Memoirs of a Beatnik

Rating:
Summary: beatnik, not beat
Review: a recent article on diane diprima in the chicago tribune (4/19/2000) called di prima's "memoirs of a beatnik" - "a sort of insider's Beat exploitation book Di Prima wrote in 1968 for Maurice Girodias' Olympia Press in Paris because she needed money badly--and quickly." It goes on to state that "It is mostly accurate, [di prima] said, except for the sex parts."

with that said, i doubt the book aspires to make any type of high-brow feminist or literary statement. the fact that is does make any such statement can be attributed to the time in which it was written. it is basically an account of a young woman venturing out on her own in times when young women did not do such things. young women lived at home, maybe went away to college, met a nice suitable young man, and got married. maybe had a job as a typist in the meantime. sex was not something young women from nice families experimented with.

this is not to say the book does not have its merits. it is artfully written, intelligent, and poetic. it's a great look at the obstacles women faced when they decided to do their own thing, especially when that differed from society's norms. it's a peek inside the counterculture that was growing larger and larger thanks to a certain jack kerouac. all of this raises the book above being just plain old erotica. as a fan of beat writing and culture, i enjoyed the book very much.

of course, the drawback to this book is that someone reading this book without knowledge of the context in which it was published will come away from it with a view of the beats that is as cartoonish and two-dimensional as the rest of society's view was of them at the time. "oh wow, look, the beats were always having sex." - "oh yeah, man, that's what they were about. coffee, sex, and alcohol. (and bongos and poetry and black berets)"

maybe that's why the title of this book is "memoirs of a beatnik," and not "memoirs of a beat." major difference.

Rating:
Summary: beatnik, not beat
Review: a recent article on diane diprima in the chicago tribune (4/19/2000) called di prima's "memoirs of a beatnik" - "a sort of insider's Beat exploitation book Di Prima wrote in 1968 for Maurice Girodias' Olympia Press in Paris because she needed money badly--and quickly." It goes on to state that "It is mostly accurate, [di prima] said, except for the sex parts."

with that said, i doubt the book aspires to make any type of high-brow feminist or literary statement. the fact that is does make any such statement can be attributed to the time in which it was written. it is basically an account of a young woman venturing out on her own in times when young women did not do such things. young women lived at home, maybe went away to college, met a nice suitable young man, and got married. maybe had a job as a typist in the meantime. sex was not something young women from nice families experimented with.

this is not to say the book does not have its merits. it is artfully written, intelligent, and poetic. it's a great look at the obstacles women faced when they decided to do their own thing, especially when that differed from society's norms. it's a peek inside the counterculture that was growing larger and larger thanks to a certain jack kerouac. all of this raises the book above being just plain old erotica. as a fan of beat writing and culture, i enjoyed the book very much.

of course, the drawback to this book is that someone reading this book without knowledge of the context in which it was published will come away from it with a view of the beats that is as cartoonish and two-dimensional as the rest of society's view was of them at the time. "oh wow, look, the beats were always having sex." - "oh yeah, man, that's what they were about. coffee, sex, and alcohol. (and bongos and poetry and black berets)"

maybe that's why the title of this book is "memoirs of a beatnik," and not "memoirs of a beat." major difference.

Rating:
Summary: Sensitive and Compelling Biography of the Lower East Side
Review: Compelled to write after reading the other reviews-- I read this book when it was first published and found the sex (and feminism) secondary. This book read like a biography of most white women who chose to leave home and live on the Lower East Side in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 1990s. What blew me away was the quality of the prose and the parallels with the lives of women (usually White, Italian, or Jewish) I knew who moved there in the 1970s or 80s to recreate themselves. Side by side are Diane di Prima, Madonna di Ciccione (yes The Madonna), and countless women who have had 15 minutes or less of fame in the contemporary media. This book SINGS with the struggles and pain that many women put themselves through to break the yoke of suburbia. Read it and judge for yourself. Unfortunately, it is a tribute to how history repeats itself.

Rating:
Summary: So engrossed in sex as to be indistinguishable from porn.
Review: I picked this book up because of my interest in the Beats, feminist literature, and the American immigrant experience. I was disappointed on all three counts. First, the only thing Beat about it is the era depicted, though I think it is far more about 1969, the year of its publication, than the '50s. Secondly, writing explicitly about sex does not make a writer a feminist just because she also happens to be female. It merely makes her a female pornographer. Thirdly, what little is mentioned of di Prima's heritage seems somehow pathetic and ashamed. Too bad. I doubt I will go on to read other di Prima work, but I suppose there must be something there in order for her to have been so highly regarded. This book is a waste of time and money. How was it picked up by such a major publisher as Penguin? Could it be that important an artifact of the '60s? It offers us nothing of the Beat Generation, and is an embarrassment to it.

Rating:
Summary: Depends on what yr looking for -
Review: I should begin this review by stating that it is biased. I do not like Diane Di Prima's writing. I do not like Diane Di Prima. I spoke to her on the phone for about an hour and you know what? I still don't like her. I wish I did. I wish I could sit and read and enjoy the works of a woman who managed to pull off what no other woman really did as a woman of the beat generation. Most women of the beat generation are associated with it because, though they may be talented, they were married to Kerouac or Cassady or were some great feminine ideal or something like that. Not Di Prima. As she tells it, she had to give up most of her femininity in order to take her place as a Beat Gen author. That deserves respect.

That said, "Memoirs of a Beatnik" was written to make money. Sex sells. If you are searching for the truth you won't find it here really. But it is worth reading. The reader must take into account the fact that it is not about truth, but about the exploitation of an image of a generation. I found it to be pretty insghtful as far as what people expected of a beatnik book (as this was already covered by another reviewer I will not go into the differences between beatnik and Beat, but suffice it to say, in my opinion, yes, this is a beatnik book). This is what people thought the beat lifestyle was about. This is what caused them to hire Beatniks for entertainment at parties. I think it is definitely worth reading if only to look at the whole thing through that sort of a light - what beatnik as an image meant. And most of all, we should not critisize Di Prima for wanting to make money. She saw how to do and she did. That's all right in my book. Overall she is a woman to be respected, even if I don't like her poetry and find her to be a rude and abrasive person (both of which are traits that I think made her able to succeed).

Rating:
Summary: All About Sex
Review: I think it's funny that people have complained this book is all about sex. The Beats were all about sex, with drugs, art and music thrown in. (Writing is included in art.) I took a workshop with Ginsberg when he was near 70, not what you'd call buff, more decrepit, and I was second in line to meet with him, but I must have seemed impatient, because the first thing he said to me was, "You know I'm gay." I was in my early 30s, an attractive woman, a writer, but all he could think I wanted from him was sex. So, I think di Prima is right on to spend so much of this book on sex. Casual sex was a lot less likely in the fifties and sixties. To the Beats, sex was intrinsic to the new world they wanted to create. That said, it would have been nice to hear more about her poetry.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I was disappointed with this book, but that could very well be my own fault because of the expectations I took with me when I first started it. I had picked up this book in hopes of finding the female version of On The Road. I wanted a female artistic rendering of the period and art and philosophy and what her thoughts were on what she went through. Instead I found a mediocre telling of sexual encounters. I understand that sexual freedom was a big part of the Beat experience and I certainly have no problem with reading about that aspect of Di Prima's life, I was just disappointed that she basically made it appear that her role in the whole Beat movement had nothing much to do with art or philosophy, but more to do with being a sexual object. Isn't that what women fight against these days?

I'm willing to admit that my own prejudices and opinions and desires are a big part of what made me not like this book. I guess I would suggest that you read it with an open mind and without a lot of great expectations. The writing is ok but not great. The stories are a little on the boring side. There isn't a lot of introspection or thoughts on life and politics and poetry. It seems more to me that her editors told her sex would sell and they cut everything else of any interest or importance out of the book. So to me, the book is far too shallow to be something I'd recommend to anyone else.

Rating:
Summary: Not for the faint of heart. . . .
Review: Not for the faint of heart, Memoirs of a Beatnik was a written-for-hire erotica piece. Di Prima delivers on raunch, providing a wild tale of sexual exploration that begins with the main character (arguably Di Prima, who drew heavily from personal experience) losing her virginity and ends with the character's first pregnancy. Though sex is certainly the book's most prominent feature, Di Prima, a respected poet and one of the few female Beat writers to make a name for herself, also discusses her own artistic development and describes the life of a starving artist in New York in the fifties. Di Prima's no-holds-barred honesty (the sex is real, with all of the funky smells and personal quirks) and her joyful appreciation for the finer details in life (e.g., a good cup of coffee, well-sugared) separates this book from the murky sea of erotica

Rating:
Summary: Should we shy away from the physical passion?
Review: There is a paucity of well written accounts of ferociously developing sexuality. Would that I had such awareness when I entered the physical realm! This is not a non-fiction account of a literary group, but rather a slice of sensual life in an era now known as "beat." Any one book by an author should not be expected to stand alone as representational of a writer's life/work, and we should enjoy this volume for what it is, or what our imaginations can make of it. Read di Prima's poetry, her prose, immerse yourself in her word, before you judge. We don't have to like every book to know it's literary worth.

Rating:
Summary: Depends on what yr looking for -
Review: This book has been both torn apart and praised but I seem to view it as something other than what most others do and in that I find entertainment and an intersting (if somewhat oversexed) version of her life. But that is the crux of the matter...it is entertaining and well written. Keep this in mind and you will enjoy it.