I Remain: The Letters of Lew Welch and the Correspondence of His Friends, Vol. 1: 1949-1960

by Lew Welch

Nonfiction. Lew Welch narrates the story of his life in these letters written to his mother and his friends and mentors, from his Reed College days, through the years of exile in New York and Chicago, to his return to his native California in 1957 and his active participation thereafter in the San Francisco scene. Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen are his chief correspondents and their letters to him are also included here, as well as letters to Kirby Doyle, Allen Ginsberg, David Haselwood, Jack Kerouac, Joanne Kyger, Charles Olson and William Carlos Williams, among others. This volume collects many of Welch's occasional poems together with his "Poems and Remarks," the early essay on his poetry and poetics he wrote for William Carlos Williams, and the draft of an essay on man's sexual nature.

Genres: Poetry

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Lewis Barrett Welch, Jr. is an American poet associated with the Beat generation of poets, artists, and iconoclasts.

According to Aram Saroyan who wrote Genesis Angels: The Saga of Lew Welch and the Beat Generation, Welch decided to become a writer after reading Gertrude Stein's long story "Melanctha." Welch published and performed widely during the 1960s, and taught a poetry workshop as part of the University of California Extension in San Francisco from 1965 to 1970.

On May 23, 1971, he walked out of poet Gary Snyder's house in the mountains of California, carrying his 30-30 rifle and leaving behind a suicide note. His body was never found.

Reviews

[Mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was really fascinating. of especial interest were the letters to and from Snyder and some of his correspondence with Whalen is just beautiful. his trials and tribulations with his jeep willy were pretty funny too. would like to read Welch's unfinished novel, I Leo, which he tried to write on teletype roll a la kerouac. now on to volume two.