Memoirs of a Beatnik [Mass Market Paperback]

Diane DiPrima (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1998

Long regarded as an underground classic for its gritty and unabashedly erotic portrayal of the Beat years, Memoirs of a Beatnik is a moving account of a powerful woman artist coming of age sensually and intellectually in a movement dominated by a small confederacy of men, many of whom she lived with and loved. Filled with anecdotes about her adventures in New York City, Diane di Prima's memoir shows her learning to "raise her rebellion into art," and making her way toward literary success. Memoirs of a Beatnik offers a fascinating narrative about the courage and triumphs of the imagination.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140235396
• ISBN-13: 978-0140235395
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #599,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars beatnik, not beat, May 18, 2000

By 

phigirl (new york, ny) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memoirs of a Beatnik (Mass Market Paperback)

a recent article on diane diprima in the chicago tribune (4/19/2000) called di prima's "memoirs of a beatnik" - "a sort of insider's Beat exploitation book Di Prima wrote in 1968 for Maurice Girodias' Olympia Press in Paris because she needed money badly--and quickly." It goes on to state that "It is mostly accurate, [di prima] said, except for the sex parts."

with that said, i doubt the book aspires to make any type of high-brow feminist or literary statement. the fact that is does make any such statement can be attributed to the time in which it was written. it is basically an account of a young woman venturing out on her own in times when young women did not do such things. young women lived at home, maybe went away to college, met a nice suitable young man, and got married. maybe had a job as a typist in the meantime. sex was not something young women from nice families experimented with.

this is not to say the book does not have its merits. it is artfully written, intelligent, and poetic. it's a great look at the obstacles women faced when they decided to do their own thing, especially when that differed from society's norms. it's a peek inside the counterculture that was growing larger and larger thanks to a certain jack kerouac. all of this raises the book above being just plain old erotica. as a fan of beat writing and culture, i enjoyed the book very much.

of course, the drawback to this book is that someone reading this book without knowledge of the context in which it was published will come away from it with a view of the beats that is as cartoonish and two-dimensional as the rest of society's view was of them at the time. "oh wow, look, the beats were always having sex." - "oh yeah, man, that's what they were about. coffee, sex, and alcohol. (and bongos and poetry and black berets)"

maybe that's why the title of this book is "memoirs of a beatnik," and not "memoirs of a beat." major difference.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Literary Name Dropping & Sex, sex, sex!, January 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Memoirs of a Beatnik (Mass Market Paperback)

This is basically erotica, but with a beat generation edge. If you want to peer into a sexual encounter with Jack Kerouac or Allen Ginsberg this is for you, but you'd probably be better off reading Off the Road by Carolyn Cassidy. What I loved about this book was the theme of emerging femanism and sexual freedom. DiPrima did a great job giving a sex book a plot and a literary feel.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for the faint of heart. . . ., April 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Memoirs of a Beatnik (Paperback)

Not for the faint of heart, Memoirs of a Beatnik was a written-for-hire erotica piece. Di Prima delivers on raunch, providing a wild tale of sexual exploration that begins with the main character (arguably Di Prima, who drew heavily from personal experience) losing her virginity and ends with the character's first pregnancy. Though sex is certainly the book's most prominent feature, Di Prima, a respected poet and one of the few female Beat writers to make a name for herself, also discusses her own artistic development and describes the life of a starving artist in New York in the fifties. Di Prima's no-holds-barred honesty (the sex is real, with all of the funky smells and personal quirks) and her joyful appreciation for the finer details in life (e.g., a good cup of coffee, well-sugared) separates this book from the murky sea of erotica