Queer beats : how the beats turned America on to sex / edited by Regina Marler.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Marler, Regina, 1964-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Homosexuality--Literary collections.

Homosexuality.

Sexual orientation.

Authors, American--20th century--Biography.

Authors, American.

Homosexuality and literature--United States.

Homosexuality and literature.

United States.

Sexual orientation--Literary collections.

Beats (Persons)--Literary collections.

Beats (Persons).

Gay men--United States--Biography.

Gay men.

American literature--20th century.

American literature.

Beats (Persons)--Biography.

Sex--Literary collections.

Sex.

Erotic literature, American.

Genre:

Literary collections.

Biographies.

Literature.

Physical Description:

xxxvii, 209 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

San Francisco : Cleis Press, [2004]

Summary:

Blasting through the crew-cuts and conformism of their day, the Beat writers were queer in the fullest sense of the word: their fluid sexuality challenged all sexual and romantic conventions. Most shocking of their unconventional attitudes was their embrace of same-sex eroticism. At a time when gay people were considered mentally ill or criminal, the Beats celebrated spontaneity and freedom in thought, word, and action. Their highest value was nakedness -- even before Allen Ginsberg stripped bare at a poetry reading to silence a heckler. They would try anything once, then write about it. Queer Beats: How the Beats Turned America On to Sex traces, for the first time, the queer pulse that throbs throughout the Beats' writings -- from William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch and Allen Ginsberg's wistful, boy-loving sex poems to Jack Kerouac's hero-worship of Neal Cassady -- and Kerouac's denial of having sex with men, despite erotic encounters with Ginsberg and Gore Vidal: "Posterity will laugh at me if it thinks I was queer"

Contents:

I. The Road of Excess (Or, Saintly Sinners) 1

In Society / Allen Ginsberg 9

On Meeting Kinsey / Herbert Huncke 11

"Nobler, I thought, to die a man than live on, a sex monster..." / William Burroughs 15

Dead Drunk / Alan Ansen 21

Youth / Herbert Huncke 25

"I don't mind being called queer..." / William Burroughs 31

"Burroughs may be gay, but he's a man..." / Norman Mailer 33

"We owed it to literary history..." / Gore Vidal 35

"Norman wanted to know what had really happened..." / Gore Vidal 39

"Something strange has happened..." / Allen Ginsberg 41

"I sit naked in my room remembering..." / Allen Ginsberg 43

"It was a strange, nondescript kind of orgy..." / Diane di Prima 47

II. Male Muses (Or, Sex without Borders) 53

"Oh, I love, love, love women!" / Jack Kerouac 63

"I'm on a spree tonight..." / Neal Cassady 65

"Love is not controllable..." / Allen Ginsberg 67

Bradley the Buyer / William Burroughs 71

"Posterity will laugh at me..." / Jack Kerouac 75

Love Poem on Theme by Whitman / Allen Ginsberg 77

Teacher

Your Body My Kabbalah / Elise Cowen 79

"Accept my soul with all its throbbings and sweetness..." / Allen Ginsberg, Allen Young 83

"If like me you renounce love and the world..." / Jack Kerouac 87

Malest Cornifici Tuo Catullo / Allen Ginsberg 89

from Howl / Allen Ginsberg 91

"I find myself getting jealous of Kiki..." / William Burroughs 95

The Newport News has arrived in Venice for a week's stay... / Alan Ansen 97

A. J.'s Annual Party / William Burroughs 99

from Cut-ups: A Project for Disastrous Success / Brion Gysin 103

"I Met Jack Kerouac in 1958 for One Glorious Moment..." / John Giorno 107

A Poem for Cocksuckers / John Wieners 113

from Memoirs of a Bastard Angel / Harold Norse 115

III. Queer Shoulder to the Wheel 117

Me & Allen / Peter Orlovsky 129

Peter Jerking Allen Off (First Sex Experiment) / Peter Orlovsky 131

Why Is God Love, Jack? / Allen Ginsberg 135

Sexual Conditioning / William Burroughs 137

Sweet Boy, Gimme Yr Ass / Allen Ginsberg 141

Going to Massachusetts / Jane Bowles 143

Horns / Harold Norse 155

from The Place of Dead Roads / William Burroughs 159

Pages from Cold Point / Paul Bowles 161

Green Ballet / Harold Norse 185

Hi Risque / John Giorno 187

On Neal's Ashes / Allen Ginsberg 191

"Sex as a biological weapon" / William Burroughs 193

Rain-Wet Asphalt Heat, Garbage Curbed Cans Overflowing / Allen Ginsberg 195

Now France / Harold Norse 197

"Drag up your soul to its proper bliss..." / Allen Ginsberg 199

"The gay state" / William Burroughs 201.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

1573441880

OCLC:

54487660