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Cartas do Yage
Em 1953, logo após a controversa morte acidental de sua mulher, William Burroughs (1914-1997) se lançou em uma viagem à América do Sul. Mais especificamente ao Peru e à Colômbia, na busca pelo yage, ou ayahuasca, droga usada pelos índios da nascente do rio Amazonas à qual se atribuem poderes sensoriais e anestésicos. Cartas do yage, um pouco diário de viagem, um pouco relato ficcionalizado, contém as cartas escritas ao amigo, amante e poeta Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) sobre a experiência. Traz também as cartas que este enviou a Burroughs sete anos mais tarde, ao fazer uma jornada similar. De cunho autobiográfico, assim como Almoço nu e Junky, as principais obras ficcionais de Burroughs, Cartas do yage embala o leitor numa verdadeira viagem, na companhia de dois dos maiores autores beat.
62 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 29, 2014
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About the author
Allen Ginsberg
499 books4,120 followersAllen Ginsberg was a groundbreaking American poet and activist best known for his central role in the Beat Generation and for writing the landmark poem Howl. Born in 1926 in Newark, New Jersey, to Jewish parents, Ginsberg grew up in a household shaped by both intellectualism and psychological struggle. His father, Louis Ginsberg, was a published poet and a schoolteacher, while his mother, Naomi, suffered from severe mental illness, which deeply affected Ginsberg and later influenced his writing—most notably in his poem Kaddish.
As a young man, Ginsberg attended Columbia University, where he befriended other future Beat luminaries such as Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Neal Cassady. These relationships formed the core of what became known as the Beat Generation—a loose-knit group of writers and artists who rejected mainstream American values in favor of personal liberation, spontaneity, spiritual exploration, and radical politics.
Ginsberg rose to national prominence in 1956 with the publication of Howl and Other Poems, released by City Lights Books in San Francisco. Howl, an emotionally charged and stylistically experimental poem, offered an unfiltered vision of America’s underbelly. It included candid references to homosexuality, drug use, and mental illness—subjects considered taboo at the time. The poem led to an obscenity trial, which ultimately concluded in Ginsberg’s favor, setting a precedent for freedom of speech in literature.
His work consistently challenged social norms and addressed themes of personal freedom, sexual identity, spirituality, and political dissent. Ginsberg was openly gay at a time when homosexuality was still criminalized in much of the United States, and he became a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights throughout his life. His poetry often intertwined the personal with the political, blending confessional intimacy with a broader critique of American society.
Beyond his literary achievements, Ginsberg was also a dedicated activist. He protested against the Vietnam War, nuclear proliferation, and later, U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. He was present at many pivotal cultural and political moments of the 1960s and 1970s, including the 1968 Democratic National Convention and various countercultural gatherings. His spiritual journey led him to Buddhism, which deeply influenced his writing and worldview. He studied under Tibetan teacher Chögyam Trungpa and helped establish the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.
Ginsberg’s later years were marked by continued literary output and collaborations with musicians such as Bob Dylan and The Clash. His poetry collections, including Reality Sandwiches, Planet News, and The Fall of America, were widely read and respected. He received numerous honors for his work, including the National Book Award for Poetry in 1974.
He died of liver cancer in 1997 at the age of 70. Today, Allen Ginsberg is remembered not only as a pioneering poet, but also as a courageous voice for free expression, social justice, and spiritual inquiry. His influence on American literature and culture remains profound and enduring.
As a young man, Ginsberg attended Columbia University, where he befriended other future Beat luminaries such as Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Neal Cassady. These relationships formed the core of what became known as the Beat Generation—a loose-knit group of writers and artists who rejected mainstream American values in favor of personal liberation, spontaneity, spiritual exploration, and radical politics.
Ginsberg rose to national prominence in 1956 with the publication of Howl and Other Poems, released by City Lights Books in San Francisco. Howl, an emotionally charged and stylistically experimental poem, offered an unfiltered vision of America’s underbelly. It included candid references to homosexuality, drug use, and mental illness—subjects considered taboo at the time. The poem led to an obscenity trial, which ultimately concluded in Ginsberg’s favor, setting a precedent for freedom of speech in literature.
His work consistently challenged social norms and addressed themes of personal freedom, sexual identity, spirituality, and political dissent. Ginsberg was openly gay at a time when homosexuality was still criminalized in much of the United States, and he became a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights throughout his life. His poetry often intertwined the personal with the political, blending confessional intimacy with a broader critique of American society.
Beyond his literary achievements, Ginsberg was also a dedicated activist. He protested against the Vietnam War, nuclear proliferation, and later, U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. He was present at many pivotal cultural and political moments of the 1960s and 1970s, including the 1968 Democratic National Convention and various countercultural gatherings. His spiritual journey led him to Buddhism, which deeply influenced his writing and worldview. He studied under Tibetan teacher Chögyam Trungpa and helped establish the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.
Ginsberg’s later years were marked by continued literary output and collaborations with musicians such as Bob Dylan and The Clash. His poetry collections, including Reality Sandwiches, Planet News, and The Fall of America, were widely read and respected. He received numerous honors for his work, including the National Book Award for Poetry in 1974.
He died of liver cancer in 1997 at the age of 70. Today, Allen Ginsberg is remembered not only as a pioneering poet, but also as a courageous voice for free expression, social justice, and spiritual inquiry. His influence on American literature and culture remains profound and enduring.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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May 10, 2024tipo ad un certo punto ti spiega pure come si prepara e Ginsberg inizia ad illustrare passo per passo il raggiungimento dell’ultimo chakra boh va be coooool
March 12, 2024
It Burroughs.
You'll either love him or hate him
You'll either love him or hate him
December 18, 2024
Too base and hateful to experience the touch of the divine (Burroughs's interest in ayahuasca seems to arise primarily out of MK-ULTRA-style anti-communist conspiracy theories), The Yage Letters is a meandering racist diatribe so aimless and unfocused it had to be clumsily refashioned into an "epistolary novel" (novel my ass) to appear at all publishable. He actually finds yagé pretty soon and then sets out to try every local variant on the continent. Yet rather than trying to describe his experiences with the drug, he devotes many more words to repetitive descriptions of the racial inferiority, dirtiness and over-all degeneracy of the South American locals and their dwellings. But not to worry, you get the transcendence-ego-death-Great-Being stuff yet as there's some profoundly solipsistic hippie ramblings by everyone's favorite pederast poet, Allen Ginsberg, tacked on at the end. Burroughs, when he is not cutting up his hateful garbage, tossing it in the air and putting it back together, reveals himself as an extremely limited writer, making you wonder if his reputation wasn't built on an elaborate con, the antics of a rich enfant terrible of the type so beloved by twentieth-century critics and the sympathy of like-minded colleagues.
February 7, 2025
It was alright, I read it to follow up Junkie and Queer. I was expecting a bit more emotion but it was straightforward, the letters were pretty short but when it comes to the yagé experience, he is actually very descriptive and you get the point.
January 26, 2026
allen ginsberg an absolute hack
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews