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Genesis Angels: The Saga of Lew Welch and the Beat Generation
illustrated with photographs.
- GenresPoetry
128 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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31 people want to read
About the author
Aram Saroyan
58 books28 followersAram Saroyan is an American poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist and playwright. There has been a resurgence of interest in his work in the 21st century, evidenced by the publication in 2007 of several previous collections reissued together as Complete Minimal Poems. He is the son of author William Saroyan and actress Carol Grace, and the father of Strawberry Saroyan.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 6, 2019
IMO, for what it is, this is a four-star book. If you were to rate it on what it could have (perhaps, should have) been, it would rate lower.
This is a short book, barely over 120 pages even with all the pages of photos included in the count. It is well written, if not redundant in style and with regards to much of the information it contains. Saroyan writes like a Beat Generation fanboy, emulating the style of Kerouac, which is usually recipe for disaster. Only thing is, he does it so damn well that, after a while, you can't fault him for it. He's a natural. And though Genesis Angels doesn't contain a lot of information that hasn't been much more exhaustively researched and conveyed by writers such as Ann Charters and David Meltzer, Saroyan does a good job of concisely tying together the history of the core Beat writers on both coasts, with the spotlight focused (mostly) on Welch.
So what you get is a quick, entertaining read. You get a lot of information you already knew, mixed in with some new factoids you may not have previously known: for example, while working at an ad agency in Chicago, Lew Welch wrote the famous slogan, "Raid Kills Bugs Dead!" Another example: during the last decade of his life, Welch was the common-law stepfather of a young boy named Hugh Cregg, who would later take the stage name "Huey Lewis" -- the surname a tribute to his influential poet father-figure.
There are plenty of other insights and guesses on the author's part as to what Welch was thinking and feeling during different phases of his life. For much of this book, you are simply reading a condensed retread of the history of the Beats along with Saroyan's assumptions of what was going on in Welch's head. And somehow, it's not bad at all. Credit due to Saroyan's fantastic ability as an author; his approach to writing this book should have resulted in failure, but it's far from it. It's actually very good.
But to go back to what I said earlier about what this book could have been... If you go into this, as I did, expecting a more conventional autobiography (and let's face it, Welch deserves one), you can't help but be disappointed. Much of the early part of the book regurgitates the excellent interview with Welch in David Meltzer's The San Francisco Poets (which I just happened to read recently; it was the instigation for my picking up this book). The middle of the book often abandons Welch to focus on the happenings of Kerouac, Burroughs, and Ginsberg -- and we don't need it here, because it's been done to death elsewhere. And for whatever reason, the last years of his life are skimmed over. In fact, most of Welch's life is skimmed over. This books is about 120 pages; let's say about 80 are dedicated to Welch. Maybe not that many.
Why didn't Saroyan do more here? Why couldn't he give his subject the full treatment he deserves?
Perhaps the answer is that Welch, even during his life, is an enigma. Perhaps there simply isn't enough to go on. It just seems that when this book was written (40 years ago, less than a decade after Welch vanished from the Earth) there were enough people around who knew him who could shed more light on his character. Now, the window may be shutting too quickly to ever see that happen. So we're left with this: a very well-written book that still leaves the reader with the feeling that it could have been so much more.
This is a short book, barely over 120 pages even with all the pages of photos included in the count. It is well written, if not redundant in style and with regards to much of the information it contains. Saroyan writes like a Beat Generation fanboy, emulating the style of Kerouac, which is usually recipe for disaster. Only thing is, he does it so damn well that, after a while, you can't fault him for it. He's a natural. And though Genesis Angels doesn't contain a lot of information that hasn't been much more exhaustively researched and conveyed by writers such as Ann Charters and David Meltzer, Saroyan does a good job of concisely tying together the history of the core Beat writers on both coasts, with the spotlight focused (mostly) on Welch.
So what you get is a quick, entertaining read. You get a lot of information you already knew, mixed in with some new factoids you may not have previously known: for example, while working at an ad agency in Chicago, Lew Welch wrote the famous slogan, "Raid Kills Bugs Dead!" Another example: during the last decade of his life, Welch was the common-law stepfather of a young boy named Hugh Cregg, who would later take the stage name "Huey Lewis" -- the surname a tribute to his influential poet father-figure.
There are plenty of other insights and guesses on the author's part as to what Welch was thinking and feeling during different phases of his life. For much of this book, you are simply reading a condensed retread of the history of the Beats along with Saroyan's assumptions of what was going on in Welch's head. And somehow, it's not bad at all. Credit due to Saroyan's fantastic ability as an author; his approach to writing this book should have resulted in failure, but it's far from it. It's actually very good.
But to go back to what I said earlier about what this book could have been... If you go into this, as I did, expecting a more conventional autobiography (and let's face it, Welch deserves one), you can't help but be disappointed. Much of the early part of the book regurgitates the excellent interview with Welch in David Meltzer's The San Francisco Poets (which I just happened to read recently; it was the instigation for my picking up this book). The middle of the book often abandons Welch to focus on the happenings of Kerouac, Burroughs, and Ginsberg -- and we don't need it here, because it's been done to death elsewhere. And for whatever reason, the last years of his life are skimmed over. In fact, most of Welch's life is skimmed over. This books is about 120 pages; let's say about 80 are dedicated to Welch. Maybe not that many.
Why didn't Saroyan do more here? Why couldn't he give his subject the full treatment he deserves?
Perhaps the answer is that Welch, even during his life, is an enigma. Perhaps there simply isn't enough to go on. It just seems that when this book was written (40 years ago, less than a decade after Welch vanished from the Earth) there were enough people around who knew him who could shed more light on his character. Now, the window may be shutting too quickly to ever see that happen. So we're left with this: a very well-written book that still leaves the reader with the feeling that it could have been so much more.
April 13, 2021
So, Kerouac came up with the titles for both "Howl'' and "Naked Lunch.'' Who knew?
Nicely turned biography of little-known but influential poet Lew Welch, who I recall reading, memorably, reading in North Beach before his mysterious disappearance.
After finishing the book, I found a You Tube video of people memorializing Welch, upon the re-release of his anthology, "Ring of Bone'' by the likes of Gary Snyder, Joanne Kyger and even Huey Lewis - whose mom was married to Lew for awhile.
A moving tale, impressionistic but affecting.
Nicely turned biography of little-known but influential poet Lew Welch, who I recall reading, memorably, reading in North Beach before his mysterious disappearance.
After finishing the book, I found a You Tube video of people memorializing Welch, upon the re-release of his anthology, "Ring of Bone'' by the likes of Gary Snyder, Joanne Kyger and even Huey Lewis - whose mom was married to Lew for awhile.
A moving tale, impressionistic but affecting.
March 21, 2016
After reading "Crowded by Beauty... ", the biography of Philip Whalen, I was hoping to find a biography on Lew Welch. This is a different book indeed. It is a poetic prose based bio on Welch that weaves through the tapestry of the major beat characters. I found it hard going at first but ultimately am glad I stuck with it, as it proves to be a profound read about poetry and writing itself. If you are looking for a hard-hitting researched bio you will be disappointed.
February 10, 2013
Haven't read this since the 80's, about the time when the book came out. As I'm so connected today with the beat legacy, and the personal life implications, perhaps I need a re-read.
February 27, 2018
This is not what I would call a run-of-the-mill biography by any means.
However, considering how difficult it is for biographers to write an accurate and detailed account of a person's life, perhaps if this is not possible, there are several alternatives.
In this case, Saroyan does not attempt to write a conventional biography, perhaps because there are too many gaps in Welch's life, or perhaps because a typical biography is not the best way to 'celebrate' or remember Lew as a poet and as a person.
What we have here instead is an author who is obviously a fan of Lew Welch's poetry and tries to embody his poetry and who he was as a person by writing from both external observations and known information and suppositions and conjecture about what Lew was going through internally. What is also good about this short book is that there are several nice corollaries going on; for example we know what Kerouac, Ginsberg, or Burroughs were doing at certain points in Lew's life as well as Whalen and Snyder, who were much closer to Lew both geographically and psychically.
I also found out some interesting new information from this book - for example how excited William Carlos Williams was when he read Lew Welch's thesis on Stein. He even invited him to stay at his place. When Welch picked up a copy of Stein's THREE LIVES, it changed his life forever and he knew instantly that he was a writer, or to be more precise what he was to become.
My favourite part of the book was the last chapter - about Welch's disappearance into the wilderness and apparent suicide. I always felt that if you are going to end your life (although I strongly do not advise it as I have known 2 people very close to me who did that and it affects people around you deeply and intensely for a long time), if you have decided that you can't go on, then the way Welch did it is the best way - just disappear. No body. No tragedy. No dramatic final show. Just disappear. And what the author pointed out about Lew's disappearance was interesting - his final 'shot' of disappearing without a trace was also directly linked to one of his final poems about the Turkey Buzzard which perhaps suggests what happened to him and motivated him. In other ways, it's the perfect ending for a poet, in a way. It is a pity that Lew felt that he was beyond help - I know his relationships with women failed but his poetry is quite amazing - in fact some of the strongest work among his contemporaries. He was much loved by Snyder, Kerouac and Olson, just to name three giants of their time. I read somewhere that he might have been bipolar (or what they used to call 'manic depressive') so perhaps he couldn't get the help he needed at the time because much less was known about that condition back then.
In closing, this is not a biography; it doesn't even try to be one. However, what we have here is a beautifully creative encapsulation and embodiment of the spirit of Lew Welch, his poetry, his friends and his times. It's highly enjoyable and a short read. Strongly recommended.
However, considering how difficult it is for biographers to write an accurate and detailed account of a person's life, perhaps if this is not possible, there are several alternatives.
In this case, Saroyan does not attempt to write a conventional biography, perhaps because there are too many gaps in Welch's life, or perhaps because a typical biography is not the best way to 'celebrate' or remember Lew as a poet and as a person.
What we have here instead is an author who is obviously a fan of Lew Welch's poetry and tries to embody his poetry and who he was as a person by writing from both external observations and known information and suppositions and conjecture about what Lew was going through internally. What is also good about this short book is that there are several nice corollaries going on; for example we know what Kerouac, Ginsberg, or Burroughs were doing at certain points in Lew's life as well as Whalen and Snyder, who were much closer to Lew both geographically and psychically.
I also found out some interesting new information from this book - for example how excited William Carlos Williams was when he read Lew Welch's thesis on Stein. He even invited him to stay at his place. When Welch picked up a copy of Stein's THREE LIVES, it changed his life forever and he knew instantly that he was a writer, or to be more precise what he was to become.
My favourite part of the book was the last chapter - about Welch's disappearance into the wilderness and apparent suicide. I always felt that if you are going to end your life (although I strongly do not advise it as I have known 2 people very close to me who did that and it affects people around you deeply and intensely for a long time), if you have decided that you can't go on, then the way Welch did it is the best way - just disappear. No body. No tragedy. No dramatic final show. Just disappear. And what the author pointed out about Lew's disappearance was interesting - his final 'shot' of disappearing without a trace was also directly linked to one of his final poems about the Turkey Buzzard which perhaps suggests what happened to him and motivated him. In other ways, it's the perfect ending for a poet, in a way. It is a pity that Lew felt that he was beyond help - I know his relationships with women failed but his poetry is quite amazing - in fact some of the strongest work among his contemporaries. He was much loved by Snyder, Kerouac and Olson, just to name three giants of their time. I read somewhere that he might have been bipolar (or what they used to call 'manic depressive') so perhaps he couldn't get the help he needed at the time because much less was known about that condition back then.
In closing, this is not a biography; it doesn't even try to be one. However, what we have here is a beautifully creative encapsulation and embodiment of the spirit of Lew Welch, his poetry, his friends and his times. It's highly enjoyable and a short read. Strongly recommended.
September 12, 2012
I enjoy and admire the poetry of Lew Welch. He is in my opinion the best of the Beat poets. I wanted a good secondary course, especially after the latest Brautigan bio turned out to be so enjoyably readable. I can't tell if GENESIS ANGELS is just poorly written or sadly outdated in style. Imitating Kerouac works as parody, but not as literature. I tried a couple times and couldn't get past a few pages. Hopefully someone is working on a serious and thoughtful Lew Welch biography
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews