BOOKS
THE SURVIVAL OF ALLEN GINSBERG
JOURNALS: EARLY FIFTIES, EARLY SIXTIES. By Allen Ginsberg.
Edited by Gordon Ball. Grove Press. $10.
AS EVER: THE COLLECTED CORRESPONDENCE OF ALLEN GINS–
BERG AND NEAL CASSADY .
Edited by Barry Gifford. Creative Arts.
$5.95.
MIND BREATHS: POEMS
1972- 1977.
By Allen Ginsberg.
City Lights.
$3.
We have three new books from All en Ginsberg: a selecti on
of recent poems, a second transcripti o n of entr ies from h is vas t store of
journals, and an exchange o f letters with Nea l Cassady, who was once
the elusive o bj ect of hi s tumultuo us affecti on s. But there is nothing
especiall y new here; two o f the books a re retrosp ecti ve forays over
known territory. Fo r yea rs Ginsberg has been the most access ible of our
writers, and has conducted hi s affa irs very much in the open , if
remarkabl y beyond the reach of ta lk shows, bookcha t, and general
literary bla ther. Nor do the poems break an y new gro und , imagina–
ti vely or techni ca lly. They put forth the standard brew of homosexual–
ity, metaph ys ics, pacifi sm, po liti ca l o utrage, mudd led proph ecy, and
homemade Buddhi sm tha t is as fami lia r now as the morn ing coffee,
and about as alarm ing.
Ginsberg has long since gradua ted from being a subterranean and
"know-n othin g Bohemi an " to bein g everyone's favorite proph et. He is
our anarchi st-in-res idence, queer and avun cu la r, whose tirades aga in st
imperi al wa rfa re, offi cial repress ion , and ha rd dope, and open pass ion
for nubile young boys are di sa rmed and domesti ca ted by hi s iron y.
Even Di ana Tri ll in g, wh o is ever on th e alert for bad influences on the
young, has preferred to remember him, in
W e Must March
My
Darlings,
as a warm and comfort ing presence in the sixti es. As an
added in grati a ting fea ture, Gin sberg is th at ra res t of fi gures amon g
American poets, a survivor, workin g vi go ro usly into hi s fifti es, des p ite
the script he was handed ea rl y in life whi ch ca ll ed for a spectacu lar
crack-up or a slow descent into alcoho l or madn ess in the grand
Ameri can traditi on . He was cut out to be a
p oete maudit:
a Poe, a John
