A
Jew
IN
THE
]though he was a practicing Bud- inated for an Academy
dhist at the time of his death Award for his 1978 doc-
from liver cancer on April 5, umentary, The Divided
Allen Ginsberg — one of the Trail: A Native Ameri-
best-known poets of the Beat can Odyssey, lives in
generation and an ongoing Boulder, Colo., and
spokesman for the coun- teaches at the Univer-
terculture of the 1960s sity of Colorado.
and beyond — never turned his back
"Making the film [on
on his Jewish roots.
Ginsberg] was a pro-
In a February 1985 interview for found learning and spir-
The Jewish News, Ginsberg said, "I itual experience for me,"
identify as a Jew — with the old Hein- said Aronson. 'Through
rich Heine/Jewish delicatessen/intel- my research, I saw
lectual/radical/revolutionary. I identify [Ginsberg] in many sit-
with the socialism of the Jews and with uations that could have
the anarchism of the Jews. With the been dangerous and
poetry and the music, and with the in- confrontational. How-
ternationalism of the Jews, which I ever, [his] ability to pro-
think is one of the major glories of the ject calm and peace
Jewish tradition."
always ruled the day."
He stressed that he still
Joseph Swolsky,
maintained active contact owner of Park West, a
with Judaism. That May, realty and manage-
he went to the Recon- ment company in Tole-
structionist Rabbinical Col- do, Ohio, is an avid
lege in Wyncote, Penn., collector of first editions
where he participated in a of Ginsberg's work. He
program with Rabbi Nan- remembers him as "a
cy Fuchs-Kriemer, director kind, generous man,
of the Kaplan Institute for who would always in-
Adult Jewish Studies.
scribe books for his
Ginsberg- was a frequent fans."
visitor to Ann Arbor and
Swolsky, a self-de-
had many friends and ad- scribed "child of the
mirers among Jews from '60s," has many trea-
the Detroit area.
sures in his vast collec-
The only documentary tion, including a CD of The Ballad of
film of his career, The Life the Skeletons bearing an inscription
and Times ofAllen Gins- reading "Allen Ginsberg, 117/97, Jew-
berg, was produced, di- el Heart, A2 , For Joe Swolsky." Gins-
rected and filmed by berg's appearance at the Jewel Heart
former Detroiter Jerry Tibetan Cultural and Buddhist Cen-
Aronson, a Mumford High ter in Ann Arbor earlier this year was
School and Wayne State his last public book signing.
University graduate.
Also in Swoisky's collection is a first
The 82-minute award- edition of Mr. Ginsberg's Empty Mir-
winning film has been ror, which once belonged to Detroit so-
shown theatrically and on c ial activist John Sinclair.
television worldwide, and
Swolsky also corresponded with
is currently available on Ginsberg. Last July, he wrote Gins-
videocassette.
berg about his wish to reprint as a col-
Aronson, who was nom- 1 ectors item a 1959 Life magazine
, :,,C7-4711 1.73E-Niabitrw„
WELL WHILE I'M HERE I'LL
DO THE WORK —
AND WHAT'S THE WORK?
TO EASE THE PAIN OF LIVING
EVERYTHING ELSE, DRUNKEN
DUMBSHOW
Allen Ginsberg: "I identify as a
8 Jew—with the old Heinrich
• Heine/Jewish delicatessen/
intellectuaVradicaVrevolutionary."
• In later years, Allen Ginsberg
§ often appeared as "the spiritual
• godfather of the counterculture."
article on the Beats, to be autographed
by Ginsberg, as well as fellow Beats
William Burroughs, Lawrence Fer-
linghetti, Gregory Corso and Peter
Orlovsky.
It would have been dedicated to
Alan Weiner, the recently deceased
owner of New York's Academy Book
Store, who was a friend of both Gins-
berg and Swolsky.
Ginsberg declined, saying he was
"getting too old to take on the work he
used to, and was cutting down on a lot
of activities."
While some considered Ginsberg to
be the premier poet of the Beat gen-
eration, he also had his detractors.
Cary Loren, owner of the
Book Beat in Oak Park, calls
himself "more of an observer
of Ginsberg than an admir-
er." He met the poet a few
times but was also a severe
critic of his work.
"I think he is kind of a lit-
tle bit overrated as a poet,"
said Loren, who believes
Ginsberg's reputation should
be based more upon his role
in facilitating the publication
of major works by Beat writ-
ers such as William S. Bur-
roughs.
"I don't think the entire
body of his work will hold up,"
said Loren of Ginsberg's pro-
lific output of poetry. But he
does make exceptions for
"Howl," the epic "Plutonian
Ode," and "Kaddish."
"Otherwise, there's a lot of
real drivel, as there is in
[Jack] Kerouac and others of
the Beats," maintains Loren.
"It is just not good quality.
"If you compare [Ginsberg's] work
to that of a poet like Delmore
Schwartz, it pales by comparison. As
Truman
Capote said, It becomes typ-
ing. ,
Ginsberg was only 70 when he died
of liver cancer, and in some sense, he
will return to Ann Arbor, a city he con-
sidered his second home.
After cremation, the ashes of the
poet were distributed among three
sites. One is the Jewel Heart Tibetan
Cultural and Buddhist Oenter, where
Ginsberg had studied for seven years
under the tutelage of G-elek Rinpoche,
an Ypsilanti teacher. Ginsberg made