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Beat Writers at Work
From the pages of The Paris Review, a collection of interviews with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Ken Kesey, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and more
Edited by Paris Review co-founder George Plimpton, and with an introduction by Rick Moody, this anthology of “Writers at Work” interviews featuring the great figures of the Beat and Black Mountain movements is an in-depth look into one of the most famous literary tribes of the century. The Beats, with their mix of talent, bravado, and insight into the social and political climes of their time, continue to influence students, writers, and critics today.
“Mr. Plimpton and his able cohorts at The Paris Review have cannily chosen this historical moment for the retrieval of this archive, viz., the fortieth anniversary of Kerouac’s masterpiece, and also the recent departures of Ginsberg and Burroughs to celestial addresses, and thus we have a real warts-and-all retrospective, ex post facto, Kerouac in the late sixties, Ginsberg (in one of two pieces here) in the late seventies, Bowles in the eighties, Snyder in the nineties, so that the high period of Beat style is well past at the time of these conversations; Plimpton’s wisdom here amounts to permitting the language and form of these interviews to persist over the years and thereby accrue historical context, in which we are enabled to see how the Beat praxis (or Black Mountain praxis) is reactive when faced with such forces as Vietnam, hippie culture, eighties consumerism, neglect by literary history, and so forth.” —from the introduction by Rick Moody
Edited by Paris Review co-founder George Plimpton, and with an introduction by Rick Moody, this anthology of “Writers at Work” interviews featuring the great figures of the Beat and Black Mountain movements is an in-depth look into one of the most famous literary tribes of the century. The Beats, with their mix of talent, bravado, and insight into the social and political climes of their time, continue to influence students, writers, and critics today.
“Mr. Plimpton and his able cohorts at The Paris Review have cannily chosen this historical moment for the retrieval of this archive, viz., the fortieth anniversary of Kerouac’s masterpiece, and also the recent departures of Ginsberg and Burroughs to celestial addresses, and thus we have a real warts-and-all retrospective, ex post facto, Kerouac in the late sixties, Ginsberg (in one of two pieces here) in the late seventies, Bowles in the eighties, Snyder in the nineties, so that the high period of Beat style is well past at the time of these conversations; Plimpton’s wisdom here amounts to permitting the language and form of these interviews to persist over the years and thereby accrue historical context, in which we are enabled to see how the Beat praxis (or Black Mountain praxis) is reactive when faced with such forces as Vietnam, hippie culture, eighties consumerism, neglect by literary history, and so forth.” —from the introduction by Rick Moody
372 pages, Paperback
First published February 16, 1999
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About the author
The Paris Review
119 books311 followersFounded in Paris by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton in 1953, The Paris Review began with a simple editorial mission: “Dear reader,” William Styron wrote in a letter in the inaugural issue, “The Paris Review hopes to emphasize creative work—fiction and poetry—not to the exclusion of criticism, but with the aim in mind of merely removing criticism from the dominating place it holds in most literary magazines and putting it pretty much where it belongs, i.e., somewhere near the back of the book. I think The Paris Review should welcome these people into its pages: the good writers and good poets, the non-drumbeaters and non-axe-grinders. So long as they're good.”
Decade after decade, the Review has introduced the important writers of the day. Adrienne Rich was first published in its pages, as were Philip Roth, V. S. Naipaul, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Mona Simpson, Edward P. Jones, and Rick Moody. Selections from Samuel Beckett's novel Molloy appeared in the fifth issue, one of his first publications in English. The magazine was also among the first to recognize the work of Jack Kerouac, with the publication of his short story, “The Mexican Girl,” in 1955. Other milestones of contemporary literature, now widely anthologized, also first made their appearance in The Paris Review: Italo Calvino's Last Comes the Raven, Philip Roth's Goodbye Columbus, Donald Barthelme's Alice, Jim Carroll's Basketball Diaries, Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga, Jeffrey Eugenides’s Virgin Suicides, and Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections.
In addition to the focus on original creative work, the founding editors found another alternative to criticism—letting the authors talk about their work themselves. The Review’s Writers at Work interview series offers authors a rare opportunity to discuss their life and art at length; they have responded with some of the most revealing self-portraits in literature. Among the interviewees are William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov, Joan Didion, Seamus Heaney, Ian McEwan, and Lorrie Moore. In the words of one critic, it is “one of the single most persistent acts of cultural conservation in the history of the world.”
Decade after decade, the Review has introduced the important writers of the day. Adrienne Rich was first published in its pages, as were Philip Roth, V. S. Naipaul, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Mona Simpson, Edward P. Jones, and Rick Moody. Selections from Samuel Beckett's novel Molloy appeared in the fifth issue, one of his first publications in English. The magazine was also among the first to recognize the work of Jack Kerouac, with the publication of his short story, “The Mexican Girl,” in 1955. Other milestones of contemporary literature, now widely anthologized, also first made their appearance in The Paris Review: Italo Calvino's Last Comes the Raven, Philip Roth's Goodbye Columbus, Donald Barthelme's Alice, Jim Carroll's Basketball Diaries, Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga, Jeffrey Eugenides’s Virgin Suicides, and Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections.
In addition to the focus on original creative work, the founding editors found another alternative to criticism—letting the authors talk about their work themselves. The Review’s Writers at Work interview series offers authors a rare opportunity to discuss their life and art at length; they have responded with some of the most revealing self-portraits in literature. Among the interviewees are William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov, Joan Didion, Seamus Heaney, Ian McEwan, and Lorrie Moore. In the words of one critic, it is “one of the single most persistent acts of cultural conservation in the history of the world.”
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December 7, 2008Kerouac: By not revising what you've already written you simply give the reader the actual workings of your mind during the writing itself: you confess your thoughts about events in your own unchangeable way ... like a part of a river that flows over a rock once and for all and never returns and can never flow any other way in time.
June 8, 2021
The title of this book is a serious misnomer as many of the people interviewed in this book could hardly be classified as 'beats.' Charles Olson? Black Mountain rector and poet. Paul Bowles? A great writer but his only connection to the beats is that he knew Burroughs well in Tangier. Barney Rosset? Are you kidding me? He was involved in publishing them maybe, but that doth not a beat maketh, anyway you look at it.
With this small gripe aside, this is overall a great book. As you read the interviews, you feel like a fly on the wall, right there alongside them and the great thing about interviews is that it avoids the pitfalls that biographers fall into when they add their own subjective 'slant' onto things.
I can't tell which interview I enjoyed most - the one with Burroughs was......well, typical Burroughs - dry, sardonic, brilliant. The interview with Ginsberg was also........typical Ginsberg - very intelligent and articulate peppered with the occasional sprinkle of bullshit. The interview with Kerouac is certainly a treasure - it's a treasure that we even have one considering how young he died. I had a good impression of Ferlinghetti after reading his interview as a man of integrity and morals. I both love and hate reading interviews with Snyder because he makes me feel so dumb in comparison to his brilliant mind. The interview with Paul Bowles was fascinating too and has made me want to check out his work more.
To be honest, I skipped a few of the chapters on the non-beats such as Barney Rosset and Voznesensky but enjoyed everything else.
This book could have a better title (as I mentioned earlier) and it's a pity that key beat figures are missing such as Gregory Corso. How about Philip Whalen? I've heard he is brilliant in interviews. It's a pity that there weren't too many interviews with Lew Welch before he disappeared either - as that guy was a tortured genius.
All things considered, this is a great book and very enjoyable and enlightening - just don't expect it to be exclusively about the beats. 'Nuff said.
With this small gripe aside, this is overall a great book. As you read the interviews, you feel like a fly on the wall, right there alongside them and the great thing about interviews is that it avoids the pitfalls that biographers fall into when they add their own subjective 'slant' onto things.
I can't tell which interview I enjoyed most - the one with Burroughs was......well, typical Burroughs - dry, sardonic, brilliant. The interview with Ginsberg was also........typical Ginsberg - very intelligent and articulate peppered with the occasional sprinkle of bullshit. The interview with Kerouac is certainly a treasure - it's a treasure that we even have one considering how young he died. I had a good impression of Ferlinghetti after reading his interview as a man of integrity and morals. I both love and hate reading interviews with Snyder because he makes me feel so dumb in comparison to his brilliant mind. The interview with Paul Bowles was fascinating too and has made me want to check out his work more.
To be honest, I skipped a few of the chapters on the non-beats such as Barney Rosset and Voznesensky but enjoyed everything else.
This book could have a better title (as I mentioned earlier) and it's a pity that key beat figures are missing such as Gregory Corso. How about Philip Whalen? I've heard he is brilliant in interviews. It's a pity that there weren't too many interviews with Lew Welch before he disappeared either - as that guy was a tortured genius.
All things considered, this is a great book and very enjoyable and enlightening - just don't expect it to be exclusively about the beats. 'Nuff said.
May 12, 2014
I thought this was good overall. The book is a series of interviews on the Beats (ginsberg, kerouac, burroughs, et al) what i liked about it is that the interviewers asked very simple questions and listenned. the books givs some realy interesting insight into the minds of some of these amazing writers and if you are looking to write at some point it would be worth reading this as there are some amzing ideas in here. the book talks about things like, drugs, publishers, culture, counterculture, racism, powtry, art, history, philosophy, more drugs, sex, imagery, truth, first thought, bvest thought .... "but how can a poet learn to feel more if he lives so much in his head.", othere areas covered are, moroccan cultre, writiing tchniques, hints and tips, the nature of thought ... interesting book. in places, few places, a little boring and over my head.
June 21, 2012
If you're at all interested in how the Beats actually accomplished their writing, &/or exploring beyond the blurry lines that the dialogue around this topic might manifest, then definitely pick this one up...
December 15, 2007
the three-star rating isn't to say this book could have been better, just to point out how much i got from it -- "liked it" in this case. the book itself does a perfect job of revealing, through interviews, how many of the beat generation's luminaries felt about their work. whether that's an important thing to know about i'm not really sure. to me it was about three stars worth.
July 20, 2007
The chapter on a semester in Allen Ginsberg's class is particularly worth the price of the book.
April 2, 2009
this book is manly interviews which are all really interesting- however, as an exception, pay special note to elissa schappell's essay from her diary of ginsberg's class at NYU. It's delectable.
November 18, 2009
High school book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews