San Francisco Renaissance

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San Francisco Renaissance
Part of the Beat generation and Hippie movement
Prabhupada's arrival in San Francisco 1967.jpg
Allen Ginsberg and A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in San Francisco (1967)
Date1950s - 1960s (debated)
Location San Francisco, United States
ParticipantsBeat writers

The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. [1] However, others (e.g., Alan Watts, Ralph J. Gleason) felt this renaissance was a broader phenomenon and should be seen as also encompassing the visual and performing arts, philosophy, cross-cultural interests (particularly those that involved Asian cultures), and new social sensibilities.

Contents

Founding

Kenneth Rexroth—poet, translator, critic, and author—is the founding father of the renaissance. Rexroth was a prominent second generation modernist poet who corresponded with Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and was published in the Objectivist Anthology . He was amongst the first American poets to explore Japanese poetry traditions such as haiku and was also heavily influenced by jazz. If Rexroth was the founding father, Madeline Gleason was the founding mother. During the 1940s, both she and Rexroth befriended a group of younger Berkeley poets consisting of Robert Duncan, and William Everson; Jack Spicer and Robin Blaser became involved in the late 40s. Gleason and Duncan were particularly close and read and criticized each other's work.

Movement

In April 1947, Gleason organized the First Festival of Modern Poetry at Marcelle Labaudt's Lucien Labaudt [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] Gallery, [14] [15] [16] 1407 Gough Street, [17] [18] San Francisco. [19] [20] [21] Over the space of two evenings, she brought twelve poets, including Rexroth, Robert Duncan and Spicer, to an audience of young poets and poetry lovers. This was the first public recognition of the range of experimental poetic practice that was current in the city. [22]

During the 1950s, Duncan and Robert Creeley both taught at Black Mountain College and acted as links between the San Francisco poets and the Black Mountain poets. Many of the San Francisco writers began to publish in Cid Corman's Origin and in the Black Mountain Review, the house journals of the Black Mountain group. Spicer's interest in the cante jondo also led to links with the deep image poets. In 1957, Spicer ran his seminar "Poetry as Magic" at San Francisco State College with Duncan as a participant.

Impact of New American Poetry

Perhaps the crucial cultural document here was (and is) Donald Allen's anthology The New American Poetry 1945–1960 . In this assemblage, Allen grouped some of the poets as "San Francisco Renaissance", and as Marjorie Perloff observes:

Duncan emerg(ed) as the leading poet of this group even as he also belongs to Black Mountain. These poets, who largely became known through oral performance in the Bay Area, include the following thirteen: Brother Antoninus (William Everson), Robin Blaser, Jack Spicer, James Broughton, Madeline Gleason, Helen Adam, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Bruce Boyd, Kirby Doyle, Richard Duerden, Philip Lamantia, Ebbe Borregaard, and Lew Welch. [23]

The Allen anthology was central to defining both the poetics and broader cultural dynamics of a particular historical moment now referred to as the San Francisco Renaissance. Though a particular "generation" had now been named (in large part because of the Allen anthology), today the debate continues as to the viability or use of the term San Francisco Renaissance as a "label" to define an entire era or generation.

Those who believe the term is accurate will argue on the one hand that indeed a "group" did forge a "renaissance": the impact on our historical consciousness was (and is) measurable. Therefore, for them, the use of the term is still verifiable. On the other hand, there are those who argue that the label San Francisco Renaissance is just that: a label. As a label, therefore, it exists as a convenient and arbitrary "grouping" of something which remains (and even must remain) "unverifiable". Since the impact of such a broad phenomenon on our consciousness cannot be measured, such an impact has not even been recognized or articulated yet, much less addressed as problematic in itself.

Beyond defining itself as itself (For example, defining some measurable impact on consciousness or on ourselves as human beings), critics of the term San Francisco Renaissance argue that beyond that particular use as a label (even if it helps to signal the arrival of a "new" phenomenon not accounted for on our consciousness), a word itself, as such, cannot act for us as an organizing principle. In other words, we are misguided if we do not recognize how this label fails us (beyond a certain usefulness as a label or "grouping") when it comes to truly measuring (much less accounting for) the impact of multiple, broad and dynamic social, political, and artistic changes in our consciousness.

Among those critical of terminology and among those who dare to question how and why it can impact consciousness, asking what that proposes for a definition of the human, perhaps Ron Silliman has been most articulate:

... San Francisco Renaissance is a grouping that I've argued before was largely a fiction created by Allen's need to organize his materials [24]

Beat generation

Around the same time that Duncan, Spicer and Blaser were at Berkeley, Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen and Lew Welch were attending Reed College in Portland, Oregon. All three stemmed initially from Rexroth and his curriculum and in the early 50s gravitated to the San Francisco area, where Spicer exercised an influence over Whalen and Welch. Although later associated by outsiders and publicists with the Beats, their primary sources are West Coast. Kirby Doyle, a native San Franciscan, and Bob Kaufman, originally from New Orleans, were with more reason associated in later accounts with the Beats.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti had been studying for a doctorate at the Sorbonne and, while in Paris, met Kenneth Rexroth, who later persuaded him to go to San Francisco to experience the growing literary scene there. Between 1951 and 1953, Ferlinghetti taught French, wrote literary criticism, and painted. In 1953, he and a business partner established the City Lights Bookstore and started publishing as City Lights Press two years later.

Snyder and Whalen, along with Michael McClure, were among the poets who performed at the famous Six Gallery poetry reading that Kenneth Rexroth organized in San Francisco on October 13 (or October 7, sources vary), 1955. This reading signaled the full emergence of the San Francisco Renaissance into the public consciousness and helped establish the city's reputation as a center for countercultural activity that came to full flower during the hippie years of the 1960s. A short fictional account of this event forms the second chapter of Jack Kerouac's 1958 novel The Dharma Bums . In the account, he describes Allen Ginsberg's famous reading of his poem "Howl". Kerouac and Ginsberg had attended the reading with some of their poet friends.

Legacy

The Bay Area-based philosopher and writer Alan Watts, in his autobiography, mentioned that by around 1960 or so "... something else was on the way, in religion, in music, in ethics and sexuality, in our attitudes to nature, and in our whole style of life", and described characteristics of a "Clear School" of poetry on whose roll he included "Alice Meynell, Walter de la Mare, Emily Dickinson, Kenneth Rexroth, Karl Shapiro, Jean Burden, and Eric Barker (to name but a few)." Watts asserted that these poets employ traditional rhythms and "say what they have to say with an easy, natural clarity which avoids both clichés and obscure allusions or bizarre, far-fetched images." [25]

Some of the songwriters of the upcoming rock-music generation of the mid-1960s and later read and appreciated writers like Kerouac, Snyder, McClure, Ferlinghetti, and Ginsberg (e.g., Bob Dylan, for one, has talked about this). Hence, given that much of the late-'60s wave of groundbreaking rock music developed within rock's famous San Francisco Sound, it seems very likely that the writers of the San Francisco Renaissance had an influence on the lyrics, both artistically and in terms of attitudes to living.

The "underground press" that developed in America and elsewhere in the 1960s had one of its most interesting and colorful examples in the San Francisco Oracle which reflected the hippie culture and other aspects of the counterculture. The Oracle gave much space to writings by Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, and other Beat writers, along with emerging younger writers.

Both Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Michael McClure were featured on-stage in the rock-star jammed The Last Waltz , a 1978 documentary and concert film made by Martin Scorsese about The Band (who had an immense following in the late 1960s to mid 1970s), a large number of their musical friends, and the 1976 concert of the same name.

Related Research Articles

Allen Ginsberg American poet and writer (1926–1997)

Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Generation. He vigorously opposed militarism, economic materialism, and sexual repression, and he embodied various aspects of this counterculture with his views on drugs, sex, multiculturalism, hostility to bureaucracy, and openness to Eastern religions.

Gary Snyder American poet

Gary Snyder is an American man of letters. Perhaps best known as a poet, he is also an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist with anarchoprimitivist leanings. He has been described as the "poet laureate of Deep Ecology". Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the American Book Award. His work, in his various roles, reflects an immersion in both Buddhist spirituality and nature. He has translated literature into English from ancient Chinese and modern Japanese. For many years, Snyder was an academic at the University of California, Davis and for a time served as a member of the California Arts Council.

The Beat Generation was a literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generationers in the 1950s. The central elements of Beat culture are the rejection of standard narrative values, making a spiritual quest, the exploration of American and Eastern religions, the rejection of economic materialism, explicit portrayals of the human condition, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and sexual liberation and exploration.

Howl (poem) 1955 poem by Allen Ginsberg, part of the Beat Generation movement

"Howl", also known as "Howl for Carl Solomon", is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1954–1955 and published in his 1956 collection Howl and Other Poems. The poem is dedicated to Carl Solomon.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti American artist, writer and activist (1919–2021)

Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and film narration, Ferlinghetti was best known for his second collection of poems, A Coney Island of the Mind (1958), which has been translated into nine languages and sold over a million copies. When Ferlinghetti turned 100 in March 2019, the city of San Francisco turned his birthday, March 24, into "Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day".

Kenneth Rexroth American poet (1905–1982)

Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (1905–1982) was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider himself to be a Beat poet, and disliked the association, he was dubbed the "Father of the Beats" by Time magazine. Largely self-educated, Rexroth learned several languages and translated poems from Chinese, French, Spanish, and Japanese.

Joanne Kyger American poet

Joanne Kyger was an American poet. The author of over 30 books of poetry and prose, Kyger was associated with the poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, the Beat Generation, Black Mountain, and the New York School.

Madeline Gleason American poet

Madeline Gleason was a United States poet and dramatist. She was the founder of the San Francisco Poetry Guild and, in 1947, the director of the first poetry festival in the United States, laying the groundwork for what became known as the San Francisco Renaissance. She was, with Helen Adam, Barbara Guest, and Denise Levertov, one of only four women whose work was included in Donald Allen's landmark anthology, The New American Poetry 1945-1960 (1960).

Jack Spicer American poet

Jack Spicer was an American poet often identified with the San Francisco Renaissance. In 2009, My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer won the American Book Award for poetry. He spent most of his writing-life in San Francisco.

<i>The New American Poetry 1945–1960</i> Poetry anthology edited by Donald Allen

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Kirby Doyle American poet

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The Six Gallery reading was an important poetry event that took place on Friday, October 7, 1955, at 3119 Fillmore Street in San Francisco.

Donald Merriam Allen was an American editor, publisher and translator of American literature. He is best known for his project The New American Poetry 1945-1960 (1960), one of the anthologies of contemporary American writing he released.

Ronald William Loewinsohn was an American poet and novelist who was associated with the poetry of the San Francisco Renaissance since his inclusion in Donald Allen's 1960 poetry anthology, The New American Poetry 1945–1960. He was Professor Emeritus of English at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Berkeley Poetry Conference was an event in which individuals presented their views and poems in seminars, lectures, individual readings, and group readings at California Hall on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley during July 12–24, 1965.

Richard William McBride was an American beat poet, playwright and novelist. He worked at City Lights Booksellers & Publishers from 1954 to 1969.

Knute Stiles was a union organizer, painter, collagist, art critic, poet and entrepreneur. He was born in Minnesota, the son of the state's first female physician. He went to the St. Paul Art School, and after World War II, attended Black Mountain College in North Carolina.

References

  1. ↑ Michael Davidson. The San Francisco Renaissance: Poetics and Community at Mid-Century. Cambridge University Press.
  2. ↑ "Lucien Adolphe Labaudt". tools.wmflabs.org.
  3. ↑ "How San Francisco's Beach Chalet got its marvelous murals". 15 June 2008.
  4. ↑ "Coit Tower Murals Recall a Happier Time, When Paparazzi were Beloved « San Francisco Citizen". sfcitizen.com.
  5. ↑ Marmol Radziner (Dec 9, 2013). "Conceptual Design Review – Lakeview Residence – Project Narrative" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-05-16. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
  6. ↑ Millard Sheets; William Vandavert (3 January 1944). "Lucien Labaudt". Letters to the Editors. LIFE. Time Inc. p.  2 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ "Labaudt, Lucien, 1880-1943 @ SNAC". snaccooperative.org.
  8. ↑ "Lucien Labaudt". SFMOMA.
  9. ↑ "A82.2.1 - OMCA COLLECTIONS". collections.museumca.org.
  10. ↑ "A87.2.1 - OMCA COLLECTIONS". collections.museumca.org.
  11. ↑ "Data" (PDF). newfillmore.com. 2012.
  12. ↑ Albright, Thomas (1985). Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980: An Illustrated History. University of California Press. ISBN   9780520051935 – via Google Books.
  13. ↑ "Labaudt's Inspirational Beach Chalet Murals - FoundSF". www.foundsf.org.
  14. ↑ "ACGA Site – Our History". acga.net.
  15. ↑ ARCH.EXH.001_findingaid - SFMOMA Library & Archives 151 Third Street San Francisco, CA
  16. ↑ Lucien Labaudts paintings and gallery - Guide to the San Francisco News-Call Bulletin Newspaper
  17. ↑ "Bio" (PDF). www.jasonmccoyinc.com.
  18. ↑ "Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar 27 April 1967 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu.
  19. ↑ "Info" (PDF). www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz.
  20. ↑ Jarnot, Lisa (27 August 2012). Robert Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus: A Biography. University of California Press. ISBN   9780520234161 – via Google Books.
  21. ↑ "Madeline Gleason and the Poetry of San Francisco". San Francisco Bay Times. 14 December 2016.
  22. ↑ Wakimoto, Diana. "LibGuides: Current Exhibits: The Beat Goes On: Bay Poetry Exhibit". library.csueastbay.edu.
  23. ↑ "Electronic Poetry Center". epc.buffalo.edu.
  24. ↑ "Silliman's Blog".
  25. ↑ Watts, Alan (1972). In My Own Way: An Autobiography 1915–1965. Pantheon. p. 284. ISBN   978-0-394-46911-9.

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