Customer Reviews

The Selected Letters of Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder, 1956-1991

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Allen Ginsberg was, of course, the Great Beat(nik) Poet who achieved early fame/infamy with "Howl" and thereafter maintained a very public profile. Gary Snyder was the model for Jack Kerouac's Japhy Ryder in "The Dharma Bums" and is an excellent, if lesser known, poet (Snyder won a Pulitzer Prize for "Turtle Island" in the 1970s) and environmental activist. The two met shortly before their participation in the legendary San Francisco 6 Gallery reading in 1955 and maintained a correspondence until near the time of Ginsberg's death in 1997.

The selected letters offer insight into the personalities and lives of two key figures in the 1950s beat literary movement which would form a foundation for the 1960s counter-culture as well as the ecological movement of the present day. Ginsberg roamed the world and made his way into the inner sanctums of pop culture. When you run across references to Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, and even Uma Thurman in the book's index, rest assured their mention comes in a Ginsberg letter. Meanwhile, Snyder spent the last half of the 1950s and much of the 1960s in Japan studying Zen Buddhism. The two, along with their companions, traveled around India in the early 1960s and later organized the San Francisco Be-In. In the 1980s and 1990s academia slowly came around to recognizing the literary accomplishment of the beat movement and both writers found themselves re-cast as honored elder statesmen. Snyder served as a member of the California Arts Council under Governor Jerry Brown and accepted a teaching post at UC Davis.

As Gary Snyder observes in his introduction (he's one of the last of the beat pioneers standing), he prodded Allen into walking more and Allen prodded him into talking more--and he feels the results were beneficial for both. Certainly reading these collected letters is beneficial to those of us who admire the work of both and appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the persons behind the personas. Read this and ponder if our email and cell phone culture will preserve the entertaining interplay of lofty thoughts and low gossip between two noteworthy individuals as this collection of letters has.

If you've paid attention to cultural events over the past 50 years then you've heard of these two poetic, literary, and, yes, Beat, stars. Kerouac gets the top billing, but without Snyder and Ginsberg guiding him and that heralded movement, it simply wouldn't've happened. And here we get insights into this special relationship. Trials, tribulations, travels, favors asked, jokes played ... it's all here. This very insightful and informative collection is a must read for anyone who is (or was) a free spirit, a poet, a believer.

Spanning forty years, the friendship between these two major poets is documented beautifully in their letters. In selecting what to publish, the editor has included a little bit of everything: mundane travel itineraries and minor financial transactions as well as sublime riffs on the nature of poetry and thought. Ginsberg and Snyder were both serious students of Eastern spirituality, Ginsberg more devoted to Tibetan Buddhism and Snyder, Japanese and American Indian spiritual practice. Ginsberg was the acknowledged father of the Beat Generation of poets, Snyder a Pulitzer Prize winner. Much of the pleasure in reading this book is in hearing of the many Beat poets, writers and other luminaries who were part of Ginsberg's orbit: Jack Kerouac, Michael McClure, Kenneth Rexroth, LeRoi Jones, William Burroughs. Bob Dylan! Patti Smith! Jerry Brown! They come and go, joining Ginsberg at this or that poetry reading, or teaching with him at Naropa, or running into him at some public event or war protest, or hooking up with him to make music.

Anyone who came of age in the Sixties will recognize the atmosphere evoked in these letters: the euphoria, the joy in experimentation, the fallout. Ginsberg's letters are the livelier ones, Snyder's more grounded and steady. Ginsberg seems to have been traveling the globe almost continually, in spite of poor health and a backlog of work and correspondence; but he never complains except good-naturedly. In one memorable letter, he chances to mention toward the end that he was mugged in the street, chanting OM as he was knocked down--and ended up without his wallet. Then he moves on to another subject and the incident receives no further mention. What's that about? You sense the presence of a saint, or at the very least, a humorous, matter-of-fact, selfless soul.

I finished The Selected Letters of Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder last night. Mostly I was interested in their discussion of "Kitkitdizze"--the property they owned together located around forty to fifty miles south of my "off grid" solar home in the Sierra Foothills. Gary Snyder gave me the idea to buy property in the Foothills and commute to my job in the Bay area. Seems Snyder was infectious; at one point, our Governor Jerry Brown wanted to purchase the property next to Snyder and company. Snyder had a good idea.

It was a long and fruitful relationship for Snyder and Ginsberg. Much of the book discusses "Kitkitdizze" and how to enjoy and make the property work. Eventually, Ginsberg sold his house on the property to Snyder. Ginsberg called his house: Bedrock Mortar. Writers often give names to their property and houses. Witness Jack London's "Wolf House". Kitkitdizze and Bedrock Mortar follows within that tradition.

Snyder wrote of his relationship to Ginsberg in the introduction: "I made him walk more, and he made me talk more. It was good for both of us."

I am not sure why this book saw the light of day. It is mostly about minor money matters, travel plans and gossip. It belongs in the archive where biographers and literary scholars could use it in writing more comprehensive narratives or literary critiques of both men. Such scholars are used to plowing through trivial details to find the gems which fit into a larger picture more interesting to the reading public.
I got several things out of the book: a few juicy tidbits of gossip; an occasional glimpse of where I was and what I was doing when the two were similarly or differently engaged and a rare insight into the men but not their poetry. It was a window on my past particularly in the 60's and early 70's. I was a grad student then outside agitator in Berkeley CORE and the Free Speech movement when the two were in and out of the area. I remember Allen, just back from Asia in the early 60s, speaking with I. F. Stone at the Longshoremen's hall about the coming conflict in Vietnam. Allen appeared very holy although he and Stone were similarly New York City bred. Then in '65 or '66 marching with Allen and Peter in an NYC protest. One or the other of them was playing a harmonium and in Hindu robes.
From the book I tried to figure out how "political" each man was and how much and what kind of spiritual practice they did. It was a bit hard to follow. At first it seemed that Allen won in both categories but then later I was not at all sure. I didn't know that Gary studied with Aitkin Roshi, one of my favorites. That I liked learning but still it would have been easier to have a biographer sum its implications up for me. Also it is impressive how much jet setting they did and how many different celebrities they knew. Again, it was hard to tell how difficult their financial lives were trying to make a living as poets but also impressive how easy it was for them to get anything they wrote in print which may be why this volume appeared.
I look forward to Gary's memoir which he is reported to be writing. I have to check on an Allen bio.

Charlie Fisher, author of Dismantling Discontent: Buddha's Way Through Darwin's World

Allen Ginsberg along with Kerouac, Burroughs and Corso were the icons of the Beat movement but others like Gary Snyder jumped on the Beat bandwagon as soon as they saw quick fame and $$$. Read Snyder's poetry and see that his poetry is nothing but safe, bourgeois and academic. Beats by definition were anti-establishment and progressive. Gary Snyder is neither. Through 8 years of the last adminstration's horrors, he never spoke up. Never took a political stand. And now he's calling himself the last standing Beat writer! Sorry, but I think not.