Maison d'Ętre Beatnik Coffeehouse
Allen Ginsberg
[1926-1997]
 | short profile |
"Ginsberg is both tragic and dynamic, a lyric genius, [a] con-man extraordinaire,
and probably the single greatest influence on American poetical voice since Whitman."
— music legend Bob Dylan
L i n k s
Allen Ginsberg catalog at Amazon.com
Allen Ginsberg search at Amazon.com
Allen Ginsberg credits at Internet Movie Database
Allen Ginsberg Trust [official website]
Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards
Allen Ginsberg entry at Wikipedia
'Allen Ginsberg Clearinghouse' fansite
Allen Ginsberg pages at Naropa Institute
Allen Ginsberg page at LitKicks
Allen Ginsberg papers at Stanford University
Allen Ginsberg page at Poets.org (texts & audio)
German-language Allen Ginsberg fansite
Allen Ginsberg page at 'The Beat Page' (with poems)
PBS 'American Masters' Allen Ginsberg TV special
Allen Ginsberg obituary on C.N.N. 5 April 1997
obituary at Famous Poets & Poems website
wide-ranging GinsbergBlog fansite [est. 2009]
Beatnik Film Festival Page
includes movies & videos about other beats, plus rare & obscure films
The Poem "Howl" [1956]
'Howl' poem entry at Wikipedia
online webcast of "Howl" read by Allen Ginsberg in January 1959
(from Pacifica Radio October 2007)
 | "Howl & Other Poems" [1956] Introduction by William Carlos Williams City Lights Books pb [7/91] for $5.95 City Lights Books hardcover [1/96] for $10.36 Fantasy audio CD read by Allen Ginsberg [3/98] for $10.97 |
 | "American Scream: Allen Ginsberg's Howl & The Making of The Beat Generation" [2004] by Jonah Raskin Univ CA Press 8½x5¼ pb [2/2006] for $11.66 Univ CA Press 8¼x6 hardcover [4/2004] for $28.00 |
 | "The Poem That Changed America: "Howl" Fifty Years Later" [2006] Edited by Jason Shinder FS&G 8x5½ pb [3/2006] for $11.20 FS&G 8½x5¾ hardcover [3/2006] for $22.80 |
 | "Howl For Now: A Celebration of Allen Ginsberg's Epic Protest Poem" [2006] Edited by Simon Warner Route 7½x5 pb [3/2006] for $23.95 |
 | "Howl: Original Draft Facsimile, Transcript & Variant Versions" [2006] Edited by Barry Miles HarperPerennial 10¾x9 pb [10/2006] for $12.89 |
 |
"Howl On Trial: The Battle For Free Expression" [2006] Edited by Bill Morgan & Nancy J. Peters City Lights Publrs 8¼x5½ pb [11/2006] for $11.21 Topeka Bindery 8¾x5¾ library hardcover [11/2006] for $25.05 |
"Howl" feature film [Oscilloscope Sept 2010]
 | Ginsberg's reading and book publication of the poem "Howl" triggered a federal trial for obscenity that resulted in a landmark legal decision • Co-produced, co-written & co-directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman; starring James Franco {as Ginsberg}, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels, David Strathairn, Jon Hamm {as Jake Ehrlich}, Alessandro Nivola, Treat Williams, Aaron Tveit {as Peter Orlovsky}, Bob Balaban, Sean Patrick Reilly, Jon Prescott {as Neal Cassady}, Todd Rotondi {as Jack Kerouac}, Andrew Rogers {as Lawrence Ferlinghetti}, with archive footage of Allen Ginsberg and animation by The Monk Studios; DVD extras include audio commentaries, "Making of..." featurette, research interviews, and Ginsberg's filmed reading of Howl at the Knitting Factory in 1995
Oscilloscope Laboratories widescreen color Blu-ray/DVD combo [1/2011] for $22.99 Oscilloscope Laboratories widescreen color DVD [1/2011] for $17.49 full credits at IMDb • official movie site • movie entry at Wikipedia |
 | "Howl of The Censor: The Four Letter Word On Trial (containing the poem of controversy Howl by Allen Ginsberg" [orig 1961, reissued 1976] Edited by Jake W. Ehrlich, Sr.
Nourse Publng hardcover [1961] out of print/scarce official blog of lawyer Jake Ehrlich's estate |
Other Works by Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg books catalog at Amazon
 | "Kaddish and Other Poems, 1958-1960" [1961]
City Lights Books pb [7/91] for $8.95 | |
 | "Reality Sandwiches, 1953-1960" [1963]
City Lights Books pb [6/81] for $8.95 | |
 | “The Great Marijuana Hoax: First Manifesto To End The Bringdown” essay [The Atlantic Nov 1966] by beat poet Allen Ginsberg [1926-97] Offers the first testimony in The Atlantic Magazine about what getting high actually feels like; Ginsberg describes how marijuana allowed him to release his mind from the unsatisfying burdens of daily life and focus on art, music, and writing. read the article free online at The Atlantic Magazine archives | |
 | "Planet News, 1961-1967" [1969]
City Lights Books pb [6/71] for $8.95 | |
 | "The Fall of America: Poems of These States, 1965-1971" [1974] City Lights Books pb [12/84] for $8.76 | |
 | "White Shroud: Poems, 1980-1985" [1987]
HarperCollins pb [11/87] for $13.00 HarperCollins hardcover [8/87] out of print/used Harper & Row hardcover [86] out of print/used | |
 | "Cosmopolitan Greetings: Poems, 1986-1992" [1994]
HarperPerennial pb [3/95] for $15.00 HarperCollins 9½x6¼ hardcover [5/94] out of print/many used | |
 | "Death and Fame: Last Poems, 1993-1997" [21 poems 1999] Edited by Bob Rosenthal, Peter Hale & Bill Morgan HarperPerennial 9¼x6 pb [2/2000] for $11.21 HarperFlamingo 10x6¾ hardcover [3/99] out of print/used Lumen Espańa Spanish-language 8x5½ pb [5/2001] for $23.25 |
 | "Illuminated Poems" [24 poems 1996] by Allen Ginsberg, art by Eric Drooker Running Press 10x7½ pb [9/2006] for $14.96 Four Walls Eight Windows 10x7½ pb [5/96] out of print/many used Four Walls Eight Windows 10¼x8 hardcover [5/96] for $35.00 |
 | "Allen Ginsberg: Collected Poems, 1947-1997" [2006] from the Ginsberg Estate HarperPerennial 9x6 pb [10/2007] for $16.50 HarperCollins 9¼x6½ hardcover [10/2006] for $26.37 |
 | "The Letters of Allen Ginsberg" [2008] Edited by Bill Morgan Faber & Faber 7¾x4½ pb [5/2008] out of print/used Da Capo Press 9¼x6½ hardcover [9/2008] for $22.80 |
 | "The Selected Letters of Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder" [2009] Edited by Bill Morgan Counterpoint 8½x5½ pb [9/2009] for $12.71 |
 | "Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg" [2010] by Sarah Greenough exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Art in 2010; shown at NYU's Grey Art Gallery Jan-April 2013, and scheduled in San Francisco May-Sept 2013; this exhibition catalog has 29 color and 63 tritone illustrations Delmonico/Prestel Publng 11x9½ hardcover [5/2010] for $36.46 |
Movies & Television, Other Media
 | "Fried Shoes Cooked Diamonds: The Beats of Naropa" [indep 1979] Classroom footage and interviews at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute in Colorado • Produced & directed by Costanzo Allione; featuring Amiri Baraka, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary & Peter Orlovsky Mystic Fire Video VHS [9/98] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb |
An early 40-minute demo version of "Koyaanisqatsi [1983]" had a soundtrack by Allen Ginsberg; that film is available among the bonus material
on "The Qatsi Trilogy" [2012] from Criterion, as either DVD or Blu-ray 3-disk sets for $39.99 each.
 | "Growing Up In America" [Cinephile May 1989] Filmmaker shows archival footage to participants in the upheavals of the Sixties, then interviews them about what they just saw • 90-minute film co-produced & directed by Morley Markson; featuring Don Cox, Allen Ginsberg, Fred Hampton Jr., Fred Hampton, Abbie Hoffman, Deborah Johnston, lawyer William Kunstler, Timothy Leary, Jerry Rubin, Deborah Russell & John Sinclair First Run Features b&w/color VHS [11/99] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb |
 | "Voice of The Poet: Allen Ginsberg" booklet & CD [2004]
Random House audio CD [6/2004] out of prodn/used Twelve poems read/performed in full by Allen Ginsberg at the Knitting Factory in 1995: "A Supermarket In California" [1955]; "After Lalon" [1992]; "Footnote To Howl" [1955]; "Howl" [1955-56]; "My Sad Self" [1958]; "Personals Ad" [1987]; "Plutonium Ode" [1978]; "Sad Dust Glories" [1974]; "Song" [1954]; "Sunflower Mantra" [1955]; "Wales Visitation" [1967]; and "White Shroud" [1983] |
 | "The Allen Ginsberg CD Poetry Collection" booklet & CD [2004] Read by Allen Ginsberg Caedmon audio CD[11/2004] 3 disks & 64-page booklet for $16.50 more than two dozen poems in verse and song, including "A Strange New Cottage In Berkeley"; "A Supermarket In California"; "After Lalon"; "America"; "Charnal Ground"; "City Midnight Junk Strains"; "C’mon Pigs of Western Civi-lization"; "Don’t Grow Old"; "Father Death Blues"; "Howl"; "Hum Bomb"; "I Am A Victim of Telephone"; "Jahweh and Allah Battle"; "Kaddish"; "Kral Majales"; "Lay Down Your Mountain"; "Many Loves"; "Mind Breaths"; "New Stanzas For Amazing Grace"; "On Neal’s Ashes"; "Personals Ad"; "Plutonian Ode"; "Pull My Daisy"; "Put Down Your Cigarette Don’t Smoke"; "September On Jessore Road"; "Sphincter"; "Sunflower Sutra"; "To Aunt Rose"; "White Shroud"; and "Who Be Kind To" |
 | "The Line Has Shattered: Vancouver's Landmark 1963 Poetry Conference" [indep 2013] "These poets didn't have the answers. They had the questions." Hour-long documentary directed by Robert McTavish, narrated by poet Phyllis Webb; featuring Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, Denise Levertov, Charles Olson & Robert Creeley DVD/Blu-ray not available • not found on IMDb • 2013 review at GinsbergBlog watch 2/2013 official trailer [2:43] at Vimeo |
Works About Allen Ginsberg
 | "Allen Ginsberg In America" [1969] by Jane Kramer Fromm Intl. 8¼x5¾ pb [10/97] out of print/used Random House hardcover [1/69] out of print/many used |
 | "Screaming With Joy: The Life of Allen Ginsberg" [1999] by Graham Caveney Broadway Books hardcover [10/99] for $7.98 |
 | "The Beat Hotel: Ginsberg, Burroughs & Corso In Paris, 1957-1963" [2000] by Barry Miles Grove Press pb [7/2001] for $11.20 Grove Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [7/2000] for $17.50 |
 | "The Poetry and Life of Allen Ginsberg: A Narrative Poem" [2000] by Ed Sanders Overlook Press 8½x5¾ hardcover [8/2000] for $27.95 |
 | "Allen Ginsberg: Beat & Pieces - A Complete Story of The Beat Generation" [2005] Text by Fernanda Pivano, Photographs by Allen Ginsberg Photology 11¼x8¼ hardcover [11/2005] for $54.75 |
 | "I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg" [2006] by Bill Morgan Penguin 8¾x6 pb [9/2007] for $12.24 Viking 9¼x6¼ hardcover [10/2006] for $19.77 |
 | "Allen Ginsberg's Buddhist Poetics" [2007] by Tony Trigilio Southern Illinois Univ Press 9¼x6¼ pb [6/2007] for $45.00 |
"The Life & Times of Allen Ginsberg" [Feb 1994; re-release Aug 2004]
 | Directed by Jerry Aronson; won IDA Award 1993; includes interviews with Joan Baez, William F. Buckley, Wm. S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary & Norman Mailer, with archive footage of Abbie Hoffman & Jack Kerouac
New Yorker Video DVD [7/2007] 2 disks for $30.99 First Run Features color VHS [9/2002] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb • official movie site |
PBS 'American Masters' Allen Ginsberg TV special
"Kill Your Darlings" [Sony Pictures Classics Oct 2013]
 | "A true story of obsessions and murder" • Announced 11/2011: New biopic that revolves around the relationship between poet Allen Ginsberg, author Jack Kerouac, and fellow original Beatnik Lucien Carr, during the latter's trial for murder. Jesse Eisenberg, Chris Evans & Ben Whishaw were originally attached to portray the trio, but then dropped out. Daniel Radcliffe {of "Harry Potter" fame} signed to portray Ginsberg; co-starring Dane DeHaan {as Carr}, Jack Huston {as Kerouac}, Ben Foster {as William Burroughs} Co-produced, co-written & directed by John Krokidas; co-written by Austin Bunn; also starring Michael C. Hall, David Cross, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Elizabeth Olsen, John Cullum, Brenda Wehle, Kyra Sedgwick Sony Pictures Home Ent. widescreen color Blu-ray [3/2014] 2 disks for $24.99 Region 1 DVD not available full credits at IMDb • official movie site • movie entry at Wikipedia watch official trailer [1:59] at YouTube |
Online Texts & Audio
"America" [1956]
"Is About" [from 'The New Yorker' Magazine Oct 1996]
"A Supermarket In California" [1955] || RealAudio version
"Howl" [1956]
Ginsberg poetry at everyDay beat
"Who Runs America" [1974]
"Understand That This Is A Dream" [1963]
here on the Allen Ginsberg [1926-97] Page at Maison d'Ętre Beatnik Coffeehouse
top of page • short profile • links • the poem "Howl" • other works • movies & TV, other media •
works about Allen Ginsberg • online texts & audio
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