Family Business

Publishers Weekly

This volume behind the clunky title and unkindly high price presents some of the most astonishing correspondence in American literature. Throughout his adult life, poet and cultural icon Allen Ginsberg exchanged regular letters with his father, Louis, himself a moderately successful lyric poet. They conversed freely about politics, philosophy and poetry (the book offers fascinating insights into the Ginsberg masterpieces Kaddish and Howl); they fought fiercely but without bitterness over Communism, the Arab-Israeli conflict and Vietnam. If such father-son arguments were typical of their era, few can have been so colorfully and affectionately expressed. Allen's letters (he addresses his father as "Louis" and ribs him for his "Polonious[sic]-like tirades") are marked by the vivid, freeform, punctuationless imagery of the beats. Those of his father, surprisingly the more deft correspondent, are wry and campily pedantic: he describes avant-garde poetry as "yawns ticked out in deranged verbiage" and delights in outlandish wordplay ("the hippies want pot in every chicken"). The letters themselves are sensitively edited, Schumacher (author of Dharma Lion, a well-received biography of Ginsberg) supplying biographical context where needed and including a few judiciously chosen interviews and articles. In the end, for all their virtuosity, the Ginsbergs' literary talent emerges as the lesser gift in comparison to their honesty and mutual affection. Anyone interested in either Ginsberg, the beats, American poetry or the '60s should not miss this ferociously tender and comical collection. (Sept.) Forecast; With widespread, favorable reviews, this should have peak sales early on and settle in for anice steady flow. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Like many fathers and sons, Louis and Allen Ginsberg had their differences, but they were united by their affection for each other and their love of poetry. In this judicious selection of letters written between 1944 and 1976, Schumacher (Dharma Lion: A Critical Biography of Allen Ginsberg) does a fine job of charting the course of their relationship. Many of Allen's letters describe his travels, while Louis's are often a blend of family news and fatherly advice. Poetry and politics are frequently discussed, with the nature of communism, the Vietnam War, and Israeli-Arab relations also coming in for hot debate. Angry arguments aside, however, their correspondence demonstrates a mutual respect, a strong desire for reconciliation, and pride in each other's poetic accomplishments. In addition to the letters, Schumacher reprints My Son the Poet, an article Louis wrote for the Chicago Sun Times Book World. A postscript contains several of Allen's poems to his father. Highly recommended. William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A surprisingly poignant selection of letters between Beat Generation poet-guru Allen Ginsberg and his father, Louis, a career English teacher and an accomplished poet himself. Schumacher (Francis Ford Coppola, 1999, etc.) published a biography of the younger Ginsberg in 1992 (Dharma Lion) and first approached him about this letters project at that time. Schumacher's thorough, amiable introduction sets the stage for the remarkable father-son performance that follows (Schumacher does not disappear, but like any other good editor he remains unobtrusive, emerging only to offer the occasional clarification). The letters begin in the mid-1940s. Allen matriculated at Columbia Univ. when he was 17 and displayed all the odious symptoms of the adolescent-away-from-home syndrome. Louis did not hesitate to chide his son ("You are developed intellectually; but, emotionally, you lag"), but what overwhelms throughout is the adamantine bond of affection that connected the two. When in 1947, for example, Allen wrote to say he had signed on as a common sailor aboard a ship bound for Dakar, Louis replied with love rather than disappointment: "It's O.K. Lots of luck to you, Allen." In 1948, Louis was shocked to discover that his son was gay, but soon embraced his male lovers without prejudice. When Allen's classic poem "Howl" appeared, Louis was ecstatic about his son's success, comparing him to Whitman. Throughout his years of celebrity, Allen remained devoted to his father, writing regularly from the far reaches of the globe (he once sent him some clover from Shelley's grave). Both commented freely on the work of the other-Louis was always troubled by Allen's "dirty, ugly words"; Allen continuallyurged his father to be less conventional. In later years they did popular joint readings, while they argued about Cuba, Communism, Vietnam, the Black Panthers, Israelis and Arabs, and Watergate. Louis died in 1976, and when Allen died 21 years later, some of his ashes were buried in his father's grave. An eloquent, affecting collection that offers lessons in poetry, in love, and in family.