Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg hitchhiked to Portland in the winter of
1956. The two friends were poets, unknown outside the San Francisco
area, and were on the front edge of the cultural movement that became
known as the Beat Generation.
Snyder, who grew up in Portland and graduated from Reed College, brought Ginsberg to
the Southeast Portland campus for a couple of readings. On Feb. 13,
1956, they read to about 20 people in the Anna Mann Cottage, and on
Feb. 14, they gave another reading that was recorded on tape.
At both readings, Ginsberg read a version of "Howl," the long poem
that made him famous when it was published a few months later. "Howl"
was the subject of a landmark obscenity trial. During the past 50
years, "Howl" has sold more than 1 million copies.
Last May, John Suiter was researching a biography of Snyder in the
Hauser Library at Reed. Suiter knew Snyder and Ginsberg had been at
Reed in 1956 and knew Ginsberg had read "Howl." He was looking for
proof in the student newspaper when special collections assistant Mark
Kuestner brought him a box marked "Snyder Ginsberg 1956."
In it was a 35-minute tape of Ginsberg reading the first section of "Howl" and seven other poems.
"It was completely serendipitous," Suiter said. "I had no idea there was a tape."
This isn't just any tape. Not only is it the earliest known
recording of one of the most famous poems of the 20th century, but also
the sound quality is excellent, and Ginsberg gives a strong, clear
reading with enough textual variations in "Howl" and the other poems to
keep literary scholars busy for years.
The reference to jazz and "blowing" choruses, as Suiter notes, is
straight from Jack Kerouac's introduction to "Mexico City Blues" and
was a tenet of Beat Generation poetry. Ginsberg reads the first part of
"Howl" in a steadily building rhythm but stops four lines into the
second section and says, "I don't really feel like reading anymore. I
just sorta haven't got any kind of steam, so I'd like to cut. Do you
mind?" (The Poetry Archive has a recording of Ginsberg reading Part 2 on its website.)
Reed has put the recording of "Howl" and the other poems on its Web site (www.reed.edu)
but is embargoing it until Friday, when the issue of Reed magazine with
Suiter's article is published. Mitchell Hartman, the editor of Reed
magazine, said the school did not want people to make money off the
tape, which sat in the Hauser Library for 50 years.
read HOWL Part 2
Hear it
Copyright
from Collected Poems 1947-1980 (Harper & Row,
1984), © Allen Ginsberg 1984, by permission of The Allen Ginsberg
Trust. Recordings from Holy Soul Jelly Roll: Poems and Songs 1949-1993
(Rhino/Word-Beat), by permission of The Allen Ginsberg Trust.
Thanks to Artist
CORDLEY COIT - Culture Keeper from the studio, to the field, from the U.S. to Europe for this contribution.