A report on Beat Generation and Six Gallery reading
Conceived 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 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 Generation10 related topics with Alpha
Allen Ginsberg
6 linksAmerican poet and writer.
American poet and writer.
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.
Wally 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.
Howl (poem)
5 linksPoem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1954–1955 and published in his 1956 collection Howl and Other Poems.
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.
The Dharma Bums
5 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).
Kenneth Rexroth
4 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
4 linksAmerican man of letters.
American man of letters.
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.
Wally Hedrick
2 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.
Michael McClure
2 linksAmerican poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist.
American poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist.
After moving to San Francisco as a young man, he found fame as one of the five poets (including Allen Ginsberg) who read at the famous San Francisco Six Gallery reading in 1955, which was rendered in barely fictionalized terms in Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums.
He soon became a key member of the Beat Generation and was immortalized as Pat McLear in Kerouac's Big Sur.
Philip Whalen
2 linksPhilip Glenn Whalen (October 20, 1923 – June 26, 2002) was an American poet, Zen Buddhist, and a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance and close to the Beat generation.
He read at the famous Six Gallery reading in 1955 that marked the launch of the West Coast Beats into the public eye.
Philip Lamantia
2 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.
Ann Charters
0 linksProfessor of American Literature at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.
Professor of American Literature at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.
She is a Jack Kerouac and Beat Generation scholar.
She is a professor of American Literature at the University of Connecticut at Storrs and has been interested in Beat writers since 1956, when as an undergraduate English major at the University of California, Berkeley (B.A. 1957) she attended the repeat performance of the Six Gallery Poetry reading in San Francisco where Allen Ginsberg gave his second public reading of "Howl."