Thank you for this substantial accounting of the Ginsberg/Rexroth relationship. I found it illuminating, kinda like what happens when you drop a torch in well. Looking forward to the next Beatdom. Really appreciate the North Dakota link. Rexroth's relations with Gary Snyder could use a similar treatment. My understanding is that both writers remained better friends than with Beat friends throughout the difficulties. All the best.
I hope to tackle that one day. I came across many unpublished (and I think unseen) documents relating to Snyder and Rexroth. I cited a few in my book on the 6 Gallery reading. Rexroth considered Snyder the best of the young poets and Snyder looked to him as a true mentor (more than Ginsberg did by far). They seem to have stayed in contact but I'd need to dig back into Snyder's archives to see for sure. Snyder had some amusing comments circa 1999 that show Rexroth's personality, both positive and negative. Certainly much to discuss between them.
The North Dakota videos are worth watching but it's a shame we cannot hear the audience questions because a lot of it is silent and we just see the poets staring at whoever is speaking to them. Well, at least the poets themselves mostly spoke into mics and the audio is better than a lot of the 1970s recordings of Ginsberg readings that I've listened to.
Have you commented somewhere. on the question of whether "Thou Shalt Not Kill'
"influenced" "Howl"- or more generally was A.G. ever known speak about that Rexroth poem in letters/journals /interviews. And what is your own opinion about "Thou Shalt Not Kill " as a poem in itself ? and it's possible relation -or not -to "Howl"? Thanks for this great piece.
As a poem, I liked "Thou Shalt Not Kill." I know a lot of poets at the time thought it was embarrassing but I'm not a poet and not very discerning about this stuff. I enjoyed it.
I’ve read a great many reports on Rexroth from those who knew him in the 1950s and it really is amazing how there were 2 versions of him: the intelligent, kind, talented man and the nasty, paranoid, embarrassment. He was certainly a very complex character.
Thank you for this substantial accounting of the Ginsberg/Rexroth relationship. I found it illuminating, kinda like what happens when you drop a torch in well. Looking forward to the next Beatdom. Really appreciate the North Dakota link. Rexroth's relations with Gary Snyder could use a similar treatment. My understanding is that both writers remained better friends than with Beat friends throughout the difficulties. All the best.
I hope to tackle that one day. I came across many unpublished (and I think unseen) documents relating to Snyder and Rexroth. I cited a few in my book on the 6 Gallery reading. Rexroth considered Snyder the best of the young poets and Snyder looked to him as a true mentor (more than Ginsberg did by far). They seem to have stayed in contact but I'd need to dig back into Snyder's archives to see for sure. Snyder had some amusing comments circa 1999 that show Rexroth's personality, both positive and negative. Certainly much to discuss between them.
The North Dakota videos are worth watching but it's a shame we cannot hear the audience questions because a lot of it is silent and we just see the poets staring at whoever is speaking to them. Well, at least the poets themselves mostly spoke into mics and the audio is better than a lot of the 1970s recordings of Ginsberg readings that I've listened to.
Have you commented somewhere. on the question of whether "Thou Shalt Not Kill'
"influenced" "Howl"- or more generally was A.G. ever known speak about that Rexroth poem in letters/journals /interviews. And what is your own opinion about "Thou Shalt Not Kill " as a poem in itself ? and it's possible relation -or not -to "Howl"? Thanks for this great piece.
Yes, I wrote about it here: https://beatdom.substack.com/p/thou-shalt-not-howl The tl;dr is that it certainly did influence "Howl."
As a poem, I liked "Thou Shalt Not Kill." I know a lot of poets at the time thought it was embarrassing but I'm not a poet and not very discerning about this stuff. I enjoyed it.
I’ve read a great many reports on Rexroth from those who knew him in the 1950s and it really is amazing how there were 2 versions of him: the intelligent, kind, talented man and the nasty, paranoid, embarrassment. He was certainly a very complex character.