American Literature / Unit 17 AML 1627 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Allen Ginsberg and "Howl"
Captions available
The idea
Ginsberg read "Howl" in nineteen fifty-four to a shocked audience at the Six Gallery in San Francisco, and City Lights published it in nineteen fifty-six. It opens by saying he has seen the best minds of his generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.
In practice
One reading, and a decade turned.
Where people slip
Customs seized the book as indecent.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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