Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 614

“What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?” –  the “Moloch” section (an essential section of Allen’s groundbreaking poem “Howl”)  leads off the Round-Up this week. Kenneth Silber‘s illuminating essay, “The Many Face of Moloch” is a must-read. See also (referenced in Silber’s essay) Scott Alexander‘s “Meditations on Moloch

and, given current (justified) concerns about the proliferation of AI (artificial intelligence) – see here – (Donald Trump and Barack Obama seemingly voicing sections of the poem!)

Moloch – Etienne Appert

 

Madness, consuming madness – We continue to recommend Stevan Weine’s recently-published volume, Best Minds – How Allen Ginsberg Made Revolutionary Poetry From Madness   Here is his digest of it he constructed for Psychiatric Times.

And another shout-out for Etienne Appert‘s richly-engaging  Au crépuscule de la Beat Generation

Some recent reviews – here, here and here

 

Allen’s old address in New York on East 12th Street – not to be pedantic but it was on the corner (close to the corner) not of 12th and Second Avenue but 12th and Avenue A – ok, just nit-picking! – both exterior and interior are lovingly evoked.

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