A fascinating assortment of material-newspaper articles,
transcripts, photographs, letters from the principals,
commentary-on the 1957 obscenity trial in San Francisco that pitted
the "people" against City Lights, the bookshop that published and
sold Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems.The poem that occasioned
it all (and Ginsberg's related work, "Footnote to Howl") appears
early in this engaging and at times astonishing volume. And it's
not hard to see why some procrustean mid-'50s folk found the poems
offensive: Naughty words and allusions to sexual intimacies and
street life abound. As the editors explain, Howl was first grabbed
by vigilant Customs officers (it was printed abroad), then by San
Francisco cops who, disguised as patrons, bought a copy at City
Lights. Some will be surprised to learn that Ginsberg was never
arrested or charged; only City Lights owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti
and his unfortunate clerk were booked and fingerprinted. After a
brief trial (no jury) that included expert testimony from literary
luminaries Mark Schorer, Walter Van Tilburg Clark and Kenneth
Rexroth (all for the defense), Judge Clayton W. Horn declared, "I
do not believe that Howl is without redeeming social importance."
Highlights of the trial transcript (sadly, only excerpted here)
include testy exchanges and struggles to explain how Howl differs
from the Book of Job. Among the most intriguing pieces are reprints
from the San Francisco Chronicle, which immediately recognized the
free-speech, free-press issues at stake. Morgan (Ginsberg's
longtime archivist and author of an upcoming biography of the
writer) and Peters (publisher of City Lights) have provided some
useful chronologies and some probably superfluous warnings about
today's family-values crusaders. Ferlinghetti himself, now in his
mid-80s, offers a feisty, if hyperbolic, Introduction. The
anti-climactic material that follows the judge's opinion might have
found a happier home in an appendix.A volume that will appeal to
all who cherish their right to read uncensored the outpourings of
the human heart. (Kirkus Reviews)
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Howl and Other Poems, with
nearly one million copies in print, City Lights presents the story
of editing, publishing, and defending Allen Ginsberg's landmark
poem within a broader context of obscenity issues and censorship of
literary works. This collection begins with an introduction by
publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who shares his memories of hearing
"Howl" first read at the 6 Gallery, of his arrest, and the
subsequent legal defense of Howl's publication.
Never-before--published correspondence of Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti,
Kerouac, Gregory Corso, John Hollander, Richard Eberhart, and
others provides an in-depth commentary on the poem's ethi-cal
intent and its social significance to the author and his
contemporaries. A section on the public reaction to the trial
includes newspaper reportage, op-ed pieces by Ginsberg and
Ferlinghetti, and letters to the editor from the public, which
provide fascinating background material on the cultural climate of
the mid-1950s. A timeline of literary censorship in the United
States places this battle for free expression in a historical
context. Also included are photographs, transcripts of relevant
trial testimony, Judge Clayton Horn's decision and its
ramifications, and a long essay by Albert Bendich, the ACLU
attorney who defended Howl on constitutional grounds. Editor Bill
Morgan discusses more recent challenges to Howl in the late 1980s
and how the fight against censorship continues today in new guises.
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