A report on Howl (poem)

Howl and Other Poems was published in the fall of 1956 as number four in the Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books.
The administrative board of Yleisradio is getting ready to discuss the broadcast of “Howl” in December 1969.

Poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1954–1955 and published in his 1956 collection Howl and Other Poems.

- Howl (poem)
Howl and Other Poems was published in the fall of 1956 as number four in the Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books.

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Allen Ginsberg

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American poet and writer.

American poet and writer.

First edition cover of Ginsberg's landmark poetry collection, Howl and Other Poems(1956)
Ginsberg with his partner, poet Peter Orlovsky. Photo taken in 1978
Portrait with Bob Dylan, taken in 1975
Allen Ginsberg greeting A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at San Francisco International Airport. January 17, 1967
The Mantra-Rock Dance promotional poster featuring Allen Ginsberg along with leading rock bands.
Allen Ginsberg, 1979
Protesting at the 1972 Republican National Convention
Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and John C. Lilly in 1991

Ginsberg is best known for his poem "Howl", in which he denounced what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Beat Generation

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Literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era.

Literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti
A section devoted to the beat generation at a bookstore in Stockholm, Sweden

Allen 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.

City Lights Bookstore, 2010

City Lights Bookstore

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Independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California, that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics.

Independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California, that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics.

City Lights Bookstore, 2010
City Lights Bookstore - outside, 2013
Lawrence Ferlinghetti at City Lights in 2007
City Lights bookstore in July 2003.
The poetry room.
Howl and Other Poems was published in the fall of 1956 as number four in the Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books

This was followed in quick succession by Thirty Spanish Poems of Love and Exile translated by Kenneth Rexroth and Poems of Humor & Protest by Kenneth Patchen, but it was the impact of the fourth volume, Howl and Other Poems (1956) by Allen Ginsberg that brought national attention to the author and publisher.

First edition (Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books)

Howl and Other Poems

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Collection of poetry by Allen Ginsberg published November 1, 1956.

Collection of poetry by Allen Ginsberg published November 1, 1956.

First edition (Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books)
Ginsberg's fame drew the attention of celebrities such as Bob Dylan. This photograph of Dylan and Ginsberg was taken in 1975

It contains Ginsberg's most famous poem, "Howl", which is considered to be one of the principal works of the Beat Generation as well as "A Supermarket in California", "Transcription of Organ Music", "Sunflower Sutra", "America", "In the Baggage Room at Greyhound", and some of his earlier works.

Ferlinghetti in 1965

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

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American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers.

American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers.

Ferlinghetti in 1965
A sample of Ferlinghetti's work at San Francisco's Jack Kerouac Alley, which is adjacent to the City Lights Bookstore
Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 2012 at Caffe Trieste
Career Award Plaque conferred on October 28, 2017, at the Premio di Arti Letterarie Metropoli di Torino, Italy

He was arrested for publishing Allen Ginsberg's Howl, resulting in a First Amendment trial in 1957, where Ferlinghetti was charged with publishing an obscene work—and acquitted.

Jack Kerouac by Tom Palumbo circa 1956

Jack Kerouac

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American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.

American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.

Jack Kerouac by Tom Palumbo circa 1956
Jack Kerouac's birthplace, 9 Lupine Road, 2nd floor, West Centralville, Lowell, Massachusetts
His third of several homes growing up in the West Centralville section of Lowell
Kerouac's Naval Reserve Enlistment photograph, 1943
Jack Kerouac lived with his parents for a time above a corner drug store in Ozone Park (now a flower shop), while writing some of his earliest work.
454 West 20th Street
House in College Park in Orlando, Florida where Kerouac lived and wrote The Dharma Bums
Grave in Edson Cemetery, Lowell
On the Road excerpt in the center of Jack Kerouac Alley
Jack Kerouac Alley in Chinatown, San Francisco

Many editors were also uncomfortable with the idea of publishing a book that contained what were, for the era, graphic descriptions of drug use and homosexual behavior—a move that could result in obscenity charges being filed, a fate that later befell Burroughs' Naked Lunch and Ginsberg's Howl.

Theatrical release poster

Howl (2010 film)

4 links

Theatrical release poster

Howl is a 2010 American film which explores both the 1955 Six Gallery debut and the 1957 obscenity trial of 20th-century American poet Allen Ginsberg's noted poem "Howl".

Burroughs in the 1980s

William S. Burroughs

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American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular culture and literature.

American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular culture and literature.

Burroughs in the 1980s
William S. Burroughs' childhood home on Pershing Place in St. Louis
William S. Burroughs and James Grauerholz in the alley behind the Jazzhaus in Lawrence, Kansas (1996)
Burroughs and David Woodard with Brion Gysin Dreamachine, 1997

The novel was initially rejected by City Lights Books, the publisher of Ginsberg's Howl; and Olympia Press publisher Maurice Girodias, who had published English-language novels in France that were controversial for their subjective views of sex and antisocial characters.

Self portrait photo-collage of Shig Murao

Shig Murao

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Self portrait photo-collage of Shig Murao

Shigeyoshi "Shig" Murao (村尾 重芳, Murao Shigeyoshi, b. December 8, 1926 – d. October 18, 1999) was a Japanese-American bookseller who is mainly remembered as the City Lights manager and clerk who was arrested on June 3, 1957, for selling Allen Ginsberg's Howl to an undercover San Francisco police officer.

Kenneth Rexroth

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American poet, translator, and critical essayist.

American poet, translator, and critical essayist.

Kenneth Rexroth Street in San Francisco, California

Rexroth later testified as a defense witness at Ferlinghetti's obscenity trial for publishing "Howl".