Iron Curtain journals : January-May 1965

The Resource Iron Curtain journals : January-May 1965

Label

Iron Curtain journals : January-May 1965

Title remainder

January-May 1965

Statement of responsibility

Allen Ginsberg ; edited by Michael Schumacher

Language

eng

Summary

"In 1965, Ginsberg travels to Cuba, where ignoring all advice, he behaves in his usual wonderfully provocative way and is deported under armed guard to, of all places, Prague. This leads to a remarkable and moving journey through the Iron Curtain countries, to Russia (the land of his heritage), to Poland and the Warsaw ghetto and to Auschwitz. When he returns to Prague, he runs afoul of the government when local students crown him "The King of May" and tour him around in a flatbed truck. He's beaten in the streets a few days later, arrested, and deported yet again: this time to swinging England, where he hangs out with Bob Dylan, meets the Beatles, and helps stage a massive international poetry reading at the Royal Albert Hall (where William S. Burroughs is piped in long distance over the P.A.)"--
"A travel guide through one of the best minds of the Beat Generation--distinctly not destroyed by madness--Allen Ginsberg's journals are more tour de force than simple diaries, charting his poetry, political antics, and high-profile encounters behind the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War. Between jotting first drafts of well-known poems and composing others not seen until now, Ginsberg manages to get himself deported from Cuba--to, of all places, Prague, where he also eventually finds himself unwelcome. Meanwhile, in characteristically colorful fashion, he details his provocations and pranks, his encounters with other poets, curious citizens, and celebrities, and his pointed, often moving observations as he makes his way to Russia (land of his heritage), to Poland and the Warsaw Ghetto, and to Auschwitz. Running foul of the Czech government when he circles back to Prague, he is warned to keep a low profile but is instead crowned the King of May by students who ceremoniously parade him through the city in a flatbed truck. Ginsberg is beaten in the streets, arrested, and deported once again, this time to swinging England, where he arrives just in time to help stage a massive international poetry reading at the Royal Albert Hall. Ginsberg wrote of these experiences as only he could, summoning a time, a political and poetic landscape at once familiar and foreign, and a singular poet who in these pages--whether detailing his travels, describing his meetings with Russian poets, annotating his dreams, or giving graphic accounts of his sexual adventures--speaks with electrifying intelligence and insight across the years and the vagaries of culture." -- Publisher's description

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

LBSOR/DLC

Dewey number

811/.54
B

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

LC call number

PS3513.I74

LC item number

Z46 2018

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Context

Context of Iron Curtain journals : January-May 1965

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Context

Work of