Indian journals, March 1962-May 1963

the long version

The leading poet of the Beat generation and late-twentieth century American letters, a spokesman for the antiwar generation, an icon of the counterculture, Allen Ginsberg led a movement that profoundly altered the American literary and cultural landscapes. Indian Journals collects Ginsberg's writing from a 1962-63 stay in India. It is wonderfully eclectic, visionary, at times intensely private, and always in possession of a hallucinatory clarity that affirms Ginsberg's truly great ability, as well as his ebullient spirit. Indian Journals took half a decade to transcribe and edit; when it was originally published in 1970 it catalyzed a large movement of young Western pilgrims to explore India and Eastern thought. This new edition contains an updated and expanded section of newly discovered photographs taken by Ginsberg during his time spent in India. The perfect combination of text and images, Indian Journals is testimony to Ginsberg's passionate interest in Eastern religion and mysticism and contains the raw materials for some of his most important poems.