsberg, after the notorious readings of his poem HOWL in 1956, has departed for Tangier, but the young Beats are invading North Beach and a dope scene is blooming. The Place is where the poets and painters hang out and Jack Spicer directs Blabbermouth nights. This is the summer of the famous HOWL trial where Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Shigeyoshi Murao, of City Lights, are prosecuted for selling Allen Ginsberg's book. Meanwhile the police are stepping up their hassling of hippies on upper Grant Avenue and arresting gays on Polk Street. Rumaker positions his in-depth, eloquent portrait of Robert Duncan against this turbulent city background, and contrasts Robert's open gay life as a poet with his own painful covert sexuality.

Genres: Poetry, Biography

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

American author and graduate of Black Mountain College.

Reviews

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It *may* be more about Rumaker than Duncan, but its all cool, really. Stories of Black Mountain. Stories of being gay in the 50's in San Francisco, police state that it was then, living with the fear of being killed, beat up, or arrested, while also trying to make your way as a writer and find your voice, etc. All great reading. Especially the sex. Thank you for the sex. Want to read Black Mountain Days next.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief memoir of the 1950s, written in the 1970s, now expanded to include some correspondence between author and ostensible subject (Robert Duncan), and a recent interview with the author, which adds a valuable new layer to the story, in my opinion. A window into another era, and a fascinating look at the beginnings of a queer writer long before Stonewall, as well as a kind of sideways tribute to Robert Duncan. Now I want to read more by this author, Michael Rumaker, and also learn more about Robert Duncan, and read more of his work, too.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year, that being 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco put on a special deal on their books where, for around $80, you could order a box of various books published by them and related to their history, city and neighbourhood – the first of those books I picked up, for no specific reason over the others, was curiously titled Robert Duncan In San Francisco by Michael Rumaker (originally released in 1976).

I’ll be honest and make it clear that before reading this I’d heard of neither Duncan nor Rumaker and didn’t know if this would be novel, a biography or something else entirely.

What it turned out to be is a fascinating insight and view into a lost world of ‘bohemian’ life in San Francisco in the mid-to-late 1950s through the eyes of poet and author Rumaker and centered on a period of his life heavily influenced by fellow writer Duncan...

Full review is at:
https://tommygirard.wordpress.com/202...

[Rodney Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and fun anecdotes.

[willowdog]

A reprint of Mumford's classic memoir of his days in the 50s exploring gay San Francisco and the swirl of Black Mountain College alumni surrounding Robert Duncan is accompanied by correspondence between the author and Duncan and an interview with the author now in his 80s.

[Mills College Library]

Biog D912r 2013