Jason Shinder

This collection of essays goes beyond the text to the meaning and impact on each individual touched in some way by this marvelous poem.. The blurb on the back cover states, "... the poem also contained a strange, subversive power that continues to exert its influence to this day." That's not hyperbole. Every time I read "Howl" I feel closer to the text and to the "true me" screaming to be let out. It's as though Ginsberg reaches out and tells me, "You can do this, you can be this, you can ...."

You might think Howl is dated and no longer relevant in our age of technological wonder. You would be wrong, though. Not only is such a thought incorrect, but oddly enough it's just possible that Howl has yet to take its full affect. This book opened up the meaning of Howl, not just by explaining its prose, but by setting the poem in context to our society over half a century after it was first published. This book ensures that Howl will be --and indeed should always be-- fresh and poignant show more in our lives. show less

This book of various contemporary writers' responses to Howl is highly recommended. Eliot Katz has a particularly powerful essay, 'Radical Eyes: Political Poetics and 'Howl' ' on pp. 183-211.