Paradise Outlaws: Remembering the Beats

Rating:
Summary: Naked Angels Revisited
Review: As much time as John Tytell has spent with Beat writers and artists, it is understandable that he would return to the topic twenty years after first publishing Naked Angels. That book is one of the best early references on the lives and works of Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Burroughs--fully informed by Tytell's scholarly research and interviews with Beat figures. If there is one criticism of Naked Angels, it is that the book has begun to show its age as more and more important biographical and critical discoveries are made regarding the Beats (for instance, Kerouac's letters and journals--and the publication of Some of the Dharma). With Paradise Outlaws, Tytell has taken the opportunity to update--and in some cases expand on--his work in Naked Angels. The result is something of a companion to the first book, with the Kerouac-Ginsberg-Burroughs sections shortened substantially and the academic tone removed. Tytell compliments this approach with first-hand accounts of his relationships with Beat figures (accompanied by photographs by his wife, Mellon). By doing this, he has created a personal book, a "My Life With and Studying the Beats." It is a unique perspective that stands out in the current glut of Beat books.

Tytell's first-person, casual writing gives Paradise Outlaws the feel of a conversation more than a lecture. With this in mind, the book should not be read as a critical study of the Beats, rather as an oral history. (Tytell even recommends Jack's Book: an oral biography by Barry Gifford and Lawrence Lee to reinforce his approach.) While it seems, at times, that Tytell and Mellon tossed in photographs for no reason and tried to make them fit with the Beat theme, it's hard to find fault considering the book is based on Tytell's own experiences and opinions. Who's to argue if he thinks the "Rainbow Family" is a descendent of Beat culture?

Finally, Tytell concludes the book with a fantastic section on pedagogy. References to and recommendations of source material from a Beat student with the experience and knowledge of Tytell should be taken seriously. My only complaint is that his final section--the Beats influence on pop culture--is typically narrow. All the allusions to punk music reminded me of The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats. Tytell, of all people, should give the Beats more credit for their influence and dig a little deeper into the social fabric to find the true cultural legacy of the Beats. But this is a small criticism of a book that belongs on the shelf of any person who has found themselves captured by the humanity and personal nature of the Beats. Tytell's book would make his Beat friends proud.

Rating:
Summary: Congenial view of Beats as human friends, not literary icons
Review: Beat scholar John Tytell first covered the Beats in 1976's seminal "Naked Angels," one of the first books to take the Beats seriously as a literary movement. Tytell's new book, "Paradise Outlaws," continues his vibrant work on Beat words and Beat life with a Beat lesson: it is life itself which gives literature its pulsating heart. The Beats took this as a credo and they confessed their lives, loves, sins, and visions throughout their work. "Paradise Outlaws" follows in this tradition by mixing Tytell's life with his book: part literary criticism, part memoir, this vitally important additon to our thinking about the Beats weighs their impact on American culture at the same time it describes Tytell's own interation with the Beats as Beat teacher, critic, and friend. "Paradise Outlaws" is also packed with stunning photos of the Beats by Mellon, whose loving camera eye catches the Beats in frozen time as Tytell's prose thaws them out. This is a book that will prove to change how we read and think about one of the most important literary movements America has ever had.

Rating:
Summary: Congenial view of Beats as human friends, not literary icons
Review: The Beats are usually regarded as a back-to-the-earth clan of literary geniuses, but somehow mystically detached from mainstream humanity. Most studies of the Beats treat them as a dying species, certainly on the endangered list, in the style of a distant scientific treatise. Because he knew them as friends, John Tytell has studied the Beats and written many intriguing books that attempt to capture their inner nature, as well as their literary impact. His latest work, "Paradise Outlaws: Remembering the Beats," continues the tradition, but his style is even more congenial that in his previous books, probably because has seen many of his friends pass on, touching a sense of nostalgia. John wife, the noted photographer Mellon, has added delightful selections from her extensive photographic portfolio of the Beats. Her photographs are as intimate and revealing of the inner human nature of the Beats as John's words, and together they portray the Beats as an unusual fraternity who relish living outside the mainstream, but who at the end of the day have their own set of simple human emotions, feelings, and drives. After reading "Paradise Outlaws," I felt I knew the Beats just a little better as tender people, not towering icons. Mellon's photographs painted real faces on those often gentle people, yet intense through their work. Her photographs, along with John's humane words, left me with fond remembrances of new friends--real people, not lifeless participants in a museum diorama.

Rating:
Summary: Inviting the Beat family over for a Blast
Review: The good thing about this book is that it's neither a thick boring pedantic tome, nor a fluffy coffeetable picture book. The photographs are personal and real like a family album with a great photographer in the house. And then there's the text which I liked because even though I'm pretty familiar with the subject matter, Tytell's one of those encyclopedic professor types that can retain all these different facts at once and then weave them in together. Like that Larry Rivers lived on West 21st, and would hear Bill Cannastra's parties on West 20th and go over, and that's where Rivers joined up with Jack and Allen for the first time - in the very apt. where Jack would soon write On The Road. There are all of these interesting little details sprinkled in with a friendly big picture take, coincidently framed by all the pictures Mellon took. There's Cherry Valley in the 70's, Boulder in 82, and NYC in the mid-to-late-90's that really gives you a great perspective on the gang growing up. Yeah - perspective - that's what this has - great perspective! Read on!

Rating:
Summary: Inviting the Beat family over for a Blast
Review: The good thing about this book is that it's neither a thick boring pedantic tome, nor a fluffy coffeetable picture book. The photographs are personal and real like a family album with a great photographer in the house. And then there's the text which I liked because even though I'm pretty familiar with the subject matter, Tytell's one of those encyclopedic professor types that can retain all these different facts at once and then weave them in together. Like that Larry Rivers lived on West 21st, and would hear Bill Cannastra's parties on West 20th and go over, and that's where Rivers joined up with Jack and Allen for the first time - in the very apt. where Jack would soon write On The Road. There are all of these interesting little details sprinkled in with a friendly big picture take, coincidently framed by all the pictures Mellon took. There's Cherry Valley in the 70's, Boulder in 82, and NYC in the mid-to-late-90's that really gives you a great perspective on the gang growing up. Yeah - perspective - that's what this has - great perspective! Read on!