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Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression

Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression

Paperback

Letters & EssaysLiterary CriticismPoetry Criticism

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0872864790
ISBN13: 9780872864795
Publisher: City Lights Books
Published: Nov 1 2006
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.60
Height: 0.51 Width: 5.62 Depth: 8.22
Language: English

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 of 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 ethical 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.

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Poetry Criticism