Customer Reviews

Photographs Allen Ginsberg

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first off, these are two excellent essays concerning photography, one by gregory corso and one by ginsberg himself, and these writings are almost worth the price of the book itself (which you should consider buying used, it can be found even in the used section of amazon for cheap - and they are limited printings from what i understand). as for the photos, this is like van gogh's 'bedroom in arles'. there is a sense of history in these pictures, and as ginsberg says, he knew. here is kerouac, burroughs, cassady, allen, and on top of that, this was early post-world war 2 america. you can see it in the people, the apartments, the streets - i could go on and on, but a truly valuable book.

Personal and Beat history were captured by Ginsberg with his simple camera. Other books have called them snapshots, but Ginsberg could not help but create art, as well. The paper used by the printer could have been better. Yet this book is well worth the price.

What a delicious treat. Allen Ginsberg took it upon himself to be the Beat historian, which has in turn given the world this treasure in hardback. His scrawling notations serve as stream-of-consciousness captions. His early pics of Corso eating grapes and huddling for warmth at the Beat Hotel in Paris are simply beautiful. Much silliness is supplied here as well. And who looks better in black and white than Jack Kerouac? This is not only a great coffee table book, but a must for any fan of the Beat Generation.

From the close up photo of aging King Junkie Burroughs to the bathroom snap of naked, youthful Ginsberg and Corso, this massive collection of black and whites, circa Beat Generation, is quite amazing. Each photo is captioned in Ginsberg's own hand and his descriptions/musings tell the story of the Horsemen of Apocalyptic Literature as they roamed through their own private world. I highly recommend this photo essay to fans of that special genre of writing and living.

It was a nice gift...all the pictures were black and white, mostly of his family and friends. Good for a Ginsberg fanatic.