Evergreen Review Reader: 1957-1966

by Barney Rosset (Editor)

Beckett, Kerouac, Ginsberg and more return in the classic pages of Evergreen Review! This selection from the first ten years of the Evergreen Review gives the full flavor of the energy, savvy, excitement, and gall that characterized the magazine during the days of its publication. It also happens to bring together some of the world’s best writers in one volume, in the company of their peers. Evergreen was more than another literary magazine. Founded by Barney Rossett of Grove Press and publishing from 1957 through 1973 (it now exists as an online only magazine), it was the voice of a movement that helped to change the attitudes and prejudices of the culture at large through the language of art—and succeeded. It was always damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. Here are original short stories by Samuel Beckett and Jack Kerouac (with his “October in the Railroad Earth” predating the publication of On the Road ); Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” (previously published only as a pamphlet); a selection from Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind ; and a passage from Alexander Trocchi’s Cain’s Book . Also included are a fantastic sample of the original and iconic magazine covers which were works of art themselves—a heavily bearded Ginsberg cavorting in a sport coat and Uncle Sam top hat in 1966—and several reprinted comic strips; notably, Michael O’Donoghue’s “The Adventure of Phoebe Zeit-geist.” 24 black-and-white photographs

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Anthologies

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Barney Rosset was born in 1922 in Chicago to a Jewish father and an Irish Catholic mother. He was briefly married to the Abstract Expressionist American painter Joan Mitchell. He bought Grove Press in 1951, and sold it to the Getty family in 1985. He died in 2012.

Reviews

[Takipsilim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most important underground publication of it's time.

[Nate D]

Found at a great book shop in Maine. The owner: "one of my favorite books when I was a kid!"

[Eric Glick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life. After I discovered it in a used book shop in Cincinnati in the early 1990's, it was my path to find new authors I would not have been exposed to in those pre-internet times.

[Blake Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book of poetry and surprisingly little politics from the publishers of The Evergreen Review. An insight into the culture of the 1960s.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began reading articles, excerpts, sections, and complete portions of this book at the age of ten-eleven. It's got a incredible assortment of writing---essay, fiction, non-fiction, poetry and review. I've used it as a reference to find authors, works, and anthologies of literature throughout my life.

It's a ten-year anthology of America's leading literary magazine, Hardcover– 1968, By Barney Rosset (editor), Grove Press, 778 pages.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

original printing, hard cover w/ dj

[Natalie]

Found a copy of this for a song yesterday in a beautiful used bookstore in Tampa.

[Sean A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A valuable piece of literary history that I was fortunate to find a physical copy of. Will be returning to again over the years.