Reviews

Snapshot Poetics

Mandelbrot

Snapshot Poetics is Allen Ginsberg's photographic memoir of the Beat era from 1953 to 1964, with an additional selection of photographs of the survivors of that time up to 1991. This is a compelling book, even to those of us who know little about the Beats, simply on the strength of Ginsberg's photography, which, from the earliest years, is wonderful, simple and strong, and at times stunning. Portrayed here are Kerouac and Burroughs, Cassady and Leary, of course, and dozens of the less-celebrated, all of them equally honoured by a compassionate sensibility that makes snapshots sing. On page forty-five there's a fine shot taken in front of Warren Tallman's house in Vancouver after the 1963 Vancouver Poetry Conference. Slouched over a Volkswagen are Bobbie Louise Hawkins, Robert Creeley, Philip Whalen, Charles Olson, Warren Tallman (who died last year) and a very young man identifed in the handwritten caption (all the captions tell little stories) as "the late 'Red,' a poet," and who must be Red Lane, whose memory is kept alive in a community of poets.

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