Description
The first comprehensive study to explore the role of esoteric, occult, alchemical, shamanistic, mystical and magical traditions in the work of major Beat authors.
About the Author
David Stephen Calonne is the author of William Saroyan: My Real Work Is Being (1983), Bebop Buddhist Ecstasy: Saroyan's Influence on Kerouac and the Beats (2010), with an Introduction by Lawrence Ferlinghetti; and literary biographies of Charles Bukowski and Henry Miller. He has also edited several volumes of fiction and essays by Bukowski. Calonne has lectured at the European University in Florence; Columbia University, New York; University of California, Berkeley; Harvard University, Massachusetts; and the University of Oxford, and has taught at the University of Texas, the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago. He presently lives in Ann Arbor and teaches at Eastern Michigan University.
Reviews
'The Spiritual Imagination of the Beats is a far-ranging, meticulous study of 11 Beat writers' investigations of heterodox religious traditions across several cultures. ... a fascinating, demanding read that should inspire deeper study, whether in particular realms of theological speculation, the archive of Beat works, or their combination.' David LeHardy Sweet, American Literary History
'Calonne's comprehensive, energetic book explores this search in relation to the lives and works of the Beats. It also, to an extent, embodies it: in its extensive range of focus and level of detail ...' Rona Cran, Modern Language Review
'It is one of the major perks of The Spiritual Imagination of the Beats that Calonne's straightforward and adequate prose provides easy access to both Beat literature and the tradition and cosmologies of the 'hidden religions' even to readers who are not familiar with either topic. Calonne delivers an incredibly far-reaching, well-founded, and well-researched study which successfully evinces that 'far from dilettantish dabbling in supposedly exotic heterodoxies, the Beats engaged in a serious, scholarly exploration of a variety of philosophical traditions' [(175)], and he has thus pioneered the way for further investigations into the numerous countercultural cosmologies that manifest in Beat literature.' Stefan Benz, Amerikastudien/American Studies
Book Information
ISBN 9781108416450
Author David Stephen Calonne
Format Hardback
Page Count 244
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 490g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 158mm * 17mm