Nothing More to Declare

by John Clellon Holmes

At 40, John Clellon Holmes scrutinizes maturity-his own, and that of the recent, memorable generation we called Beat. This is one writer's provocative, personal summation of the men and ideas that made his literary generation. Despite himself, Holmes became spoksman for the Beat. Contains intimate portraits of Gershon Legman, Jay Landesman, Allen ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac.

Genres: Nonfiction

253 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

John Clellon Holmes, born in Holyoke Massachusetts, was an author, poet and professor, best known for his 1952 novel Go. Go is considered the first "Beat" novel, and depicted events in his life with friends Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg. He was often referred to as the "quiet Beat," and was one of Kerouac's closest friends. He also wrote what is considered the definitive jazz novel of the Beat Generation, The Horn.

Holmes was more an observer and documenter of beat characters like Ginsberg, Cassidy and Kerouac than one of them. He asked Ginsberg for "any and all information on your poetry and your visions" (shortly before Ginsberg's admission into hospital) saying that "I am interested in knowing also anything you may wish to tell... about Neal, Huncke, Lucien in relation to you..." (referring to Herbert Huncke and Lucien Carr), to which Ginsberg replied with an 11-page letter detailing, as completely as he could, the nature of his "divine vision".

The origin of the term beat being applied to a generation was conceived by Jack Kerouac who told Holmes "You know, this is really a Beat Generation." The term later became part of common parlance when Holmes published an article in The New York Times Magazine entitled "This Is the Beat Generation" on November 16, 1952 (pg.10). In the article Holmes attributes the term to Kerouac, who had acquired the idea from Herbert Huncke. Holmes came to the conclusion that the values and ambitions of the Beat Generation were symbolic of something bigger, which was the inspiration for Go.

Later in life, Holmes taught at the University of Arkansas, lectured at Yale and gave workshops at Brown University. He died of cancer in 1988, 18 days after his 62nd birthday.

Reviews

[Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of well-written essays by a thoughtful man. This book is very topical and timely...if you'd read it in the '60s. Holmes writes essays on sexuality from a very "1960s" point of view, as well as an interesting piece on Lee Harvey Oswald and JFK that, as you read it, makes the assassination seem as though it just happened.

There are some insights into his relationship with fellow writers associated with the Beats, and a couple pieces on the '40s and '50s centered largely on his reflections and remembrances. I kind of skimmed these, though I did find a few lines in both that I enjoyed.

It's a wistful collection, written by Holmes as he approached his 4oth birthday, as I myself am doing. He lived for another 20 years after this was published but, unfortunately (at least to my knowledge), did not publish another similar collection. It would have been interesting to see his POV on various subjects in the '80s, but I suspect death sneaked up and caught him by surprise.

[Amanda Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stumbled upon this book when my local library didn't have the more famous Go and thoroughly enjoyed it. This piece is sort of like a time capsule, both introspective and evaluative, offering insight into some of the more controversial topics of the era which, enjoyably, had many parallels to things happening today. The chapter on JFK's assassination in particular and Holmes consideration of his assassins motivations certainly remain a big question mark as we experience many tragic events today. He is an interesting writer and if you are interested in getting to know the author beyond his other works, what motivated and drove him to write, this book might be for you.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A definite time capsule of the ‘40s, ‘50s and early ‘60. Talks about his friends Ginsberg, Kerouac and others. Writes about the Kennedy Assassination and his thoughts about Oswald. Chapters about religion and sexual mores are dated and didn’t hold my interest as much as the rest, but would be a good read for someone researching the time period. His writing is more dense in this non-fiction work than his beat novel Go.