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Queer Beats: How the Beats Turned America On to Sex

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For latecomers who may have only read one or two canonic Beat works (say ON THE ROAD and "Howl"), or for those who once read masses of the stuff but never grasped the overall flow of the movement, Regina Marler's introduction to QUEER BEATS is invaluable. She charts their progress from Ginsberg's 1948 experience, part sexual, part religious, of "hearing" William Blake read his poems in a voice like that of God, down through the notoriety and popularization of "beatniks," to the historic legal decisions of 1957-66 that lifted the bans against "Howl," Henry Miller's TROPIC OF CANCER, and NAKED LUNCH, and forever changed what could be published in America.
The major players are represented by characteristic yet unhackneyed extracts. For once, Kerouac's 1948 remark about Posterity (see jacket copy above) is set into context: he was still an unknown, though convinced of his destiny. Several Burroughs "routines" reveal him to be one of the granddaddies of the Goths. But it is Ginsberg who emerges as the real motive force here, writing, proselytizing, using publicity to make political statements, and networking like a pro.
Thanks to dedicated digging in the archives, Marler is also able to highlight interesting ancillary figures such as Herbert Huncke and John Giorno, poets Alan Ansen and Harold Norse, and Ginsberg's lover and helpmeet Peter Orlovsky, who must have been one sweet guy despite not having much brain. Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, and the legendary Neal Cassady stop by for cameo performances. Other selections attain high comedy, as in Jane Bowles's off-the-wall tale of lesbian attraction and repulsion, or Diane di Prima's precise deadpan chronicle of the interactions at an orgy where she and Kerouac were the hetero centerpiece.
Not every selection is of top literary merit, perhaps, but Marler's introductory notes place each item into a cunning assemblage larger than its parts. The wry company of the unflappable editor enhances this anthology's attractions: there isn't a dull page in the book (which Cleis Press has provided with a handsome, uncluttered presentation). The fitting climax is provided by expatriate Paul Bowles, connected to all the Beats though not one of them. His twenty-four page short story "Pages from Cold Point" is a masterpiece of ambiguous anxiety and sexual blackmail: if you've never read it, read it here.
QUEER BEATS: HOW THE BEATS TURNED AMERICA ON TO SEX revives rare, overlooked, and unusual work. As the pioneering collection of its kind, Marler's book not only enlarges our view of homegrown American literature, but suggests plenty of possibilities for further exploration. Enjoy it!

For anyone who thinks they've heard it all--and even for those who haven't--Queer Beats breaks through a new door of history of this much loved group of writers. Regina Marler has brought together a fun and fascinating array of stories, letters, poems, and journals that I simply could not put down. Rarely have I seen the Beats handled so throughly and deftly by one writer. That she tackles the hot topic of sexuality as expertly as she does on top of all else is doubly impressive. Marler's introductory essays are also so full of Beat lore, gossip and sex that her own writing is worth the price of the book alone! Aftering reading this, you'll never look at the Beats the same again.