 |
| Allen Ginsberg |
Poet and core Beat Generation member Allen Ginsberg was born on this date -- June 3 -- in 1926. He appeared in a number of Jack Kerouac's works: as Carlo Marx in On The Road; Alvah Goldbook in The Dharma Bums; Adam Moorad in The Subterraneans; Irwin Garden in Big Sur, Desolation Angels, Visions of Cody, Book of Dreams, and Vanity of Duluoz; Leon Levinski in The Town and the City; Allen Goldbook in an early draft of Beat Generation; Bleistein in The Haunted Life and Other Writings; Allen Ginsberg in Pull My Daisy; and Leo in Orpheus Emerged.
The influence of Ginsberg on the other Beat writers, including acting as their agent/promoter, and his impact on the culture from the 50s to the 90s cannot be overstated. One need only read the above list of appearances in Kerouac's works to imagine his importance to Jack. You can read a short bio and some of his poetry by clicking HERE.
In honor of his birthday, Allen would dig it if you read some of his poetry, especially aloud. Even better, read along while listening to him read his own work. It's all out there on the interwebz.
Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mr. Ginsberg.
NOTE: This is basically a repost of last year's post on this date. Hey, I'm allowed to plagiarize myself!
Thank you for reminding me of Allen's birthday. Tonight we will raise our wine glasses and shout our happy birthday wishes out into the universe. I was thinking when I read this that Alan was 15 years old when Bob Dylan was born. We were so lucky to come of age in such a wonderful creative time.
ReplyDelete