Beatdom

02/09/2024

On September 2, 1956, the New York Times published Richard Eberhart's article, "West Coast Rhythms." In it, he talked about the poetry scene in San Francisco that had exploded following the 6 Gallery reading, where Allen Ginsberg gave the first public reading of "Howl." This article helped turn the Beats from a local to a national phenomenon.

He wrote:

"The West Coast is the liveliest spot in the country in poetry today. It is only here that there is a radical group movement of young poets. San Francisco teems with young poets.
[...]
"The most remarkable poem of the young group, written during the past year, is 'Howl' by Allen Ginsberg [...] after years of apprenticeship to usual forms, he developed a brave new medium. This poem has created a furor of praise or abuse whenever read or heard. It is a powerful work, cutting through to dynamic meaning."

31/08/2024

Kurt Hemmer's latest essay on Gregory Corso.

journal | miscellany | press | podcast | team Gregory Corso’s Forgotten Harvard Education Kurt Hemmer [An excerpt from the work in progress The Poem Human: A Biography of Gregory Corso] Grego…

30/08/2024

Sad news today.

Sad to share the news our dear friend Steve Silberman passed away this morning. There’s just so much to say but will keep it short for now, and celebrate the joy, cheer and good humor he brought to our lives. Love and condolences to his close friends, family and his awesome amazing husband Keith! Upward and onward Steve. Really gonna miss you.

Pictured here on the left with Allen and Marc Olmsted on the right, by Marc Geller, 1986

.silberman

26/08/2024

"Shanghai Song" - The discovery of a new Allen Ginsberg ditty - late night love from China - a litany of friendship - listen to it here - https://allenginsberg.org/2024/08/m-a-26-2/

23/08/2024

Coming later this year from Beatdom Books.

20/08/2024

"What would you write if you were up on the moon and you knew nobody would ever see it? The writing would be sublime because there would be no reason not to say everything."

--Allen Ginsberg

19/08/2024

Hettie Jones (1934-2024)- https://allenginsberg.org/2024/08/s-a-18/

Photo: Carmen Daneshmandi

18/08/2024

“She was, to my eye, the real sexual liberator of the sixties—a woman who wrote dangerously, lived wildly, and loved daringly, right up to her very last breath.”

Alongside big names like Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs was Diane di Prima, one of the only women who were part of the Beat Generation.

14/08/2024

Today marks the 80th anniversary of David Kammerer’s death, an event central to the birth of the Beat Generation. It has been written about many hundreds of times, but what really happened on August 14, 1944 in Riverside Park? That’s the subject of our latest essay.

(Link in the comments.)

13/08/2024

Today is book release day and we're so honored that Self-Portrait: Collected Writings is the #1 New Release in American Fiction on Amazon. This marks the third release for Sal Paradise Press on Rare Bird Lit. It's a must-read for Kerouac fans, and for others it's a great introduction: archival writings that serve as autobiography, offering a fascinating view into the psyche of a man who felt and suffered deeply, wholly committed to his art. Link in comments below.

08/08/2024

Exciting news.

07/08/2024

"too much adulation is worse than non-recognition"

--Jack Kerouac

04/08/2024

Coming soon.

30/07/2024

“If you speak to the condition of your times with some accuracy and intention, then it may speak to the future, too."

--Gary Snyder

27/07/2024

We've published several books about the Beat Generation and religion, and Beatdom #10 (not pictured) was devoted to this interesting topic.

23/07/2024

"There wouldn’t have been a Beat Generation without Allen Ginsberg."

--Lawrence Ferlinghetti

20/07/2024

"Heroes are okay if you learn from them."

--Allen Ginsberg

18/07/2024

Hunter S. Thompson was born 87 years ago today.

He was not a Beat writer but he was (sometimes) inspired by them. Read about the connections between Beat and Gonzo writing here: https://www.beatdom.com/hunter-thompson-beat-generation/

"The only ones left with any confidence at all are the New Dumb. It is the beginning of the end of our world as we knew it. Doom is the operative ethic."

-- Hunter S. Thompson, who was born in 1937.

Happy birthday to the Doctor of Journalism!

16/07/2024

“It’s very important to get poetry out of the hands of the professors and out of the hands of the squares […] If we can get poetry out into the life of the country it can be creative…”

--Kenneth Rexroth

13/07/2024

The evolution of a literary journal...

Until 2011, Beatdom looked very different from its present form. It was an image-heavy journal, printed in colour and with a glossy cover. It was 8x11.5 and its content also included much that could be terms "Beat-inspired." The content tended to be quirky and inconsistent as we had not yet formed a coherent identity as a journal. We also had no publishing schedule and merely printed whenever we had enough to justify a new issue--that meant nine issues of Beatdom in the first four years alone!

In 2011, we moved to a new format and the journal rapidly improved in quality. With Beatdom #9, we became a black-and-white, 6x9-inch journal that centred entirely on the Beats. We began to adopt a "semi-academic" approach that we continue today, which is to say that we cover areas typically of academic inquiry but we do so in a deliberately accessible way (which we believe is truer to the Beat legacy). We now publish annually in May.

Those early editions are no longer on sale but occasionally they pop up on eBay. They are kind of fun but goofy efforts that show our roots and early interests, but they are of less interest from a scholarly perspective, given their content (satire, cartoons, politics, etc). Most of the better pieces from those issues can be found on our website, where they are free to view.

The issues below include Beatdom #5, whose cover (designed by Isaac Bonan) became our company logo until earlier this year, when we changed to a new version, designed by Waylon Bacon. The cover below looks strange because the interior was signed (and heavily annotated in a violent, Gonzo style) by one of our regular contributors, Edaurdo jones, who passed away a few years ago.

A few months ago, we published our 24th issue and next month marks our 17th anniversary. Around the time we switched to our current format, we also expanded into book publishing, and since 2010 we have put out about two dozen texts on the Beats. With a book coming in December and several more issues already in the pipeline, we have no plans to slow down...

10/07/2024

"Kerouac’s understanding of fellaheenism stems from his reading of Oswald Spengler’s The Decline of the West, a book recommended by William Burroughs in 1944."

El Habib Louai looks at the life and work of Jack Kerouac in this fascinating essay.

08/07/2024

"Peter Orlovsky is an old veteran of the spiritual wars in America and a very central figure in Beat Generation cultural and literary development, both as a cultural activist and as an historically important poet."

-- Allen Ginsberg on Peter Orlovsky, who was born in 1933.

03/07/2024

"I don’t think there was a better poet in America at Jim’s age."

--Michael McClure on Jim Morrison, who died on this day in 1971

29/06/2024

David S Wills of Beatdom writes on the composition of Howl - new information on the poem and its genesis - https://allenginsberg.org/2024/06/s-j-29-2/

29/06/2024

"There is something special about Tangier. It is the only place when I am there I don’t want to be any place else."
-- William S. Burroughs

25/06/2024

“I see myself somewhat caricatured, but very tenderly so, and sometimes very penetratingly, critically right, in a way. His criticism of my vanity and egotism was really right, I think. It was a good view— and my general superficiality, actually, as a person.”

-- Allen Ginsberg on Jack Kerouac's depictions of him

22/06/2024

This article (on The Beat Museum website) about Gregory Corso includes a previously unseen drawing by the mysterious Hope Savage.

The Beat Museum is thrilled to present this collaboration with Kurt Hemmer, featuring original letters, illustrations, and other material from the Beat Museum archives—items never before available for public view—until now.

20/06/2024

"Writers are very powerful indeed. They write the script for the reality film."
-- William S. Burroughs

17/06/2024

Here are three books we have published about William S. Burroughs. There's another one coming later this year...