Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: The Letters »

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) wrote numerous novels, most notably On The Road and The Dharma Bums.
Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was the author of many collections of poetry, including Howl and Kaddish.
Bill Morgan is the author of I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg and editor of The Letters of Allen Ginsberg.
David Stanford is an independent editor who worked on several Kerouac projects during his decade at Viking Penguin.

The first collection of letters between the two leading figures of the Beat movement

Writers and cultural icons Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg are the most celebrated names of the Beat Generation, linked together not only by their shared artistic sensibility but also by a deep and abiding friend­ship, one that colored their lives and greatly influenced their writing. Editors Bill Morgan and David Stanford shed new light on this intimate and influential friendship in this fascinating exchange of letters between Kerouac and Ginsberg, two thirds of which have never been published before. Commencing in 1944 while Ginsberg was a student at Columbia University and continuing until shortly before Kerouac's death in 1969, the two hundred letters included in this book provide astonishing insight into their lives and their writing. While not always in agreement, Ginsberg and Kerouac inspired each other spiritually and creatively, and their letters became a vital workshop for their art. Vivid, engaging, and enthralling, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: The Letters provides an unparalleled portrait of the two men who led the cultural and artistic movement that defined their generation.

The New York Times - Janet Maslin

These letters can be as long-winded, rambling, visionary and impenetrable as each man's writing style would suggest. But they can also be sharp, lucid, funny, tender, intimate, gossipy, jubilant and absolutely honest about the two aspiring authors' gigantic ambitions.