Review Robert Duncan in San Francisco offers a surprising portrait of a consultant in all his witty,

A newly expanded edition of an enduring classic, Robert Duncan in San Francisco is both a portrait of the premier city of los angeles poetical of the San Francisco Renaissance and a arousing and attention holding account of gay life in late 1950s America. Following his graduation from Black Mountain College, Michael Rumaker made his way to the post- Howl , pre-Stonewall gay literary milieu of San Francisco, where he entered the circle of Robert Duncan. His account of that time gives an unvarnished look at Duncan s magnetic personality and occasional city of los angeles failings, while delivering bright snapshots of other significant poets like Jack Spicer, John Wieners, and Joanne Kyger versus the backdrop of legendary North Beach haunts like The Place, Vesuvio, and City Lights Books. Contrasting Duncan s daringly city of los angeles frank homosexuality with his own then-closeted life, Rumaker conjures up with harrowing detail an era of police persecution of a largely clandestine city of los angeles gay community engaged in a struggle to survive in the other than as supposed or expected city of los angeles open city of San Francisco. First published in 1996, this expanded edition includes a selection of antecedently unpublished letters amongst Rumaker and Duncan, and an consultation conducted for this edition, in which Rumaker provides further reflections on the poetical and the period.
Michael Rumaker has written assorted novels and short story collections, as well as the essay Black Mountain Days . He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of Black Mountain College where Duncan served as his outside thesis advisor and Columbia University. He taught at City University of New York and the New School for Social Research.
Review Robert Duncan in San Francisco offers a surprising portrait of a consultant in all his witty, wicked, city of los angeles luminous, and vulnerable complexity. Straddling the lines of essay and cultural history, Michael Rumaker gives a rare and delightful city of los angeles view of Duncan at home in the gay community while also documenting the struggles of that community in 1950s America. Lisa Jarnot, author of Robert city of los angeles Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Robert Duncan and San Francisco before Gay Rights By James A. Gardner This is an outstanding city of los angeles account both of Robert Duncan s role in the San Francisco renaissance of the 1950s, which intersects with (but is not limited to nor primarily of) the Beatnik movement in San Francisco and the rise of the gay subculture, and of Rumaker s personal odyssey as a gay man in a city still dominated by Irish cops and forces explicitly hostile to an implicit gay city.
One shakes with Rumaker s account of being accosted and arrested for walking down Polk Street, an incident which commonly results in publication of one s name in the newspaper and typical ouster from one s employ.
Of course, those familiar with Robert Duncan city of los angeles also know that he is one of America s greatest poets and the author of the best gay love poem ever, Passages 18: The Torso, among many other notable works.