In honor of the New Hampshire slam poets’ marathon, why not look back on the poets who started it all? The poetic pedigree of today’s slammers is the Beats, and Bill Morgan knows a thing or two about the Beats. A librarian by trade, he was the bibliographer of most of them, including Allen Ginsberg, who was his friend. In fact, Morgan is pretty much the Beat historian, having written or edited dozens of books on the Beats.
The Typewriter is Holy is an early comprehensive history of the formation of the Beats, from their early friendships to their cultural impact to their deaths.
In his introduction, Morgan makes the connection between the beat circle of Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Neal Cassady and others to the transcendental movement of the 1840s with Emerson, Thoreau and their crew. It’s an apt connection.
But to Morgan, whereas Emerson was just one of many transcendentalists of the time, Ginsberg is crux of the Beat Generation. “The Transcendental movement wouldn’t have been as tasty without Emerson,” Morgan writes, “but the Beat Generation never would have existed with Ginsberg.”
And so it goes, with Ginsberg the center of this ever circulating wheel, constantly pulling and pushing poets, writers and thinkers into and around this circle.
The point of the book is to give a basic history of some of the writers who created the hippie movement, drug experimentation, slam poetry and youth culture in this country. It’s well annotated and informed. It’s not anything terribly new, however. Plus, because Morgan is so close to the subjects, much of the drug abuse and crimes committed by these folks are either ignored or simply waved off as the foibles of smart guys creating art.
If you are just beginning to explore the Beat Generation, this is a fine book to begin your journey. If you’re looking for a deeper, more complex look at this very complex movement, keep looking.
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