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Summary: Introducing The Beats
Review: After riding the whirlwind of On The Road and Howl, many readers will acquire an appetite for Beat literature that will lead them to this book. Ann Charters serves up some of the best pieces of Beat Literature in this anthology. However, some inclusions, such as excerpts from On The Road, could be considered sacrilege, as the texts were never meant to be cut up, and suffer as a result. The Bob Dylan lyrics included by Charters indicate that she was no Dylan scholar, as other tracks would have been more suitable. However, with inclusions such as Neal Cassady's letters, William S. Burroughs adventure narratives, and the lesser known Beat poetry, this anthology is indispensable.
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Summary: My College Bible
Review: An absolute wonder, a perfect selection of Beat writings: Poems, fragments of novels, essays, history, mythology, philosophy... The Portable Beat Reader is one of the most essential books in my collection and rarely leaves my side. And it is, thankfully, portable, and much easier than bringing everything with you all the time. Aquire it, open it, and just start reading.
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Summary: it is amazing
Review: de verdad es uno de lo mejores libros que he leido en mi vida y solo tengo 14 anios pero he leido demasiado para mi edad. Es inexplicable como este libro ha cambiado mi vida, como ha sido parte de una revolucion en mi cabeza...espectacularmente bueno. Ahora solo tengo cabeza para William Borroughs o Jack Kerouac en lo que se refiere a libros. Y eso que solo lo compre por que decia Bob Dylan en su indice...ahora me converti en una amante y admiradora y seguidora de la beat generation. Ellos de verdad tenian algo que decir y sabian como decirlo, son tan profundos, sinceros, crudos, sus obras entran hasta lo mas profundo de tu conciencia, te la revuelve toda y se hace tuya, te hace estar en Denver, buscando al padre vagabundo de Dean, Te hace sentir cada palabra, cada accion del Peyote Poem de McClure, o del Naked Luch de mi favorito, William B. Amo este libro por hacerme descubrir un mundo totalmente diferente al que conozco, por habrirme los ojos. Estoy leyendo On the Road...estoy llena de placer con este libro. Es como una adiccion, no lo puedo dejar de leer. Lo mismo me pasaba con The Beat Reader.
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Summary: Essential for fans of the Beats
Review: If anyone is as moved by the Beats as I am, this is an essential book. Every major beat author is represented here, as well as some not widely considered Beat such as Bob Dylan. While this book does not take the place of On the Road or Ginsberg's Collected Poems, it does provide hours and hours of great reading. Read it!
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Summary: Good Start for the "Beat"en Path
Review: Nice sampler... all the writers you should expect are in here.A feature I enjoyed particularly was the intro section... read about the writer before the piece. Since I had not heard of so many of these writers, I found it intriguing to see how many were part of the same group of friends. The Beats largely were connected with each other's lives... and fed off each other's style and work. Buy this book, then go get the full works of these individual writers. For an anthology of Beat writers, you will find no better book. I fully recommend this book. Anthony Trendl
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Summary: Essential for fans of 20th century literature
Review: Simply put, this is what I turn to when I need inspiration for reading, for creating, for anything. It combines wonderful bios of everyone from Kerouac to Bob Dylan, and their poems, book excerpts, and lyrics galore. Absolutely enjoyable, absolutely essential. Thank god for Ann Charters.
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Summary: Essential for fans of 20th century literature
Review: Simply put, this is what I turn to when I need inspiration for reading, for creating, for anything. It combines wonderful bios of everyone from Kerouac to Bob Dylan, and their poems, book excerpts, and lyrics galore. Absolutely enjoyable, absolutely essential. Thank god for Ann Charters.
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Summary: A Great Guide If You Don't Know What You Like
Review: This book features some excellent beat writers and includes informative blurbs on their history and style. Each artist has a little chunk of their writing for you to sample, and the material is everything from stories to letters to classically bad prose. What impressed me were the essays by each other, on the actual generation hype. "Young people seemed more intense, clutching, and I couldn't help feeling they took themselves too seriously... 'good, clean fun' appeared to be a thing of the past. Or perhaps the aura of suspicion and defensiveness was merely a reflection of my own fears..." --Carylon Cassady It's a great book for deciding which authors you want to read more of.
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Summary: Life Changing
Review: This book is major marker on the road of my personal and intellectual development. I had just finished On The Road and was interested in exploring some more Beat writing - but was completely at a loss as to where I should begin. Charter's anthology was like a literary mindbomb from the minute I began the Forward until I finished the last poem. After I was done, I just couldn't think of writing (or writers) in the same way. It managed to connect so many literary, intellectual, and musical "schools" of the West and East - I was left dazed as I saw smatterings of Rimbaud, Buddah and Bird all through the "Beat" works. Beauty, obscenity, freedom - every aspect of life can be found there. This book is just a beginning - but it's a great beginning.
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Summary: Wonderful collection of a variety of beat artists
Review: This reader is a good overall introduction to beat literature. While I could have done with a few more examples of writing from the women in the movement, that probably would not have kept the book as "portable" as its title promises.
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