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John Tytell

Auteur van Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano

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John Tytell is author of Naked Angels: The Lives and Literature of the Beat Generation, Reading New York, and Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano. He has taught modern American literature at Queens College since 1963.

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“Cool dies when it becomes a fashion adjective.”

The Beat Interviews by John Tytell is a collection of interviews and commentary on leaders of the beat generation. The interviews conducted in the 1970s include Allen Ginsberg, William S Burroughs, Carl Solomon, Herbert Huncke, and John Clellon Holmes. The interviews seem for the most part to be unscripted and unprepared. The transcripts are not the type you read in a glossy magazine. These seem to be raw interviews and there are even a few spelling errors interviews (but not the commentary). In today’s media of heavily scripted interviews this is refreshing.

The tone and the answers of those being interviewed add to the overall content. Huncke, for example, forgets people’s last names and seems to struggle at times, losing his train of thought. Burrough's comes across as being annoyed at the some of the questions and gives one word answers at times. You can almost hear Burroughs harsh voice give more than a few indignant retorts. Burroughs is also seen as the odd member of the group. Kerouac and Ginsberg, both from blue collar backgrounds, saw Burroughs as upper-class. John Clellon Holmes talks about Kerouac and his writing. Kerouac’s comment about writing fiction -- or lies as Kerouac called it is explained. Kerouac’s relationship with other beat members is also discussed. Carl Solomon met Ginsberg at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital. Ginsberg was serving his sentence for his part in an automobile theft and Solomon for treatment. Solomon would have a role in with Ginsberg and Burroughs as his uncle was the owner of Ace Books. Ginsberg dedicated “Howl” to Solomon and included Solomon in the poem. Tytell does an outstanding job with Ginsberg and in the commentary goes into detail of Ginsberg’s last public reading of “Howl”.

The Beat Interviews are a person look inside some key members of the movement in their own words and in the words of their contemporaries -- Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac had already died at the time of the interviews. I enjoyed the unpolished style of the interviews; they seemed more honest. Although I only recently started reading any Kerouac, Burroughs, and Ginsberg, I can see the draw to Kerouac and Ginsberg. Burroughs give me difficulty, but in his time I believe he was more extreme and fitting than he is today. This is a great collection for beat fans and a personal look at, at the time, the surviving members.
… (meer)
 
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evil_cyclist | Mar 16, 2020 |
Since when are you an economist, pal? The last I knew you were a fuckin' bassoon player. Hemingway in a 1933 letter to Pound.

Just before the holidays I bought a stack of copies of this less than regal biography in an ongoing attempt to keep a reading group afloat. We all are good friends, yet we all have lives and egos; social media has afforded all the willing a platform and thus an online reading group appears as it is: so 1999.

John Tytell appears to have a cut and pasted a modestly comprehensive view of this divisive literary figure. There is no speculation about Pound's eccentric behavior, his contradictions and his beaming generosity. There is really no life in this portrait, just a list of names and an a exhaustive bibliography. This is likely closer to a 2 star text, though I did glean benefit from those who orbited in wonky arabesques of influence from St. Ezra the Blackshirt.… (meer)
 
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jonfaith | Feb 22, 2019 |
This is the highest rating I have given a Kerouac bio. I think it was due to the fact that it was the least brutal. Thus was a quite short book, relatively, and provided a look into his working and downward spiral without discussing ad nauseam. I think this is my last Kerouac bio for a while. I am working on my book and, though I love his works, his utter self destructive behavior leaves me vacant.
 
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dirac | Nov 9, 2012 |
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the Living Theatre was the most radical group in American theatrical history. Their flamboyant and counter-cultural experiments attracted international attention, their performances were leftist and sexually explicit. They suffered repeated censorship, arrests and imprisonments. In every way they were wildly notorious and theatrical. Tytell's history of the company is a detailed biography of its two charismatic founders and lead performers, Julian Beck and Judith Malina, and a searching look at the American avant-garde at mid-century. His story of the Living Theatre is also filled with a glittering and exotic cast of characters including Tennessee Williams, Frank O'Hara, Anais Nin, James Agee, Allen Ginsberg and the Beats, Jackson Pollock and the Abstract Expressionists, Peggy Guggenheim, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert and Ira Cohen.… (meer)
 
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RKC-Drama | Mar 24, 2011 |

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Werken
13
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2
Leden
406
Populariteit
#59,889
Waardering
4.1
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6
ISBNs
36
Talen
4

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