Beats at Naropa

by Anne Waldman (Editor), Laura Wright (Editor)

“At Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, there has long been an illuminating, dynamic, ongoing exchange of ideas about the history and legacy of the Beat Generation—an exchange fortunately that has been carefully archived and preserved. This valuable anthology does not further embalm the ‘legend’ of the Beats. Instead it allows its readers to hear authentic voices —Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, John Clellon Holmes, Diane di Prima, Philip Whalen, etc.—as well as introducing the thoughtful and responsible work of leading Beat scholars.”—Joyce Johnson

 Amassed from the riches of the Naropa University audio archives, this collection offers an exciting new look at the Beats—whose influence lives on in the art and politics of our time. In this often spontaneous, conversational book, readers are introduced to the hard truths behind being a Beat woman, the haunting accuracy of William Burroughs’s world-view, the passion and energy of Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman, Jack Kerouac’s unexpected musicality, Diane DiPrima’s foray into small press publishing, Michael McClure’s account of the famous first reading of “Howl,” and, most of all, the inspirations behind America’s most provocative and prescient thinkers.

Contributors include:

 

David Amram
Amiri Baraka
Ted Berrigan
Junior Burke
William S. Burroughs
Lorna Dee Cervantes
Ann Charters
Clark Coolidge
Gregory Corso
Diane di Prima
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Rick Fields
Allen Ginsberg
David Henderson
Abbie Hoffman
John Clellon Holmes
Joyce Johnson
Hettie Jones
Edie Parker Kerouac
Joanne Kyger
Michael McClure
William S. Merwin
John Oughton
Marjorie Perloff
David Rome
Edward Sanders
Gary Snyder
Janine Pommy Vega
Steven Taylor
Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
Anne Waldman
Philip Whalen
Laura Wright
Joshua Zim

 

Genres: Poetry, Buddhism

234 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2009

About the author

Anne Waldman was part of the late Sixties poetry scene in the East Village. She ran the St. Mark's Church Poetry Project, and gave exuberant, highly physical readings of her own work.

She became a Buddhist, worshipping with the Tibetan Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who would also become Allen Ginsberg's guru. She and Ginsberg worked together to create a poetry school, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, at Trungpa's Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

Anne Waldman is one of the most interesting, vibrant and unpredictable members of the post-Beat poetry community. Her confluence of Buddhist concerns and thought-paths with sources of physicality and anger is particularly impressive (did you get all that?).

She was featured in Bob Dylan's experimental film 'Renaldo and Clara.'

Reviews

[Tentatively, Convenience]

I started reading this bk b/c I was en route to Naropa to do a presentation in Amy Catanzano's class & a 'performance' at the PAC (Performing Arts Center) there. As such. I wanted to inundate myself in things-Naropa. My reading of it coincided w/ the flight there, the visit there, the flight home, & the 1st day of my being home.

I have mixed feelings about the 'Beats'. The one or 2 novels I read by Kerouac as a teenager struck me as mediocre. The poets never interested me much. Even though I respect Ginsberg somewhat as a political activist, I've still never read a bk by him - although I've read individual poems, etc..

Burroughs, on the other hand, has been very important to me. Nonetheless, Burroughs' shooting of his wife has always struck me as colossally stupid & his heroin addiction, despite all the negative things he sd about it, was still widely influential in glamorizing heroin use - another thing I find colossally stupid.

Making matters worse for me personally is that I grew up in BalTimOre where the 'Beat'-influenced poetics scene was largely apolitical & was mainly interested in alcohol & heroin abuse & the use of simple vocabularies. BalTimOre had multiple poetics 'scenes' & I did feel some solidarity w/ the Beat/Bukowski influenced folks but more w/ the visual/sound/'language' folks. These latter were more embracing of larger vocabularies & more experimental form. For me, the 'Beat' poets are a pretty unimaginative bunch, formally - despite imaginative & radical lifestyles.

Those disclaimers aside, I read this bk w/ substantial interest. For one thing, it consists of transcripts from Naropa University's Audio Archives - an endangered species of profound importance. In fact, for me, one of the highlights of this bk is Steven Taylor's "Remember the Future: Archival Poetics and the War on Memory" in wch the value of Naropa's archive specifically & such archives generally is strongly addressed & supported. Diane de Prima's memories are similarly valuable.

This bk is an invaluable resource for those interested in the 'Beats' - esp b/c it doesn't always come from the expected direction. Take this exchange:

"BURKE: Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Looking back, how do you see their place in history?

"SANDERS: I usually don't talk about the Yippies. You know they say politics make strange bedfellows." [..] "Abbie was the Jim Thorpe of the radicals. He was incredibly talented; he was very brilliant. He just didn't believe in himself as an artist. And so he didn't take his writing seriously." [..] "Unfortunately though, he couldn't ever slow down enough to pay attention to art, [to] creative writing."

I find this exchange fascinating partially b/c I have great respect for Hoffman & partially b/c I find it somewhat interesting that Ed Sanders seems to be emphasizing art over activism - wch I'm not sure I'd do. I like Hoffman's writing - but if Hoffman had been only a writer instead of primarily a political activist I wdn't be nearly as interested in him. It's the people who're actually out there in the world doing things that I think are the most 'important'.

The chapter entitled ""Frightened Chrysanthemums": Poets' Colloquium" was yet-another thing here that interested me greatly. Perhaps the highlight of it for me was the aspect where one gets to read the progress of Burroughs' absorption of the idea of having a meditative practice w/o his typewriter present - an idea he's initially resistant to. To see that such an acerbic, critical, & highly stubborn thinker was capable of changing his opinion in a dialog is one of the best signs of how intelligent he really was.

[Nate Jordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This inspiring collection of discussions and lectures by and about some of the giants of the Beat Generation gives credence to their artistic and intellectual genius that sometimes gets overlooked by the hype occasionally associated with the Beats. Culled from the Naropa Audio Archives, Beats at Naropa is an engaging book - one destined to be expanded or have a sequel made as the audio archives continue to be developed, researched, and transcribed. In this regard, Anne Waldman is a visionary - the audio archives being her brainchild. Such an endeavor is a vital record of America's cultural and literary history and when such vitality continues to be recognized, more universities and organizations will follow her lead.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's some fantastic stuff in here for any fan of the Beats. I was most interested in the talks and discussions featuring actual Beat and post-Beat writers and poets, and I skipped a few essays written by academics, because they seemed like mainly soulless efforts to argue that so-and-so deserves a higher profile among the Beats. I much preferred the reminiscences by Ginsberg, Corso, and the like.

[Ed Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just reminds of when I went to Jack Kerouac's On the Road , 25th
anniversary in Boulder, Colorado. Ted Berrigan's piece is here and
I heard it back in 1982 LIVE when I sat in his class on
writing. Good to see it in an anthology.
Hettie Jones makes some good points of Beat Generation really was
1949--1962 ish. Not this movement. Like how does Charles Bukowski
become a Beat? now really.

[Zack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please read my review of this book here: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-83...