Synopses & Reviews
Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Howl, the first full biography of Allen Ginsbergfrom birth to death Allen Ginsberg was Americas most influential poet since World War II, a figure who was in the vanguard of every popular movement of that time, from the emergence of the Beat generation to the countercultural revolution to the interest in Eastern spirituality. In this new biography, the first since the poets death in 1997 and the only one to cover his entire life, Bill Morgan creates the most complete portrait to date of Ginsberg.
Drawing on his unparalleled access to Ginsbergs inner circle as well as on the poets journals and correspondence, Morgan offers a revealing portrait of a complicated and flamboyant character. Ginsberg was a tenacious man who was driven by ambition and curiosity; he was plagued by self-doubt and always longed for acceptance and recognition. He also had a genius for living and networking and for expressing himself candidly; his love for freedom and equality was uncompromising. Morgan examines Ginsbergs life and his tremendous impact on society from many different angles: his political views, his battles with censorship, and his approach to drugs. He also provides a more accurate picture than previously told of Ginsbergs search for love (including his complex relationship with his lifelong partner, Peter Orlovsky) and of his involvement with Tibetan Buddhism. This definitive and engaging life of Ginsberg also includes a unique featureit lists the titles of Ginsbergs poems in the margins so that the reader can see exactly what he was writing at any point in his life.
Review
"The most intimate and revealing biography of the poet to date . . . deeply delves into . . . previously unexplored territory."
-San Francisco Chronicle
"No other biographer has given us such a totally straight three-dimensional picture of Allen Ginsberg. It is unembedded reportage at its very best."
-Lawrence Ferlinghetti
"Morgan's provocative and thoroughly researched new biography is a testament to the creative fruits and personal anguish of Ginsberg."
-The Washington Post
"By far the best researched and most thorough of the three major Ginsberg biographies."
-Los Angeles Times Book Review
Synopsis
In the first biography of Ginsberg since his death in 1997 and the only one to cover the entire span of his life, Ginsberg's archivist Bill Morgan draws on his deep knowledge of Ginsberg's largely unpublished private journals to give readers an unparalleled and finely detailed portrait of one of America's most famous poets. Morgan sheds new light on some of the pivotal aspects of Ginsberg's life, including the poet's associations with other members of the Beat Generation, his complex relationship with his lifelong partner, Peter Orlovsky, his involvement with Tibetan Buddhism, and above all his genius for living.
About the Author
Bill Morgan is a painter and archival consultant. He is the author of The Beat Generation in New York: A Walking Tour of Jack Kerouac’s City, The Beat Generation in San Francisco: A Literary Tour, and edited Deliberate Prose: Selected Essays of Allen Ginsberg 1952–1995. Also for October 2006 publication, he has edited Ginsberg’s The Book of Martrydom and Artifice: First Journals and Poems, 1937–1952, with Jaunita Lieberman-Plimpton, as well as Howl on Trial: the Battle for Free Expression.