beat list 1996

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Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 23:38:52 -0500

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From: "L.Kelly" <lpk9403@NEBRWESLEYAN.EDU>

Subject: ATTN: All those interested in WSB

In-Reply-To: <Pine.HPP.3.91.960430221207.18585B-100000@ccshst08>

Attention Beat readers:

URL: http://www.bigtable.com/wsb/

Project Title: "The William Burroughs Collection"

Based on: "My Purpose Is to Write for the Space Age"

William S. Burroughs, 1984.

Description: Using Burroughs' essay as a backbone, a series

of explorative texts taken from a large

number of sources were compiled, combined

with interconnecting original composition,

and hypertextualized.

Highlights: * local search engine

* over 730k of text

* over 150 images

* bibliography

* RealAudio (coming soon)

* reader-review comment session

Stop by and take a look-- http://www.bigtable.com/wsb/

This project is part of a living document and is

continually expanding. Comments and contributions (text,

graphics, etc.) wanted: be sure to fill out the

reader-review survey.

Regards,

Luke Kelly

/\ /\ /\ /\ Luke Kelly

/\/ \/ \/\/ __o / \/\ lpk@kdsi.net or

/\ / / \ / \<,_ / \ lpk@bigtable.com

/ / ..... \ ...(_)/-(_).. .. \ http://www.bigtable.com

Please don't drive. Ride a bike! http://www.kdsi.net

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 04:17:42 EDT

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From: Claire Davison <Claire_Davison@FPKLON.CCMAIL.COMPUSERVE.COM>

Subject: Beat Publications

Hi,

Excuse me if this questionhas been asked before, but I'm new here..

Are there any 'Beat' magazines in circulation around the U.K. by these

I mean anything from Literary Magazines to Fanzines, absoulutely

anything no matter how professional/amateur it is.

If there isn't would anyone be willing to help start one up in the

U.K., strictly an amateur affair mind you, although I have access to

some equipment (DTP, Colour Scanner, Photocopying etc)

It would be nice to have a voice for the 'Beat' community in Britain,

If of course there is one, for God sakes let me know!

Laters

Claire

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 09:48:57 +0100

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From: "m.d.fascione" <m.d.fascione@CITY.AC.UK>

Subject: Re: Beat Publications (fwd)

> Excuse me if this questionhas been asked before, but I'm new here..

> Are there any 'Beat' magazines in circulation around the U.K. by these

> I mean anything from Literary Magazines to Fanzines, absoulutely

> anything no matter how professional/amateur it is.

There is the excellent 'Beat Scene' run from Coventry UK. You can buy it

from Compendium in Camden, London, who always stock back issues.

Unfortunately the address for the magazine is not with me at present.

I'll check it out and mail again later.

Daniel

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 05:46:15 EDT

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From: Claire Davison <Claire_Davison@FPKLON.CCMAIL.COMPUSERVE.COM>

Subject: Re: Beat Publications

> Excuse me if this questionhas been asked before, but I'm new here..

>Are there any 'Beat' magazines in circulation around the U.K. bythese

>I mean anything from Literary Magazines to Fanzines, absoulutely

>anything no matter how professional/amateur it is.

>There is the excellent 'Beat Scene' run from Coventry UK. You can buy

>it from Compendium in Camden, London, who always stock back issues.

>Unfortunately the address for the magazine is not with me at present.

>I'll check it out and mail again later.

>Daniel

Funny you should say that!, I've just been leafing through the back

posts to BEAT-L and found the address, which is for the benefit of

anyone.

Kevin Ring

27 Court Leet

Binley Woods Nr Coventry

Warwickshire CV3 2JQ

But seeing as you can buy it in Camden I'll venture down there for it,

incidentley do you know where abouts in Camden it is?

i.e. on the High Street, or Near the Docks?

Thanks anyway.

Claire

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 11:09:55 +0100

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From: "m.d.fascione" <m.d.fascione@CITY.AC.UK>

Subject: Beat Scene

In-Reply-To: <960501094614_702420.204300_BHD48-53@CompuServe.COM>

> But seeing as you can buy it in Camden I'll venture down there for it,

> incidentley do you know where abouts in Camden it is?

> i.e. on the High Street, or Near the Docks?

> Thanks anyway.

> Claire

Claire et al

To get to Compendium bookshop you come out of the tube facing Holland and

Barrett health food shop and take a right on to Camden High Street. Then you

keep going and you'll pass the Elephant's Head pub on a corner. Cross over

the road and just before the bridge you will see Compendium. It has a rather

good beat collection always in stock.

Mail me if this is confusing.

Daniel

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 09:37:14 EDT

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From: mARK hEMENWAY <mhemenway@S1.DRC.COM>

Subject: Amira Baraka

Amira Baraka's appearance in Boston was cancelled last night. He will be

reading tonight (Wednesday 1 May) at UMASS-Dartmouth, 4:00PM, Main

Auditorium. Info, call John Landry 508-999-8274.

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 09:38:56 EDT

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From: mARK hEMENWAY <mhemenway@S1.DRC.COM>

Subject: Ed Sanders

Ed Sanders will read at TT Bear's, Central Square, Cambridge, MA, Sunday,

May 12, 2-6 PM.

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 09:33:53 EDT

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From: Claire Davison <Claire_Davison@FPKLON.CCMAIL.COMPUSERVE.COM>

Subject: Beat Scene

>Claire et al

>To get to Compendium bookshop you come out of the tube facing Holland

>and Barrett health food shop and take a right on to Camden High

>Street. Then you keep going and you'll pass the Elephant's Head pub

>on a corner. Cross over the road and just before the bridge you will

>see Compendium. It has a rather good beat collection always in stock.

>Mail me if this is confusing.

>Daniel

Cheers Mate, I've got a pretty good idea of where you mean. Blimey all

these years and I've never noticed a bookshop there!

Carry on Brother

Claire

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 15:03:04 +0100

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From: "m.d.fascione" <m.d.fascione@CITY.AC.UK>

Subject: Beat Scene (fwd)

>To get to Compendium bookshop you come out of the tube facing Holland

>and Barrett health food shop and take a right on to Camden High

>Street. Then you keep going and you'll pass the Elephant's Head pub

>on a corner. Cross over the road and just before the bridge you will

>see Compendium. It has a rather good beat collection always in stock.

>Mail me if this is confusing.

>Daniel

Cheers Mate, I've got a pretty good idea of where you mean. Blimey all

these years and I've never noticed a bookshop there!

Carry on Brother

Claire

So you know the Lock Tavern pub then?

Daniel

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 09:41:10 -0800

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From: BONNIE LEE HOWARD <HOWARDB@SONOMA.EDU>

Subject: The Last Time I Committed Suicide

Hi all,

I am just forwarding this from one of my cinema lists. I haven't seen any

discussion of it here, but then I've been gone for awhile...

Bonnie

howardb@sonoma.edu

= NEW YORK -- Keanu Reeves is feeling independent, according to industry

= sources, who say the actor will appear in the $2 million "The Last

= Time I Committed Suicide," filming this month. Reeves, who will be

= center screen in Fine Line's September release "Feeling Minnesota,"

= will not be the leading man in "Suicide." Thomas Jane will be the star

= of the movie, which focuses on a letter that beatnik Neal Cassady

= wrote to Jack Kerouac.

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 11:52:01 +0000

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From: "John W. Hasbrouck" <jhasbro@TEZCAT.COM>

Subject: Re: The Last Time I Committed Suicide

BONNIE LEE HOWARD wrote:

> Hi all,

> I am just forwarding this from one of my cinema lists. I haven't seen any

> discussion of it here, but then I've been gone for awhile...

> Bonnie

> howardb@sonoma.edu

> = NEW YORK -- Keanu Reeves is feeling independent, according to industry

> = sources, who say the actor will appear in the $2 million "The Last

> = Time I Committed Suicide," filming this month. Reeves, who will be

> = center screen in Fine Line's September release "Feeling Minnesota,"

> = will not be the leading man in "Suicide." Thomas Jane will be the star

> = of the movie, which focuses on a letter that beatnik Neal Cassady

> = wrote to Jack Kerouac.

Whoa! This IS interesting news. I did a quick search (Open Text Index) and got 1

match. The phrase "The last time I committed suicide" is found in the Cassady

Rap

found at the following URL:

ftp://gdead.berkeley.edu/pub/gdead/miscellaneous/Cassady-Rap

This rap is from a Grateful Dead show, and is transcribed by Kim Spurlock and

wonderfully, maticulously annotated by legendary pal of Ken Kesey and Neal

Cassady,

Ken Babbs.

Let us now all read and discuss this amazing Cassady Rap ad infinitum.

John H.

Chicago

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 12:26:28 -0700

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Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: Timothy Gallaher <gallaher@HSC.USC.EDU>

Subject: Re: The Last Time I Committed Suicide

Here wow is another url that has a rap probably the same one

http://www.halcyon.com/colinp/cassady1.htm

>BONNIE LEE HOWARD wrote:

>> Hi all,

>> I am just forwarding this from one of my cinema lists. I haven't seen any

>> discussion of it here, but then I've been gone for awhile...

>> Bonnie

>> howardb@sonoma.edu

>> = NEW YORK -- Keanu Reeves is feeling independent, according to industry

>> = sources, who say the actor will appear in the $2 million "The Last

>> = Time I Committed Suicide," filming this month. Reeves, who will be

>> = center screen in Fine Line's September release "Feeling Minnesota,"

>> = will not be the leading man in "Suicide." Thomas Jane will be the star

>> = of the movie, which focuses on a letter that beatnik Neal Cassady

>> = wrote to Jack Kerouac.

>Whoa! This IS interesting news. I did a quick search (Open Text Index) and got

>match. The phrase "The last time I committed suicide" is found in the Cassady

> Rap

>found at the following URL:

>ftp://gdead.berkeley.edu/pub/gdead/miscellaneous/Cassady-Rap

>This rap is from a Grateful Dead show, and is transcribed by Kim Spurlock and

>wonderfully, maticulously annotated by legendary pal of Ken Kesey and Neal

> Cassady,

>Ken Babbs.

>Let us now all read and discuss this amazing Cassady Rap ad infinitum.

>John H.

>Chicago

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 16:47:06 EST

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

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From: "J.D. P. Lafrance" <J.D._P._Lafrance@RIDLEY.ON.CA>

Organization: Ridley College

Subject: nighthawks at the diner....

I was just listening to Tom Waits' excellent album, "Nighthawks at the

Diner" recently and forgot how Kerouacesque that album is (and many of his early

efforts)... Listening to songs such as "Emotional Weather Report" and "Eggs and

Sausages" on this album made me think of Kerouac's ability to catalogue the

minutae of life and how this might have influenced Waits' songs... I mean,

tracks like "Step Right Up" (off another album) seem to have come directly from

Kerouac's (or Cassady's) mouth.... Of course, Waits did a direct homage to all

things Beat with his song, "Jack and Neal"....

bfn,

JDL

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Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 17:56:28 -0400

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From: William S Schofield <wss@SAS.UPENN.EDU>

Subject: paper on Bataille:WARNING

Perry lindstrom asked if i would post this awhile ago, so i know at

least one person will read it -- This is not a specific beat-related post

but deals with issues that all poets and writers (not all) face -- For

those of you who are interested in poetry and writing in general and

like insane french authors, you should browse this -- otherwise, just

delete it -- -- IT IS A VERY

STRANGE Paper -- the footnotes got fucked up when i pasted it here -- i

tried to fix them -- i included a bibliography at the end -- tell me what

you think --- It is titled "BATAILLE's NIGHT: Poetry as LIMIT EXPERIENCE"

it is about 12 pages

Introduction

Man is an echo in search of the Sound which made it. That

is to say, man, as a discontinuous being, wishes to possess the

ungraspable whole, his 'opposite', the Other, the continuity

from which he is divorced. Death alone can return man to this

continuity, this totality; consciousness of death, however, is not

possible. For Bataille, it is conceptually impossible to know or

communicate with what is beyond death, since death is an absolute limit

of human experience, beyond which we cannot travel and return. The most

one can experience is the vertigo of the edge of the chasm. This

experience of the edge, of the extreme limit of human possibilities, in

which alone man can 'attain' the whole, requires a sudden negation of the

individual in intense communication. Bataille points to the example of

eroticism to illustrate his point: the supreme moment of erotic rapture

is characterized by the dissolution and fusion of the individual lovers.

Another example, the one which will be explored in this essay, is the

writing(and reading) of poetry. These too have the ability to suppress

the individuals involved. Following Mallarme on this point, and using

Sartre's words, Bataille tells us that "(whenever literature really

appears), reader and writer are canceled out simultaneously: they

extinguish each other mutually, until the Word alone remains."( in

Literature and Evil) Man,

however, can only 'grasp' the whole for an instant, for it too slips into

darkness, man having no means of identifying the whole as an entity to be

possessed. At this moment, there is communication, an opening of the

sacred. At this moment, man transgresses the laws of society, which are

devoted to utility and the avoidance of death, with a completely

sovereign gesture. He ceases to suppress the present moment for some

future end, he ceases to live negatively, to exert all his energy in the

perennial pushing away of death, of the death his discontinuous being:

at this moment of supreme expenditure, man experiences Life in all its

violent jouissance, Being in its infinite profusion.

eroticisM = Fusion

Bataille's notion of eroticism is key to any understanding of his

philosophy, and a preliminary discussion of it will help to familiarize

us with his concept of the limit experience. Bataille tells us in his

"Death and Sensuality" that eroticism is "the assenting to life up to the

point of death." What is at stake

in sex for Bataille is communication between two beings, and in pushing

sexuality to its limits, he wants to test to breaking point the emotional

boundaries of the personality of the man and the woman. It is the

relationship with the other that is important. He is not interested in

sex as something that celebrates individuality and leads to the

sovereignty of the isolated being -- this would strengthen the myth of

the personality which Bataille wished to challenge.

Sex, for Bataille, is intimately connected with and necessarily

includes anguish. It is the intermediary between birth and death, and in

the erotic act we encounter the chasm at the edge of existence. When two

beings embrace, they momentarily experience the surpassing of life that

is death. In interpenetrating, two partners advance to their limit,

which is a state of undifferentiation in which their separate identities

merge. Two waves wrapping around each other for eternity, two waves and

one, everything all at once forever.....

Poetry -- the Revelation of Man to Himself

In Death and Sensuality, Bataille tells us that

"Poetry leads to the same place as all forms of eroticism -- to the blending

and fusion of

separate objects. It leads us to eternity, it leads us to death, and

through death to continuity."(Bataille -- Death and Sensuality)

Eternity is the sun matched with the

sea. It is that impossible point in which "life and death, the real and

the imaginary, the past and the future, the communicable and the

incommunicable, the high and the low cease to be perceived as

contradictions."(Breton, 2cd Manifesto) It is that instant in which man's

original condition

is revealed. "It is man thrown to be all the opposites that constitute

him."(Paz, 139) He can become them all because at birth he has them in him

already, he is already these opposites. 'Otherness' is in man himself.

Octavio Paz writes, "The poetic experience is an opening up of the

wellsprings of being. An instant and never. An instant and forever.

Instant in which we are that which we were and shall be. Being born and

dying: an instant. In that instant we are life and death, this and

that."(Paz, bow and the lyre, p139)

Writing, sacrifice, REVOLT, etc....

"The purpose of poetry being to make us supreme by

impersonalizing us, we reach by grace of the poem the

plenitude of what is only hinted at, or travestied, in the

rantings of the individual.

Poems are those bits of incorruptible being we toss

into the repugnant jaws of death, arching them high so

that they ricochet and fall into the formative world of

unity." --- rene char "ramparts of the twig"

"Genuine suicide can only be literary. (It) implies the

sacrifice of he who writes, a sacrifice 'in relation to

personality' and unique in its kind." (Sollers, p.68)

"The term poetry," Bataille writes in his essay The Notion of

Expenditure, "can be considered synonymous with expenditure; it in fact

signifies, in the most precise way, creation by means of loss."

Through writing, the individual slices his wrists, tears off his face,

'shakes off his flesh', to allow the red ocean to thunder forth, the red

ocean that sleeps in the hearts of all men. The writer sacrifices himself

for true communication between beings. He makes a sovereign gesture,

relinquishing the restricted notion of the self as a defined entity, as a

thing, and sacrificing the future for the immediacy of the moment. This

necessarily puts poetry in opposition to society and its demands.

Society is based upon action, which is utterly dependent upon project --

project is the putting off of existence to a later point. In other

words, it is the condemnation of the present moment for the sake of the

future, embodied in the reality principle. The everyday utilitarian

activity of such a society as ours, by ceaselessly reducing everything

that surrounds us to the level of use value, alienates us from nature,

ourselves, and each other. It turns us into things. Poetry, which, for

Bataille, embodies the complicity of our intimate relations with other

beings, is a direct revolt against(and a sovereign refusal of) this

anonymous process by which we become alienated from ourselves and our

world.

By definition, true poetry cannot be subsumed to utilitarian value,

since it is above all determined by its affect, something that refuses

translation into a product which can be bought and sold. Poetry has no

price. It exists only as an immediacy that takes place in intimacy

between writer and reader. It is an experience that cannot be

recaptured beyond the immediate impact of its telling. If a poem

genuinely affects, then it transforms being, doing so in a way that is

beyond words (although it works only through a shared language); for

poetry, as the surrealists always insisted, is not reducible to a poem

but captures something beyond words that touches the heart. "This sense

of shock -- of recognition and intimacy -- is the soul of poetry, and it

is what connects it with sacrifice, which similarly effects a common

consecration beyond expression." - (in Absence of Myth intro)

This notion of poetry as sacrifice demands further discussion.

Bataille saw poetry as the only real residue of the communal sense of the

sacred that had survived into present-day society. Sacrifice, Bataille

concluded after studying the concept for many years, is in all cases a

failure. As a form of mass (communal) expenditure, however, sacrifice is

wholly necessary. The fact that sacrifice is always unsuccessful and is

essentially useless is a virtue in this sense. It purges the community

of its excess negativity in its attempt to gain mastery over death by

rendering it personal, present and possible. These statements point to

the fact that Bataille does not see the origins of sacrifice as the

institution on which the social bond was based, a widely held

assumption. His analysis is much more grim. In Literature and Evil, he

writes:

"If we must approach as closely as possible, and as often as

possible, the very object of our disgust, if our nature can

be defined by introducing into life the greatest number of

elements which contradict it, but at the same time harm it

as little as possible, sacrifice no longer remains that

elementary, but none the less intelligible, form of behavior

which it has been hitherto. So eminent a custom had, in the

end, 'to correspond to some elementary necessity which

should be perfectly obvious.'" -(literature and evil, p69)

Bataille goes on to say that if human life did not contain this

violent instinct we could dispense with the arts. Bataille feels that

these "moments of intensity" are the moments of excess and of fusion of

beings. When man reaches these states of fusion(laughter and tears are

his cases in point) through anguish and its transcendence, he is,

according to Bataille, satisfying an elementary requirement of finite

beings. Man, as a mortal individual, cannot endure his limitations,

although they are no doubt necessary to his being. It is by going beyond

these limitations that he asserts the nature of his being. Bataille

asks us merely to recall that those arts which sustain anguish and the

recovery from anguish within us are the heirs of religion. Our tragedies

and our comedies are the (necessary) continuation of ancient sacrificial

rites.

Let us return now to the idea of the writer's sacrifice.

This literary suicide has no reward; in many cases, it is a

total expenditure. Any hoped-for resurrection, recuperation,

and reincarnation of the self in the text is impossible. What survives

is a text that is impersonal in nature. The attempt of personalized

consciousness to go through death and survive it is foiled. This is

to say, the subject of any intended self-portrait cannot pronounce his

own Lazare, veni foras, to use Blanchot's terminology; only a future

reader can. This is the meaning of Octavio PazUs statement, "...The

poem demands the demise of the poet who writes it and the birth of the

poet who reads it." There are as many Lazaruses summoned up by reading

as their are readers. The book is a monument, a tomb, but it is empty.

It is not a resting place from which surges forth an integral, inviolate

self. This has been dispersed; no one in particular is there.(gregg, 69)

The notion of poetry of sacrifice then implies the abandonment of

the hopeless task of so-called self-expression. The writer who tries to

express himself is directed against the very nature of the word, which

contains a plurality of senses and not a mere univocal concept. The

modern scripter throws down his claims to authorship, and realizes that

he is more of a servant to language than language is a servant to him.

He abandons discursive thought and its smothering confines, acknowledging

the fact that "writing is that neutral, composite, oblique space where

our subject slips away, the negative where all identity is lost, starting

with the very identity of the body writing." -- (Barthes - death of the

author)

Theory, language, and tangent/rant

This major theoretical shift in the notions of writing, and

subsequently of reading, occurred with the poetics of Mallarme. Much

earlier manifestations of his ideas can be found in the language theories

of the German Romantics, most notably those of Novalis, and in the

prophetic sentiments of William Blake. Writing, with Mallarme, however,

takes on a whole new meaning: in a poem like Un Coup de Des, writing

orchestrates its new powers. In the words of Phillipe Sollers :

No longer is (writing) the mere transcription of a

meaning, but the virtually spontaneous upheaval of the

written surface; no longer the recording and comprehension

of a previous word, but an active inscription in the

process of forging its own course; no longer the truth or

secret of one person alone, the usual humanist reference,

but nonpersonal literality in a world based on a dice

toss.( Sollers -- literature and totality)

Mallarme's logic thus demanded a break with discourse. The

expression of oneself is no longer possible. It denies the gap that lies

between words and their meanings. The gap that is filled by another, the

reader/listener, does not necessarily(and in no sense does it have to)

coincide with the intention of the author/speaker. The intention must

therefore be abandoned in favor of

suggestion, which indeed is only recognition of the gap that must be

filled for any sense to arise. In shared everyday affairs, this gap is

filled by an agreement between social bodies. This discourse, based on

rational thought in the service of utility, can of course never abandon

the ambiguities inherent in the language..... but it can, to a point,

ignore them.

This discourse, in Sollers words, "ultimately can refer only to an

unresolvable man-world duality." This duality in language, which

always leads to a hierarchy of one term over another, is perpetuated by

the power structure of a society. Knowledge is power, power is

knowledge. Power has the dangerous ability to demand that one accept its

logic and its ideology as the Word. The consequences have a profound

effect on man's social being. Dissent places him outside of the norm of

his society. Dissent divorces him from the shared reality that he once

thought was the only reality. This puts man in a precarious position.

This puts the poet in a precarious position: in Bataille's words, "(the

poet) is often forced to choose between the destiny of a reprobate, who

is profoundly separated from society as dejecta are from apparent life,

and a renunciation whose price is a mediocre activity, subordinated to

vulgar and superficial needs."(I also must mention this quote by Char: To

escape the shameful constraint of choosing between obedience and

madness, to dodge over and over again the stroke of the despot's axe

against which we have no protection though we struggle without stay:

that is the justification of our role, of our destination and our

dawdling. We must jump the barrier of the worst, run the perilous race,

hunt on even beyond, cut to pieces the wicked one, and finally disappear

without too much paraphenalia. A faint thanks given or recieved, and

nothing more."-- The Rampart of Twigs.) This unfortunate paradox of the

poet

is the paradox of modern man -- his alienation leads him to this choice:

shall I alienate myself from this alien society that my friends and

family belong to, and in which any possible source of material

well-being(the only goal placed before me as sensible to pursue) and any

hoped-for comfort can be found; or(and the answer has already been

given) shall I conform to the outrageous demands of a society whose

surplus of repression has bitten large holes in my stomach. Needless to

say, man usually 'chooses' to be swept along in the polluted river,

swallowing gallons of dirty water and passively accepting an endless

onslaught of debris which slaps him in the head like the seconds

screaming hurry-up from the clocks all around him until, finally, when he

almost remembers how to be useless (how to live) as a crippled

eighty-year old, the government pulls the plug on his respirator due to

cutbacks in Medicare. It is Bataille's feeling that the poet would have

something important to communicate to this sad soul.

Poetry -- the curse

In my craft or sullen art

Exercised in the still night

When only the moon rages

And the lovers lie abed

With all their griefs in their arms,

I labor by singing light

Not for ambition or bread

Or the strut and trade of charms

On the ivory stages

But for the common wages

Of their most secret heart -- Dylan Thomas (from In My Craft or Sullen Art)

'If you meet death during your labor

Recieve it like a sweating neck welcomes a dry hankerchief.' - rene char

The poet, of course, is involved in the same struggle. His

activity, however, as discussed above, already places him outside of and

in opposition to his society. For those rare poetes maudits, the

situation is much more grim: their lives consist in simply trying to

hold on to their minds, which reel from the carpet ripped from under

their feet by the profound absence inside them. Writers feel this

absence most acutely because of the tool that they work with, language,

the tool that itself creates man. The modern poet is all too aware of

the arbitrariness of the sign, and recognizes that he himself is just

another signifier which has no relation to any signified. He refuses,

however, to be this empty signifier denying (denied) life. He instead

takes on the impossible task of discovering the hidden, unnameable who?

that he is. He must do this in the midst of a society which has a

ready-made label for 'types' like him: madman.

The poet takes tremendous risks in the acceptance of his destiny.

His flirting at the boundaries of being implies a voyage from which he

may not return. He embarks on the voyage alone, in a boat with no oars

and a broken rudder. He sails into the Night to discover the unknown, to

(re)discover man's origin, to find that Word, that impossible Word, that

impossible voyage, which are, all the same, necessary tasks. The poet

knows before he leaves shore: a throw of the dice will never abolish

chance. He cannot care. He knows that he may not return from this

voyage, but this means nothing to him. One word echoes in his head: on.

His heart begins to give out, his boat is busted in a pause, he cannot go

on: I'LL GO ON.

Bataille's Night is the Night of all poets and artists. The

sovereign gesture of the artist opens up the possibility of true

communication between beings. 'Poetry', as Bataille eloquently puts it

in his aphorism, 'is the only sovereign cry,' In the poetic moment man

regains that whole which is lost at birth, or at least during childhood.

The echo suddenly realizes that it is the Sound: it realizes the unity of

Nature from which it is so hopelessly divorced. In these instants of

communication, man experiences life in all of its violence and ecstasy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bataille, George, Absence of Myth: Writings on Surrealism.

Trans. Michael Richardson. London: Verso, 1994

---. 'Death and Sensuality.' Eroticism, San Francisco:

City Lights, 1986

---. Inner Experience, Trans. Leslie Anne Bolt.

New York: State University of New York Press, 1988

---. Literature and Evil, Trans. Alastair Hamilton.

London: Marion Boyers, 1985\

---. 'The Notion of Expenditure' Visions of Excess, ???

Breton, Andre, Manifestoes of Surrealism, Trans. Richard Seaver

and Helen Lane. University of Michigan Press, 1969

Gregg, John, Maurice Blanchot and the Literature of

Transgression, Princeton: Princeton University Press,

1994

Paz, Octavio, The Bow and the Lyre. Trans Ruth L.C.Simms

Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991

Sollers, Philippe, Writing and the Experience of Limits . Trans.

Philip Barnard with David Hayman. New York: Columbia

University Press, 1983

have a nice day

will, your disturbed freshman theorist

(wss@sas.upenn.edu)

=========================================================================

Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 18:09:22 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: William S Schofield <wss@SAS.UPENN.EDU>

Subject: kaufnam -- kaufMAN

For those interested in a true beat soul, a collection of Bob Kaufman's

writings has finally been published called Cranial Guitar-- it includes

all of golden sardine,

alot of Ancient Rain Poems and Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness and

uncollected stuff -- it is published by coffeehouse press(27 North Fourth

street, suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401) -- it is edited by Gerald

Nicosia and has a great introduction with alot of quotes about bob by

those who knew him --

he is also known as one of the true surrealist american poets: here is a

sampling from his incredible "Picasso's Balcony"

"Crying love rising from the lips of wounded flowers, wailing,

sobbing, breathing uneven sounds of sorrow, lying in wells of

earth, throbbing, covered with desperate laughter, out of cool

angels, spread over night. Dancing blue images, shades of blue

pasts, all yesterdays, tomorrows, breaking on pebbled bodies,

on sands of blue and coral, spent....."

=========================================================================

Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 09:11:17 +0100

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: "m.d.fascione" <m.d.fascione@CITY.AC.UK>

Subject: nighthawks at the diner.... (fwd)

Kerouac's (or Cassady's) mouth.... Of course, Waits did a direct homage to all

things Beat with his song, "Jack and Neal"....

Which album is 'Jack and Neal' from then?

Of course the beat link continues with Waits and Burroughs on 'Black

Rider' album from a couple of years back.

Daniel

=========================================================================

Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 07:29:03 EST

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: "J.D. P. Lafrance" <J.D._P._Lafrance@RIDLEY.ON.CA>

Organization: Ridley College

Subject: Re: nighthawks at the diner.... (fwd)

"Jack and Neal" can be found on Waits' "Foreign Affairs" (1977) album I

believe... I would also highly recommend the song, "Step Right Up" off of his

"Small Change" (1977) album... And you're right about that Burroughs link with

"Black Rider" interesting album - especially to hear Burroughs sing!

bfn,

JDL

=========================================================================

Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 09:26:00 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: Howard Park <Hpark4@AOL.COM>

Subject: Re: Symposium in DC

Comments: cc: lor@crest.org

I attended the "Rebel Voices Speak Again" symposium at the National Portrait

Gallery in DC in April 27. I've forgotten much as I went on a business trip

the next morning, so I hope someone else will also post thier experience of

this great event.

The event was held in the Great Hall of the Portrait Gallery, on the third

floor. It was held in conjunction with an exhibition of "Rebel Poets and

Painters" at the Gallery - the poets portion focuses on four "schools", the

Beats, San Fran Reinassance, Black Mountain and New York.

It was slow in getting started so I went outside for a cigarette (Yes, I'm

addidicted to that awful habit) and who walks up, unaccompanied, but the

great bard himself, Allen Ginsberg. On the elevator going up to the ornate,

historic hall, we briefly discussed Whitman, who nursed wounded soldiers in

the building during the civil war.

The first panal "Conversation and Poetry" consisted of Robert Creeley,

Kenward Elmslie, Lawrence Ferlingetti and publisher Jonathon Williams,

resplendent in a bright yellow suit. Ann Layterbach was the moderator. Each

panalist first gave a reading of a short poem. Most of the talk was

remininces of bygone days, all except Creeley had been active in publishing.

Williams, active at Black Mountain Collage, was the first to publish

Creeley. And of course, Ferlingetti was the first to publish AG, who sat in

the front row and took many pictures. Much of the discussion focused on

"place", Creeley spoke of his home in Buffalo, NY, Williams of his longtime

home in rural western North Carolina. Ferlingetti did not make too much of

an impression on me other than he looked quite well and was in good spirits.

The second panel featured AG, Michael McClure and Kenneth Koch, moderated by

Ron Padgett. Amiri Baraka was listed, but was a no-show. The discussion, at

first, seemed stilted and less stimilating than I had expected, focusing of

details of where the participants had been or what they had done back on this

or that day sometime in the 1950's or 60's, something to do with where they

had been when they sat for various portraits that are featured in the

exhibition on the first floor of the Gallery. The discussion got more

interesting as it progressed (AG on censorship of TV and radio among other

topics) culminating in an inspiring reading of Death to Van Gogh's Ear by AG.

The bard definately was showing his age, but let there be no doubt that he

can read as well, as firey, as wonderfully as I've ever heard him. Several

poets invoked the sprit of Whitman and Kerouac. After the panel I hung

around and spoke to McClure and AG, who were both generious with thier time

and insights.

I should mention that AG was often beseiged with requests for signings and

complained more than once that "they are trying to turn me into an autograph

machine." My experience is that eager fans (like myself) should wait for the

right time (not when he is encircled or clearly pressed for time) and have

something intelligent to say to the great bard other than "I love your poetry

so much", etc... I cannot blame him for being slightly cranky at times as

one book after another is shoved into his face. Still, my observation was

that over the course of the day, about 90% of the requests for signings were

fulfilled.

After the panel events featured slides by J. Williams, a documentary about

Frank O'Hara and another about Gary Snyder. I missed these.

The main event was a reading, at night, featuring (in rough order) Gregory

Corso, J. Williams, R. Creeley, K. Elmsley, Lawrence Ferlingetti, Kenneth

Koch, Michael McClure, AG followed by music by David Amram and friends.

Corso was quite enjoyable, his 11 year old son (forget his name) also read a

touching, innocent poem and showed great poise before the crowd of 350 or so.

Gregory was in a good mood. All read for about 10-15 minutes. I enjoyed

each one very much and was often moved. Elmsley was the most humerious,

doing a funny, kitchy, partial drag reading accompanied by music and

graphics. Ferlingetti, as usual, was political. I was honestly impressed by

each, culminating with AG who read, among others, his 1995 poem "The Ballad

of the Skeletons." By the way, AG will have a new selected poems volume out

later this year.

David Avram was, well, David Avram (of Pull My Daisy fame, among many other

things). Standard, skilled, some improvization, 3-piece jazz interspersed

with raps about the greatness of Jack Kerouac (So, who's got the last laugh

now Mr. Truman "it's typing, not writing, ha, ha, ha... Capote). One

observer described Avram as the "Mr. Rogers of the Beat Generation". Avram

is delightful, approachable, and full of joy -- A real pleasure.

Steven Watson was the MC for the days activities.

After the reading there was a surprise reception on the second floor of the

historic, wonderful gallery (one of DC's lesser known gems). Lots of book

signing, schmoozing, etc. I stayed till the end. As I exited, there was the

bard, AG, still there, still imparting wisdom, or at least his thoughts to

young fans as the guards shooshed us away. AG, I hope you slept well. A

good time was had by all.

No, it was not the Six Gallery revisited. Yes, the program would have been

stronger with more sexual, racial, etc. diversity (Diane DiPrima was invited,

but had a conflict, Baraka did not show.) No there was little or no

"controversy" which might have livened things up. But, it was Beat indeed!

Howard Park

=========================================================================

Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 10:11:05 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: Robert Peltier <rpeltier@MAIL.TRINCOLL.EDU>

Subject: Re: kaufnam -- kaufMAN

>he is also known as one of the true surrealist american poets: here is a

>sampling from his incredible "Picasso's Balcony"

>"Crying love rising from the lips of wounded flowers, wailing,

>sobbing, breathing uneven sounds of sorrow, lying in wells of

>earth, throbbing, covered with desperate laughter, out of cool

>angels, spread over night. Dancing blue images, shades of blue

>pasts, all yesterdays, tomorrows, breaking on pebbled bodies,

>on sands of blue and coral, spent....."

"wounded flowers"? "desperate laughter"? Weak.

=========================================================================

Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 15:29:53 +0100

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: "m.d.fascione" <m.d.fascione@CITY.AC.UK>

Subject: Re: nighthawks at the diner.... (fwd)

"Jack and Neal" can be found on Waits' "Foreign Affairs" (1977) album I

believe... I would also highly recommend the song, "Step Right Up" off of his

"Small Change" (1977) album... And you're right about that Burroughs link with

"Black Rider" interesting album - especially to hear Burroughs sing!

bfn,

JDL

Speaking of Uncle Bill singing, check out his version of 'Falling in Love

Again' from the album Dead City Radio. It's great and sung totally in German!

Daniel

=========================================================================

Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 14:30:54 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: Ed Hertzog <exh112@PSU.EDU>

Subject: Re: Symposium in DC

Comments: To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List"

<BEAT-L%CUNYVM.BITNET@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>

unsuscribe

=========================================================================

Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 16:57:18 +0000

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: "John W. Hasbrouck" <jhasbro@TEZCAT.COM>

Subject: Re: The Last Time I Committed Suicide

In regards to the on-line Cassady Rap mentioned yesterday (Wednesday), I

have a question for the list. Perhaps somebody out there can help settle

and argument my boss and I are having about the rap.

About a third of the way through the rap, Neal uses the term

"Keroassady". Ken Babbs' annotation (#30) states, "KEROASSADY: the

composite Jack/Neal: a hybrid personality that did 'em both in."

The first time I heard this word I was fascinated not only by the beauty

of its aural power (specifically, the way the middle "a" bridges the

third syllable in "Kerouac" to "Cassady") but also by the fact that,

when spoken, one hears the word "acid" quite clearly. One could even

argue that you hear the word "acid-y" (or "aciddy").

My boss thinks this is too much of a stretch. I, however, argue by

speculating that when Neal used the word "Keroassady" it was in an

entirely ORAL context, rather than a WRITTEN context. When reading

"Keroassady", one may not immediately perceive the word "acid" within

it. Spoken aloud, however, I maintain its undeniable, albeit subliminal,

presence.

I'm very interested in some feedback on this. Ultimately, we might want

to email the question to Zane Kesey over at Key-Z Productions. If we ask

nice, maybe we could get a response from Babbs himself. He was there.

John Hasbrouck

Chicago

=========================================================================

Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 16:07:52 -0700

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: Bobby Singh <EABU354@UCI.EDU>

Subject: Re: Beat Publications

In-Reply-To: <960501081742_702420.204300_BHD48-14@CompuServe.COM>

Hi all,

I am new to this list and generally to the whole "Beat" thing. I

was wondering if there are any magazines (paper or electronic) about this

topic here in USA. If yes, any addresses will be appreciated. Thanks for

any help.

Bobby Singh

eabu354@ea.oac.uci.edu

_______________________________________________________________________________

And I got sick...it was the feeling that the great, deadly pointing forefinger

of society was pointing at me--and the great voice of millions chanting,

'Shame. Shame. Shame.' It's society's way of dealing with someone different.

--One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the

longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the

suffering of mankind. --Bertrand Russell

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 01:13:09 EDT

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: Chris Hartley <chris.hartley@GS.COM>

Subject: Re: Beat Publications

Comments: To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List"

<BEAT-L%CUNYVM.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu>

In-Reply-To: Bobby Singh <EABU354@UCI.EDU> "Re: Beat Publications" (May 2,

4:07pm)

jackass mothrffucker'

whhaat up you duumb mothhre=e==erfycker

love, love, ovee.

how we do love the sweggch]][\\riight, we all you. yoou have the sweetesy

little pussy that i'd like to lick............dig iit, seems like i need aa

littlee ffacceassauge. ssooo -yum

_________________________________________________________________

_/_/_/ _/_/ _/ _/ Chris Hartley

_/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ Emerging Debt Markets

_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/

_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ voice: (212)-902-8110

_/_/_/ _/_/ _/ _/ email: hartlc@fi.gs.com

_________________________________________________________________

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 09:31:20 +1000

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>

From: JENS MOELLENHOFF <JMOELLEN@NW80.CIP.FAK14.UNI-MUENCHEN.DE>

Subject: nighthawks at the diner.... (fwd)

"Jack and Neal" can be found on Waits' "Foreign Affairs" (1977) album