A report on Beat Generation, Allen Ginsberg and Six Gallery reading
As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Generation.
- Allen GinsbergConceived by Wally Hedrick, this event was the first important public manifestation of the Beat Generation and helped to herald the West Coast literary revolution that continued the San Francisco Renaissance.
- Six Gallery readingAllen Ginsberg's Howl (1956), William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch (1959), and Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957) are among the best known examples of Beat literature.
- Beat GenerationAt the reading, five talented young poets—Allen Ginsberg, Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, and Philip Whalen—who until then were known mainly within a close company of friends and other writers (such as Lionel Trilling and William Carlos Williams), presented some of their latest works.
- Six Gallery readingWhen asked by Wally Hedrick to organize the Six Gallery reading, Ginsberg wanted Rexroth to serve as master of ceremonies, in a sense to bridge generations.
- Beat GenerationWally Hedrick—a painter and co-founder of the Six Gallery—approached Ginsberg in mid-1955 and asked him to organize a poetry reading at the Six Gallery.
- Allen Ginsberg6 related topics with Alpha
Howl (poem)
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"Howl", also known as "Howl for Carl Solomon", is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1954–1955 and published in his 1956 collection Howl and Other Poems.
It came to be associated with the group of writers known as the Beat Generation.
The poem was first performed at the Six Gallery in San Francisco on October 7, 1955.
Kenneth Rexroth
3 linksAmerican poet, translator, and critical essayist.
American poet, translator, and critical essayist.
Although he did not consider himself to be a Beat poet, and disliked the association, he was dubbed the "Father of the Beats" by Time magazine.
With Rexroth acting as master of ceremonies, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, and Philip Whalen performed at the famous Six Gallery reading on October 7, 1955.
Gary Snyder
2 linksAmerican man of letters.
American man of letters.
Snyder met Allen Ginsberg when the latter sought Snyder out on the recommendation of Kenneth Rexroth.
Snyder read his poem "A Berry Feast" at the poetry reading at the Six Gallery in San Francisco (October 7, 1955) that heralded what was to become known as the San Francisco Renaissance.
In the 1950s, Snyder took part in the rise of a strand of Buddhist anarchism emerging from the Beat movement.
The Dharma Bums
2 linksThe Dharma Bums is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac.
Chapter 2 of the novel gives an account of the legendary 1955 Six Gallery reading, where Allen Ginsberg ('Alvah Goldbrook' in the book) gave a debut presentation of his poem "Howl" (changed to "Wail" in the book).
Wally Hedrick
1 linksSeminal American artist in the 1950s California counterculture, gallerist, and educator who came to prominence in the early 1960s.
Seminal American artist in the 1950s California counterculture, gallerist, and educator who came to prominence in the early 1960s.
Hedrick was also a key figure in the first important public manifestation of the Beat Generation when he helped to organize the Six Gallery Reading, and created the first artistic denunciation of American foreign policy in Vietnam.
"The Six Gallery reading" took place on October 7, 1955, at the Six Gallery, when Allen Ginsberg, at Hedrick's invitation, read "Howl" for the first time.
Philip Lamantia
1 linksAmerican poet and lecturer.
American poet and lecturer.
Lamantia was one of the post World War II poets now sometimes referred to as the San Francisco Renaissance, and later became involved with the San Francisco Beat Generation poets and the Surrealist Movement in the United States.
He was on the bill at San Francisco's Six Gallery on October 7, 1955, when poet Allen Ginsberg read his poem Howl for the first time.