Love in the Days of Rage

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“The more I make love, the more I want revolution; the more I make revolution, the more I want to make love.” In Paris, in May of 1968, revolution, and love are very much in the air. The barricades are going up, the students of the Sorbonne are taking to streets alive with the graffiti of revolt, and the Odeon is ablaze with speechmaking. For Annie, a young American painter, and Julian, her Portuguese lover, a banker and anarchist, the events of that Paris spring form the backdrop against which their love affair is played. Annie sees the world through an artist's eyes; she is reckless in her passions, wanting and needing love with other people. There is none of this fanciful nonsense for Julian, an anarchist disdainful of the entire human race, who thinks even the enraged students storming the streets of Paris with their posters proclaiming “open the windows of your heart” and “revolution is the ecstasy of history” to be hopelessly naïve and sheeplike. Ferlinghetti charts the progress of love unfolding against those heady and momentous days when the pampered children of the bourgeoisie tried to find common cause with workers who despised them, “when Julian and Annie were in the heat of their love and reason.”

Genres: Fiction, Poetry, American, Novels, The United States Of America, Historical Fiction

116 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

A prominent voice of the wide-open poetry movement that began in the 1950s, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has written poetry, translation, fiction, theater, art criticism, film narration, and essays. Often concerned with politics and social issues, Ferlinghetti’s poetry countered the literary elite's definition of art and the artist's role in the world. Though imbued with the commonplace, his poetry cannot be simply described as polemic or personal protest, for it stands on his craftsmanship, thematics, and grounding in tradition.

Ferlinghetti was born in Yonkers in 1919, son of Carlo Ferlinghetti who was from the province of Brescia and Clemence Albertine Mendes-Monsanto. Following his undergraduate years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he served in the U.S. Navy in World War II as a ship's commander. He received a Master’s degree from Columbia University in 1947 and a Doctorate de l’Université de Paris (Sorbonne) in 1950. From 1951 to 1953, when he settled in San Francisco, he taught French in an adult education program, painted, and wrote art criticism. In 1953, with Peter D. Martin (son of Carlo Tresca) he founded City Lights Bookstore, the first all-paperbound bookshop in the country, and by 1955 he had launched the City Lights publishing house.

The bookstore has served for half a century as a meeting place for writers, artists, and intellectuals. City Lights Publishers began with the Pocket Poets Series, through which Ferlinghetti aimed to create an international, dissident ferment. His publication of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl & Other Poems in 1956 led to his arrest on obscenity charges, and the trial that followed drew national attention to the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat movement writers. (He was overwhelmingly supported by prestigious literary and academic figures, and was acquitted.) This landmark First Amendment case established a legal precedent for the publication of controversial work with redeeming social importance.

Ferlinghetti’s paintings have been shown at various galleries around the world, from the Butler Museum of American Painting to Il Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. He has been associated with the international Fluxus movement through the Archivio Francesco Conz in Verona. He has toured Italy, giving poetry readings in Roma, Napoli, Bologna, Firenze, Milano, Verona, Brescia, Cagliari, Torino, Venezia, and Sicilia. He won the Premio Taormino in 1973, and since then has been awarded the Premio Camaiore, the Premio Flaiano, the Premio Cavour. among others. He is published in Italy by Oscar Mondadori, City Lights Italia, and Minimum Fax. He was instrumental in arranging extensive poetry tours in Italy produced by City Lights Italia in Firenze. He has translated from the italian Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Poemi Romani, which is published by City Lights Books. In San Francisco, his work can regularly be seen at the George Krevsky Gallery at 77 Geary Street.

Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind continues to be the most popular poetry book in the U.S. It has been translated into nine languages, and there are nearly 1,000,000 copies in print. The author of poetry, plays, fiction, art criticism, and essays, he has a dozen books currently in print in the U.S., and his work has been translated in many countries and in many languages. His most recent books are A Far Rockaway of the Heart (1997), How to Paint Sunlight (2001), and Americus Book I (2004) published by New Directions.

He has been the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Los Angeles Times’ Robert Kirsch Award, the BABRA Award for Lifetime Achievement, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Award for Contribution to American Arts and Letters, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award. Ferlinghetti was named San Francisco’s first poet laureate.

Reviews

[Makis Dionis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Έπειτα ο Ζ. υπέγραψε το λογαριασμό και βγήκαν μαζί μέσα στο κυκλοφορικό χάος του απογεύματος. Μπροστά από το Χρηματιστήριο περνούσαν πολύχρωμα αυτοκίνητα σαν μυριάδες σταγόνες μπογιά που ρέει σ'ένα τεράστιο αφηρημένο ιμπρεσιονιστικο τοπίο του οποίου η προοπτική έχει καταστραφεί από καιρό.

Ιμπρεσιονισμός είναι κ η απάντηση του Φεριλινγκετι στις επιταγές της Ποιητικής Αστυνομίας για ένα κόσμο ασφαλή για την αγάπη και την ομορφιά

[foteini_dl · Rating 2 out of 5]

[2.5*]

Μετά (και) απ’ αυτό το βιβλίο, παρατηρώ ότι δεν μπορώ να δω με ιδιαίτερα θετικό μάτι τα γεγονότα του Μάη του ’68. Θα μου πείτε, φταίει που δεν ξέρεις γαλλικά και είσαι κυνική. Μπορεί.

Αλλά, μια επανάσταση που εξιδανικεύει την ατομική δράση,και όχι τη συλλογική, συγχωρέστε με, αλλά δεν μου ακούγεται και πολύ ρομαντικό.

Στα του βιβλίου, απλή και όμορφη η γραφή του Ferlinghetti που σε βάζει στο πνεύμα της εποχής (και της Γαλλίας τότε). Οι οπαδοί της beat generation θα τον αγαπήσουν, οι υπόλοιποι θα γοητευθούν (ή, τουλάχιστον, δε θα μείνουν αδιάφοροι) απ' την γραφή του.

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Поэтичный европейский роман художника, а не писателя, как ни странно, (хотя, в общем, не странно) - о взрослых людях посреди бурной весны 68-го в Париже. Роман нежный и условный, как хорошие фильмы французской "новой волны", а главное - написан он поперек литературного эйджизма. У Бертоллуччи "Мечтатели" (помимо своего попсового извода) были именно таковы: раз бунт у нас молодежный, значит, действовать в романе (а кино - это, в общем роман) должна молодежь. Я недаром про него упомянул: сходство между этими двумя текстами в том, что в обоих действуют люди посторонние этому бунту. Среди прочего, Ферлингетти бросает безжалостный взгляд на любое протестное движение (читаем и думаем про "белоленточное"), поскольку фигура португальского банкира-анархиста - один из ключевых образов конца ХХ века, я бы решил. К тому же Ферлингетти вскрывает изнанку резистанса с его подпольным менталитетом, а вслед за "4 3 2 1" Остера читать это крайне поучительно и познавательно. Т.е. пока роман Пола Боулза не превращается в роман Томаса Пинчона, а потом и вообще не уходит в горы. Тут-то и наступает полный читательский восторг.

[caroline]

i read this book because two years ago maire had an especially moving ferlinghetti quote on some internet representation of herself. i have since forgotten the quote and even the source text itself; but when offered the chance to purchase this particular tome at my neighborhood bookery, i jumped. not metaphorically, of course; i actually jumped.

unfortunately, i am not composed properly to appreciate this particular work of lawrence ferlinghetti. i should be a better student of history, a more avid devourer of works of literary criticism, a professional ponderer. i am none of these things. i do, however, appreciate the revolutionary events of paris in 1968 as an abstract event. (one about which i do not know many details.) so my lack of appreciation for ferlinghetti's encapturation of this heady period is not total. i do wish that i knew more about the emotions that led up to those that he describes in the story because he uses the backdrop of the revolution to frame and give flesh to his characters and their love.

i usually appreciate a well-written love story (ok ok ok, as long as it isn't trite or misogynistic or overly self-indulgent, or...) however, i found it difficult to permeate the subtle details of this one. probably because i lack certain details that the author expects to be implicit. for example, how revolutionaries and their various splinter groups define themselves and view the world. of course this is the perfect setting for introspective and arduous love affairs, but i'm just too poorly informed to appreciate it. it's like watching a movie in another language without subtitles. it is, though, a language you took for a brief period several years ago so you aren't altogether unfamiliar. you appreciate the artistry, the color and movement and composition, but perhaps the plot nuances and character interactions are lost on you.

ditto.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. Revisiting this book is an exercise in spoiling the past. I first read this when I was 17 and thought it was amazing. Then I re-read it a few weeks ago and realised that it's poorly constructed, terribly written and I couldn't care less about the characters. Ferlinghetti has tried to emulate the beat writers, but entirely missed the beat.

Still, I must concede that I like the romantic sweep of it, and wish to balance my two opinions of it to keep my past self happy, so 3 stars it is.

[Steve Lopinto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always love the writing of Ferlinghetti. In this novel, I appreciated and enjoyed his ability to weave poetry and prose when portraying a fictionalized story based on the 1968 French social revolution of students and working class laborers. Annie, the American expat artist, and Julien, the banker from Portugal fall in love while the protests and clashes with authorities begin. They appear to be on different planes both economically and socially, and as Annie questions the chosen life of Julien, and accuses him of being part of the problem in the division of class structure, Julien claims to be the authentic radical willing to use his position of authority to aid the students and workers in their struggle. Ferlinghetti, the poet, writer, painter, publisher, and activist was one of the greats our world has seen.

[John Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. Reading the 3 star reviews of this book really makes me question the general level of criticism here. This book is really embarrassingly bad. Cliched drivel masquerading as poetic prose. It’s basically a romance-and I mean that in the worst possible way-with all the stock fantasies or romance writing-sexy, beautiful single artiste meets debonair foreign man of mystery, etc, etc. Egad, enough!

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set the nostalgia gland working...

[Sarah Benton · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Ferlinghetti work I ever read. I could not put it down.

[Andrea Samorini · Rating 4 out of 5]

pag.3 _______________________________
Così cominciò la storia fra loro, e i giorni fluirono nella clessidra fino a marzo, e

e sullo sfondo un ‘68 parigino raccontato da Ferlinghetti: cosa si può desiderare di più?!

pag. 109 _______________________________
Ma adesso c'era un nuovo punto focale, il mirino era alzato verso una nuova visione globale, una visione cosmica in realtà, perché in tutto il mondo lo spirito del Sessantotto non era la solita stanca, vecchia retorica marxista riscaldata, né i soliti vecchi ideali anarchici. Era invece la prima articolazione, il primo scoppio di una nuova visione del mondo, dell'uomo e della donna. Era una nuova consapevolezza, o un'antica consapevolezza riscoperta. Ed era una nuova consapevolezza femminista, l'ipotesi di Gaia, basata su quella che veniva chiamata la Nuova Fisica, la terra era di nuovo tornata a essere la Madre Terra, antica sorgente del tutto, e l'uomo violentava quella madre, cominciando con "gli scuri mulini infernali" di Blake e andando avanti rombando fino agli scuri mulini atomici, i mulini nucleari con le loro scorie radioattive non smaltibili. Questa prospettiva, completamente nuova, faceva dovunque parte della ribellione degli anni Sessanta, una specie di "terremoto della gioventù" contro tutto l'artificiale e l'innaturale della vita moderna, e la rivolta degli studenti francesi faceva parte del grido universale della gioventù contro la disumanizzazione dell'animale umano, che via via veniva sempre più staccato dalle sue radici animali, dalla terra stessa, la terra verde. Lo spirito del Sessantotto fu il primo grido esitante di quello che vent'anni dopo sarebbe esploso come un nuovo grande movimento politico, un nuovo movimento verde, Green Power, che avrebbe avuto poco a che fare con le vecchie etichette come marxista, maoista, comunista, trotzkista, anarchico, repubblicano, democratico e così via. Sarebbe stato un gioco completamente nuovo, e avrebbe spazzato il mondo.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's not fuss over how long it took me to read this - I was savouring it.

Being a big fan of Ferlinghetti's poetry, I was hesitant to read this, but I'm glad I did. Very realistic, relevant and intriguing. His poetic voice and standard prose meet happily in this book.

That being said, the characters don't have a lot of depth, and the chapters get lost in themselves frequently.

Summed up: A poet definitely wrote it. I love it. Would read again.

[Dana Filipová · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paříž & láska & revoluce pohledem Básníka. Poetická, svobodomyslná, vášnivá kniha... Doporučuji, pokud milujete Paříž, poezii a výtvarné umění, pokud jste otevření a pokud netrpíte soudícím pocitem, že po čtyřicítce už by i největší revolucionáři měli být pragmatičtí a rozumní :) Já si to moc užila!

[Mikee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful maddening book. Written in 1988. Read in the last days of 2017. A book written by a painter. Obviously written by a painter. It asks many important questions but, maddeningly, provides no answers. Perhaps because there are no answers.

[Παύλος · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ιδιαίτερο βιβλίο, πυκνός αλλά σχεδόν ποιητικός λόγος με διάσπαρτα στοιχεία από την ταραγμένη εποχή στην οποία αναφέρεται.
Ομολογώ πως, παρόλο το μικρό του μέγεθος, σε κάποια σημεία το βρήκα λίγο φλύαρο και ήλπιζα με το πέρας των σελίδων να βρω το νήμα αλλά τελικά, έμεινα με αρκετά σκοτεινά σημεία.

[Tajnicka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Láska ako konflikt sna a skutočnosti, láska ako nerozhodný pútnik medzi rozumom a citom, láska ako odovzdanie sa osudu a behu udalostí bez tušenia ako to všetko nakoniec dopadne. A tento vzrušujúci a súčasne iritujúci pocit hrdinov príbehu ostane aj v čitateľovi.

[AD · Rating 1 out of 5]

Someone please tell this guy that commas aren’t the only form of punctuation.

[Marcelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ποιητική και ιδιαίτερη μεν η γραφή του Ferlinghetti, εντελώς άσκοπη, όμως, η δράση κατά μόνας που τόσο επικροτεί ο Ζουλιάν, ειδικά με φόντο το Παρίσι του '68.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written novella by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti about French revolutionaries in love.

[NormaJean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seems like poetry. Timely. I wrote what I thought was my review in my progress comments so if you’re interested please go there.

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A favorite poet writes a novel extremely well written highly recommended.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

No acaba de profundizar ni en la relación de los protagonistas ni en el mayo del 68.
Sin embargo tiene momentos buenos y unas páginas finales memorables

[John F · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utterly predictable name dropping, reads like a bad tourist guide. This is not what 1968 was like in Paris. I know. Now that I'm finished with the struggle of trying to read it, I'm tempted to drop to my rating to one star. This is a good example of the inbreeding of the book business, the bad writing slipped past at least one agent and it was printed. Nobody seems to have noticed how bad this book really is.

[Suni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Breve romanzo, a tratti ispirato, a tratti – spiace dirlo – di una noia mortale.
C'è il '68 parigino (a cui Ferlinghetti vent'anni prima aveva davvero preso parte), ed è interessante leggerne, salvo quando la narrazione si riduce al semplice elenco di chi c'era.
C'è una storia d'amore che fatica a lasciarsi vivere, perché i due protagonisti passano un'infinità di tempo a ripetere lo stesso schema, lo stesso dialogo: lui (banchiere, sui cinquantacinque anni, portoghese ma di madre francese) che racconta a lei (pittrice e insegnante alla École des beaux-arts, sui quarant'anni, newyorkese) della sua gioventù di anarchico in opposizione al regime di Salazar, e di come non abbia mai abbandonato quegli ideali, nonostante le apparenze lo mostrino appartenere all'alta borghesia reazionaria allineata sulle posizioni del Presidente de Gaulle. Lei però (che va a manifestare coi suoi studenti e a prendersi le manganellate) non gli crede, non fino in fondo. E così, tempo qualche pagina, ricominciano.
Insomma, una volta va bene, due anche, ma alla terza ci si stufa.
Però ci sono anche cose che lasciano senza fiato: Parigi, la sua atmosfera, la sua luce (quel lume perlaceo, traslucido sopra i tetti grigi), viste con l'occhio del pittore, quindi di Ferlinghetti stesso e, nel libro, di Annie.
Ad un certo punto lei racconta a lui una sua fantasia artistica sulla nascita e lo sviluppo di Parigi, in relazione alle fasi della storia e della storia dell'arte che l'hanno attraversata e immortalata. Be', anche se il libro mi avesse fatto completamente schifo – e non è così – varrebbe la pena di leggerlo solo per questa manciata di pagine.
Quindi 3 stelline, media secca tra entusiasmanti pro e soporiferi contro.

[Jon]

I tried reading Ferlinghetti's first novel, HER, and couldn't get past the first sentence ("I was carrying a white phallus through the wood of the world"...no thanks) but I enjoyed this one, the story of a 40ish woman painter from NY and an older banker with radical yearnings having an affair amid the turmoil of Paris in 1968. (Does the banker character reflect the inherent contradictions in Ferlinghetti's own longtime status as the Beat movement's leading businessman? I suspect so.) As one might expect from a writer whose leanings are more poetic and painterly than novelistic, this book is dotted with numerous references to art and poetry (the "white phallus" from HER even makes a return appearance), while LitDoR comes up a little short on plot. That in itself is not a problem, but when the banker plans a dramatic revolutionary escapade (assisted by the painter), Ferlinghetti ends the book, never revealing the outcome! Instead the reader is left hanging, wondering what happened. This lady-or-the-tiger stratagem seems questionable, but oh well, he always was a publisher/bookseller first, a creative artist second, and an activist third....

[Pablo Renzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Parigi, 1968. La storia d'amore tra Annie, pittrice e insegnante, e Julian, banchiere anarchico, si consuma sullo sfondo della rivoluzione studentesca (non della contestazione americana, come erroneamente riportato in numerose descrizioni).
Infatti durante la contestazione americana Annie stava con Clodoveo, un impiegato delle poste, molto più tranquillo e prevedibile del banchiere anarchico, ma decisamente più rassicurante. Ad un certo punto potevi anche passare sopra al suo aspetto che lo faceva rassomigliare a certi pescioni di fondale lacustre, perché in fondo era buono e l'amava davvero, e cercava di farla ridere ogni volta che poteva con le sue battute che le prime dieci erano divertenti e poi avresti voluto ficcargli in bocca una bottiglia per il lato senza il foro.
Ecco, quella sarebbe stata una storia interessante da leggere. Questa di Annie e Julian un po' meno, ma vabbè.

[Joann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grabbed this old paperback book because it was light and easy to pack for a trip, but very much enjoyed being transported back to some of the most important days of my life in 1968-69. The book is set amidst the turmoil of the student uprisings in France that nearly toppled the DeGaulle government. Told through the eyes of a young American artist in love with a purported "anarchist" banker, it vividly re-created the excitement and feeling of being on the verge of revolution that we felt in the U.S. at the same time.

[Elise Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ferlinghetti's novel was inspirational. A brief prose poem and an ode to the 1968 May Revolution. However, because his protagonist was an older American woman (about 30), who became romantically involved with a violent anarchist, I wanted my novel, A Time to Cast Away Stones, to tell the story from the viewpoint of the middle class college-aged protesters who initiated the May Revolution. A very different story!

[David Rullo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strikingly good novella.

Ferlinghetti's writing is as crisp as Hemingway but more poetic. You can read about the plot above or online so I'm not going to say much about that. Instead, I feel it important to say how vital and alive I found the writing. Similar to so many WWI or II novels in tone, the sentence structure is clean and filled with imagery. The ending though (because the story ends rather than climaxes) is extremely frustrating. If you can get your hands on a copy read this book.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lyrical story of love during the student uprising in 1968 Paris. It begins slowly but the pace quickens until it turns into a thriller. Questions linger about fate of characters even after you complete it.

[Dana Jerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fast read and a satisfying one. LF gives us likable characters and lots of swift action set in a time of great change. In terms of diction the characters repeat themselves a bit, but that just seems like a strategy LF was experimenting with to make them seem more real, more human.