Little Boy

the long version

The novel, titled "Little Boy," fuses elements of autobiography, literary criticism, poetry and philosophy, in a headlong, often stream-of-consciousness style. "It's not a memoir, it's an imaginary me," Mr. Ferlinghetti said in a phone interview. "It's an experimental novel, let's put it that way." -- In this unapologetically unclassifiable work Lawrence Ferlinghetti lets loose an exhilarating rush of language to craft what might be termed a closing statement about his highly significant and productive 99 years on this planet. The "Little Boy" of the title is Ferlinghetti himself as a child, shuffled from his overburdened mother to his French aunt to foster childhood with a rich Bronxville family. Service in World War Two (including the D-Day landing), graduate work, and a scholar gypsy's vagabond life in Paris followed. These biographical reminiscences are interweaved with Allen Ginsberg-esque high energy bursts of raw emotion, rumination, reflection, reminiscence and prognostication on what we may face as a species on Planet Earth in the future.