The Love Book

by Lenore Kandel

"THE LOVE BOOK", transcendental jewel of American Poetry, banned as part of an illegal program of harassment, arrests, and mass confiscations  instituted by then-governor Ronald Reagan, is back in all its notorious glory to claim its rightful place in San Francisco literary history.

Genres: Poetry

8 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Lenore Kandel (born 1932) is an American poet who was briefly notorious as the author of a short book of poetry, The Love Book. A small pamphlet compiled of 4 poems, The Love Book provoked censorship with its poem "To Fuck with Love". As a result the book was seized by the police as hard core pornography in violation of state obscenity codes, from both City Lights Books and The Psychedelic Shop in 1966. Consequently Kandel gained cause célèbre in San Francisco during the hippie movement in Haight-Ashbury.

A student of Zen before she moved from her native New York City to San Francisco in the early 1960s; once in San Francisco she met the Beat poets Lew Welch and Gary Snyder and had a brief affair with Jack Kerouac, who immortalized Kandel as Ramona Schwartz in his novel Big Sur. She has been described as a second generation Beat writer who developed psychedelicized aesthetics in the style of Allen Ginsberg. She herself referred to her verse as holy erotica. Volume 1, No. 1 of the internet literary and erotic magazine, The Divine Animal, features Lenore Kandel and her work .

A speaker at the Human Be-In in the Golden Gate Park polo fields, January 14, 1967, and the only female to ever speak from the stage, Kandel defiantly read from The Love Book. She published one other book of poems, Word Alchemy in 1967. Other works include An Exquisite Navel, A Passing Dragon and A Passing Dragon Seen Again, published by Three Penny Press in 1959, although not so well known. She appears in the Kenneth Anger film Invocation of My Demon Brother, smoking a marijuana cigarette contained in a miniature skull, and she was one of 15 people interviewed in Voices from the Love Generation.

In 1970, Kandel was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident with her then-husband Billy Fritz (poet and member of the Hell’s Angels). But despite her withdrawal from public literary activism during her long recovery, she is known to have continued to write throughout her life. Although no new work has been published since; a limited edition of The Love Book was republished in 2003 by Superstition Street Press, a San Francisco publishing company.

Reviews

[Brandy Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

this little poetry book was sent to me by a stalker. man is it HAWT.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Lenny Bruce, Lenore Kandel first fought the good fight for "dirty" words now taken for granted- not only by public readers, but by publishers. Kudos to L. Ferlinghetti for taking her up on it, taking up her cause, and while by now her gentle sensibilities have been long eclipsed by the strident boots of 'dialectic feminism', it was the Lioness of Michael McClure's muse who helped give you and me the license to use an f'bomb in a sensible (or meaningless!) fashion. There never was a book like this before, there never can be after.

[Δημήτρης · Rating 5 out of 5]

Την Lenore Kandel (1932-2009) τη γνώρισα μέσα από την ανθολογία "Ποιήτριες της γενιάς των Beat" από τις εκδόσεις Opportuna. Με είχε γοητεύσει εξ αρχής η ωμότητα στον τρόπο γραφής της.
Το τομίδιο με τίτλο "Το βιβλίο του έρωτα" κυκλοφόρησε το 1966, ένα χρόνο πριν ο Ronald Reagan ανακηρυχθεί κυβερνήτης της Καλιφόρνια. Παίζει τον ρόλο του αυτό.
Η εν λόγω ελληνική έκδοση κυκλοφόρησε σε 49 αντίτυπα από το Καζανάκι σε μετάφραση του Χρίστου Αγγελακόπουλου. Το βιβλιαράκι αποτελείται από τέσσερα μόλις ποιήματα που εκθειάζουν τον έρωτα και το σεξ. Ωμή γραφή, με άπλετο ρομαντισμό όμως. Οι "κακές λεξούλες" σοκάρουν μόνο όσους θέλουν να σοκάρονται. Εδώ η Lenore Kandel πραγματοποιεί μια (ή μάλλον τέσσερις) ωδή στο σεξ, που δε γίνεται να αφήσει ασυγκίνητο όποιον και όποια το διαβάσει και έχει όντως καυλώσει έστω μια φορά στη ζωή του/ της.
Εδώ είναι που μπαίνει στο παιχνίδι ο Reagan. Μια τέτοια έκδοση ήταν πολύ προκλητική για τα πιστεύω του. Κυνήγησε λοιπόν, τόσο τη συγγραφέα όσο και τα βιβλιοπωλεία που διέμεναν το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο. Η Lenore Kandel οδηγήθηκε στα δικαστήρια για σχεδόν μια δεκαετία και δικαιώθηκε μόλις στα μέσα της δεκαετίας του '70.
Μόνο και μόνο από αυτά τα συμβάντα είναι εμφανές το πόσο σημαντική είναι η εν λόγω έκδοση για την ποίηση και την τέχνη γενικότερα.

ΥΓ: ΝΑΙ ΝΑΙ ΝΑΙ αυτό ήθελα αυτό
Το όμορφο
Εκρήγνυται σαν ηφαίστειο μέσα μου οι φλέβες στάζουν σπέρμα
ΘΕΕ μου που η λατρεία σου είναι το γαμήσι

[DEBORAH · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took be a while to find the Women Beat Poets, but I did find them. Lenore Kandel is the one that I have enjoyed. There isn't much of her stuff in print. d

[Mei-Ling · Rating 5 out of 5]

The female Beat poets have been erased from history!! Currently researching them for college and it has been taking me days to find accessible copies of their work. Lenore Kandel’s work was banned in San Francisco though so it makes sense that this was hard to find. I do understand why it would be in that time though. The rhythm of the poems were very good. I don’t think it was that explicit.

[Nikola · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is incredibly beautiful, and so hot, and was a really lovely birthday present.

[Lila · Rating 4 out of 5]

lovescream

[Aischa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please reprint this... $100 used paperbacks on Amazon are not very Beat.

[Richard T. Wisp · Rating 1 out of 5]

"hard core bore"

[Ray]

Obviously challenging their first amendment rights. Read this as one of the books that have been banned for another reading challenge.