Synopses & Reviews
and#147;More than a biography or a memoir ... a CELEBRATION of Zen Being.and#8221;and#151;Michael McClure, author of
Of Indigo and Saffron: New and Selected Poems "Philip Whalenand#8217;s poetry is complex, generous, and utterly amusing, as he was. David Schneiderand#8217;s biography uses Philand#8217;s own circular sense of time to fascinate us with this life of a poet and Buddhist; part beatnik, part 19th-century throwback, part profound animaland#151;-part roshi, still calling us to order and to rejoice."and#151;Alice Notley, author of Negativityand#8217;s Kiss
"Fellowship and remarkable clarity bring enlightened and generous understanding to this rendering of the life and times of singular poet and teacher Philip Whalen. His longtime friend in the Dharma, teacher and writer David Schneider transmits the delight and wisdom of this poet's bountiful spirit."and#151;Joanne Kyger, author of Again: Poems 1989and#150;2000
"Crowded by Beauty is an exceedingly vivid and nuanced portrait of the inimitable Philip Whalen, a secret hero to many of us coming after. Schneider captures Whalenand#8217;s life, work, and the Dharma and#145;path,and#8217; carving out a time capsule of, as yet, unexplored countercultural practice and ethos.and#8221;and#151;Anne Waldman, The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Naropa University and#147;and#145;Our real life is in other persons,and#8217; Philip Whalen once said. His larger than life-sized poems, Zen teachings, journals, and letters all live on in this moving and big-hearted biography-by-friendshipsand#151;made up equally of scholarship, personal knowledge, gossipy quotes, foodstuffs, desires, realized interconnection, and quicksilver perception.and#8221;and#151;Jane Hirshfield, author of Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World
and#147;and#145;Livelyand#8217; was one of Philip Whalenand#8217;s favorite words, and thatand#8217;s what David Schneiderand#8217;s biography of Whalen is....Highly original, personable, and authoritative, Crowded by Beauty will take its place among the very best books on both the Beat Generation and American Zen.and#8221;and#151;John Suiter, author of Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen and Jack Kerouac in the North Cascades
Review
andquot;With this book, Schneider has opened the window on a man who was not originally one of the and#39;famous Beatsand#39; but who may find a posthumous place in the new generationandrsquo;s pantheon.andquot;
Review
andquot;An unconventional man deserves an unconventional biography . . . . A major figure in both American poetry and the growth of Zen Buddhist practice in America, Whalen was brilliant, erudite, humorous, earthy yet chaste, improvident, as lovable to those who knew him as he probably will be, thanks to Schneider, to those who read about him.andquot; - STARRED
Review
andquot;If Whalen was a poetandrsquo;s poet, then Schneiderandrsquo;s book is a biographerandrsquo;s biography. . . . Schneider, who was ordained as a Zen priest in 1977, writes with verve and precision, and draws creatively on Whalenandrsquo;s unpublished journals and voluminous correspondence. Quotations are woven into the text and make for lively reading.andquot;
Review
andquot;The whole book is a must-read.andquot;
Review
andquot;Not only one of the most keenly observed books on the Beats ever published, but itandrsquo;s also a fascinating exploration of the life and dharma of one of the first American-born Zen teachers.andquot;
Synopsis
Philip Whalen was an American poet, Zen Buddhist, and key figure in the literary and artistic scene that unfolded in San Francisco in the 1950s and and#8217;60s.and#160;When the Beat writers came West, Whalen became a revered, much-loved member of the group.and#160;Erudite, shy, and profoundly spiritual, his presence not only moved his immediate circle of Beat cohorts, but his powerful, startling, innovative work would come to impact American poetry to the present day.
Drawing on Whalenand#8217;s journals and personal correspondenceand#151;particularly with Ginsberg, Kerouac, Snyder, Kyger, Welch, and McClure and#151;David Schneider shows how deeply bonded these intimates were, supporting one another in their art and their spiritual paths. Schneider, himself an ordained priest, provides an insiderand#8217;s view of Whalenand#8217;s struggles and breakthroughs in his thirty years as a Zen monk. When Whalen died in 2002 as the retired Abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center, his own teacher referred to him as a patriarch of the Western lineage of Buddhism. Crowded by Beauty chronicles the course of Whalenand#8217;s life, focusing on his unique, eccentric, humorous, and literary-religious practice.
About the Author
David Schneider is the author of Street Zen: The Life and Work of Issan Dorsey. He was ordained as a Zen priest in 1977 and was made an acharya of Shambhala in 1995.