Family Business

the long version

"Chronicling the correspondence between Allen Ginsberg and his father, Louis, Family Business offers a look into the heart and family of one of America's greatest poets.". "As a literary portrait of a father and son, little can match the eloquence and honesty of this collection of letters, written between the years 1944 and 1976. Beginning when Allen is a precocious, rebellious college student, the book charts his ascension as a revolutionary icon in poetry. The letters are filled with affection, respect, and a healthy dose of argumentative zeal as Allen and Louis debate every major political and artistic issue that faced America in over three decades of extraordinary change.". "Their correspondence also illuminates the defining moments that shaped Allen's art - his experimentation with LSD, his various love affairs and obsessions, his travels around the globe. We see, from this unique perspective, the crucial process of a poet's widening experience of the world, and how these experiences are translated into his work. These letters reveal Louis, a published poet himself, to be a major influence on Allen and to have played a crucial part in Allen's poetic and intellectual accomplishments."--BOOK JACKET.