HOWLS, RAPS AND ROARS

At mid-century a cadre of iconoclastic literary artists arose in America who were associated with San Francisco and "The Village." Reacting to Ike-era complacency and riding the surf of postwar European existential nihilism, this Beat Generation profoundly influenced American life, defying conventional morality and art, setting the stage for the '60s counterculture. This four-CD set preserves the voices of seminal figures in what the publishers erroneously call the "San Francisco poetry renaissance." The artists include Lenny Bruce and poet/activist Allen Ginsberg, who each get an entire disc, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Kenneth Rexroth, and others. While hardly inclusive, the set is representative, if not of the movement as a whole, at least of how it's remembered. Thus, it's an important artifact of our time, an essential volume for every library and college, made especially valuable by compiler Ann Charters's 40-page illustrated gloss. As all the voices here are male, one should also pick up Audio Literature's WOMEN OF THE BEAT GENERATION as an essential adjunct. Y.R. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 00]