Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg (50 page)

Will miss Peter [Orlovsky] by a week.—No money to hang around—will transmit message to Dusty [Moreland] today—
Doctor Sax
pronounced
Magnificent
by Giroux, in front of Corso, but company can't take—
Buddha
is being sent to Harvard U. Press—
Subterraneans
at a small publisher called Criterion—
Sax
now at Noonday Press, publisher Arthur Cohen, if sympathetic good possibility for all of us.—Stick to poetry and tears and never mind trying to impress Lucien with theories—Lucien loves you, don't be mad at sweet Lucien, he just naturally believes that Paul Bowles is a better writer than we are.—(He frowns over page one of
Sax
).—Gregory also to show his novel to Cowley.—Cowley got drunk with me in Village, said he will try to get me prize money, thought the novel-excerpt I showed him with idea of $25-a-month to finish it was too
Wolfean
—so is Norman Mailer
Wolfean
—(Cowley is old and insensitive sometimes to pain of young beat poets)—(he sleeps in letters)—but likes me—and I told him about your greatness. SO, here I am, still broke, bumming supper tonight off elegant Allen Klots of Dodd Mead, a sharp little Hohnstein hero. Must see Kingsland ere I leave.—Will find Stanley Gould and get high.—The music scene in Village is frantic.—I conducted jam session on sunup waterfront tell Neal, our tenorman has
same soul
as Neal (not good-looking) but
is Neal
—(George Jones).—Henri Cru is here, bouncer in our bar—the big meet bar (new one) Riviera—(bouncer in Remo, like).—Saw Alene [Lee], she made meet with me then didn't show up, I wonder if she thinks she's really hurting me—(hope so)—(for her sake).—I wouldn't have talked to her but Anton [Rosenberg] told me to.—Gregory has eighteen year old doll and many Harvard friends and is on the con. Please tell Neal to let Carolyn know I'll be by this summer, I have no time to write, I'm going out to get drunk in the Monday afternoon streets of Village.—I have just discovered Pound's
Cantos
, never realized poetry was free till now.

[ . . . ]

Love to Neal, Peter, Sheila, Rexroth, Mew, Sublette

Jack Kerouac [New York, New York] to
Allen Ginsberg [San Francisco, California]

June 29, 1955

June Prune

 

Dear Allen Old Bean:

[ . . . ] I got your dream about Joan,
¹⁰⁷
and Lucien and I discussed it and got to talkin about Mexico your trip there. Lou still says he wants to go live there. Well you see, I came to New York with, to make a deal with fuck this typewriter it's a awful typewriter, I can't do nothing, I came to New York to make a deal with Cowley, said, “Here is twenty-seven pages of a novel in progress (the Ray Smith huge epic
Road
) get Viking to pay me $25 a month and I will go to Mexico and live in a hut and finish novel.” Cowley laughed and Jennison
¹⁰⁸
was with him and they said, “You certainly aren't holding us up, boy.” So maybe I'll get it. Oh and also I talked about you at great length and told Cowley he must read
Naked Lunch
soon and he agreed and said he remembered Burroughs from descriptions of him in
Beat Generation
. Then he say, “You know a poet called Gregory Corso?” It seems Gregory has put out a book of poems and making big hit,
The Lady of Brattle Street
or something like that [
The Vestal Lady on Brattle
]. Lucien said Gregory was facile and would be a success but you were greater poet. But Lucien also said I and you are full of shit and can't write and live in literary illusion like idiots and said Paul Bowles was a great writer, I said for krissakes show me Paul Bowles'
Visions of Neal
and Paul Bowles'
Doctor Sax
and his
Some of the Dharma
, his etc. etc. etc. and then we'll judge. I got real literary then and jealous literary type and o we talked all night, I wish you weren't missing any of it. Further, I have “citycitycity” ready to go to science fiction mags with Malcolm's blessing. And calling Giroux today about
Buddha
. And
Beat Generation
is at Dodd Mead or something. And I'm here to try to get a few dollars and things going. I will be able to help you one day. Do you realize it was you got
Town and City
published, you gave it Stringham, Stringham gave it Diamond, etc. then Kazin. For god's sake, did Neal is Neal going to send railroad passes?

[ . . . ]

Write to me. We've got to get me out thar.

Jack

P.S. I wrote note to Carlos Williams, asking for recommendations to Random House.

 

 

Allen Ginsberg [San Francisco, California] to
Jack Kerouac [n.p., New York, New York?]

July 5, 1955

 

Dear Jack:

Your June 27-29 letter received. Just returned from series of trips, Yosemite, Reno, Lucus Beebe's Virginia City, Lake Tahoe, hitchhiking accompanying Peter on first leg of NY trip.
¹⁰⁹

Neal says he can't get the RR ticket. He hasn't worked very hard on trying but perhaps he can't. He got one already for his girl Natalie [Jackson] which she didn't use and its expired and so he can't get another so soon. And Hinkle got one for Sheila [Williams] which she didn't use and that's expired already too. Hinkle's moved back into SF by the way, with family, and Neal still maintains love nest pad with Natalie redhead. Your letter and message to Carolyn he saw, he sees all your letters.

What does Cowley want with
Beat Gen
? to re try publish? Send instructions on what Burroughs I should send—all three books? I have not heard from Bill for several weeks and am worried.

Using your name Kerouac is the best thing.

What is “City City city”? you never described it.

The senora from Mexico is here and will be here the first of next month for several weeks again, she might be around when you're around in which case it might be able to occur that she invite you to loaf in Chiapas jungle, this is a real possibility, though it might take a few minimum bucks income for food since she's poor. But she has free housing and the cheapest food around in Mexico. Plus horses, etc., servants.

I am seeing Mark Schorer
¹¹⁰
to see if I can get teaching assistant job at Berkeley this fall when unemployment runs out and study Greek or prosody. If this doesn't work out I may join you in Mexico.

I don't understand Corso's celebrity. I saw a poem of his about [Charlie] Parker, beautiful blackbird in the horn longnose pelican, in
Cambridge Review
. But I still don't understand what or how he's doing that Cowley knew of him.

What did Lucien say about Joan [Burroughs] poem dream? I wasn't being mad at him I was saying your father in laws moustache via that paragraph I did hope he'd be impressed by theory. He's so frightened of science I keep using the word over and over, Merims like. Skip the last sentence. Anyway I'm not scared of his frown, not at this distance anyway.

I should send Cowley poems and will sooner or later when I have finished this season here. No word from [William Carlos] Williams. You?

My brother hasn't written me whether or not he sent you the gelt. I've rewritten him, asking whether. If you've received let me know.

Neal gave me the enclosed Brotherhood of RR Trainmen dues receipts, to send you. He sez hitch to New Orleans, whence there are two trains leaving for L.A. daily, S.P. trains, and these plus a little talk should get you through. He says you know about this type shot. Ask the conductor first, and he'll mention it to the other conductors as they change sections or lines or what it is I dunno. If this requires further explanation write and I'll squeeze details out of him. I tried once and the above sentence was what came out. Is this any good? He says yes.

What is Alene's [Lee] address? I wanted to connect Peter.

I am poor but my rent's paid and plenty of food available by cheap shopping, steaks, etc. so the 30 per week is alright.

Yes, Gregory must be conning? for what who? What does he say of [John] Hollander in Harvard? My drear penmarks—I wonder if they helped or hindered Gregory's development.

I read your chess to Neal who just giggled.

Forgive me tonight dear skeleton.

I'll write again. This is just to send tix.

AG

 

 

Jack Kerouac [Rocky Mount, North Carolina] to
Allen Ginsberg [San Francisco, California]

July 14, 1955

 

Dear Allen,

Just received a check for $25 from Eugene [Brooks]. Note says: “I have heard from Allen several times. He tells me you were in New York recently. He also asks me to send the enclosed. Look me up when you get into town. Sincerely”—Is he bugged because I didn't look him up in NY? Well, I'll write to him today and explain that I was on the mooch in my recent trip to NY and it's just as well I didn't get to him. I'll make it sound alright, that is, don't worry.

He's a big Dostoevskyan brother.

So now I have money to get to New Orleans where I will hop the Zipper flatcars with sleeping bag and roll 500 miles per night, unless sometimes (in rain) I may be able to wheegle caboose rides via Neal's brotherhood papers. Tell Neal I cannot wheegle rides on passenger trains because if he will recall, I was not a passenger brakeman and I don't know the lingo and the routine, but when you tell him this he'll just blow up but we don't all know what he knows. Anyway I'll get there.

Will leave within one week as I have to help my brother-in-law's business moving TV sets while his helper is sick, I get 75 cents an hour and it's making more loot for me to hit road with. So I should DEFINITELY AND WITHOUT DOUBT be in Frisco (for your DATE convenience I put big important capitals) no later than August 10 at the most outsidest and between Aug. 1 and 10th anyhow. That's the good (Aug. 1) season in California. We'll dig Frisco together for a few months and then I suggest we head south together to California Mexico border where we can rent dobe and you can save $20 a week out of your $30 California unemployment for return-to-NY-trip money or even, if we did it sooner, for Tangiers money. Actually, in a dobe hut, say, in Mexicali or Gadsden or Tijuana or any Calif.-Mex bordertown, we could live on $5 a week (on Mex side) and you could save 25 of your unemp.—that's 100 in a month. I think that's practical idea for in Frisco you're just letting it down the drain of big city rent. Then, when you ready to re-head East, I'm goin south to Mexico City via the west coast again (Mazatlan etc.) to rent me a hut. I have minimum travelers checks for that Mexican purpose after I leave you, and minimum cash for getting out to see you now—and then I'll get $25 from the blood bank as usual for wine and chow mein kicks—also, I may do part time jobs around Frisco, would love to get on railroad baggage room again (at $15 a nite).—

Meanwhile, I now answer your recent questions.

1. Cowley wants
Beat Generation
he says, he and Keith Jennison, “for another crack at it”—I told them, I apologized for goofing in 53 and Keith tapped me on back—Sterling Lord thinks they may publish it now—but I feel gloomy as usual—especially because I had come to NY with specific request for $25 a month for Mexico hut new-novel and Cowley goofed on that, overlooking my true need and bad foot, etc., vaguely said he'd get $250 prize for me from American Academy of Arts and Letters sometime, and sent a few of my stories to
Paris Review
.

2. “cityCityCITY” is my big science fiction fantasy preview of city of future which I sent Bill a copy of, very wild, I tell you about it when I see you, very hip, very tea-head writ, sinister, etc., not Burroughsian at all, tho—sort of thing I could do ad infinitum on weed—wrote it during Army McCarthy hearings and so it has wildly hip political flavor. Dave Burnett took it and dug it and made only grammar changes but hasn't paid me $50 for it yet. Kafkaen horror etc.

3. I saw Dusty, told her Peter was coming, also told Gregory “Allen's new angel” was coming, etc. I owe Dusty a dollar—will mail Monday—incidentally she now lives at 38 Morton St. isn't that where Kammerer was?

4. To Cowley send ALL of
Naked Lunch
, titled
NAKED LUNCH
, I told him all about how we got to title—send it as ONE NOVEL, stop goofing with this three part business, it's ONE NOVEL, one big Vision . . . the
Junkie
part leads reader on to more complicated works of
Queer
and
Yage
ahead.

5. Corso's celebrity obtains from enclosed POEM book which I send you, hold it for me. Nice inscription. Also, he wrote a play which he was going to entitle
Beat Generation
, changed to
This Hungup Age
when he saw my
New World
shot—one act play, it was produced at Harvard, big hit, he got big write ups like in
World Telegram
a big write-up by one of the staff columnists with big headline saying “Gregory sends us poems we don't dig” etc. all about how the columnist found Gregory writing in an underground basement under the cave of the Village or something. Gregory makes big hit with Boston socialites. and Harvard boys. and girls. And now we got together and sent his poems to Burnett one poem entitled to Jack K. did I tell you?

6. Don't study Greek and Prosody at Berkeley, get away from this Pound kick, Pound is an Ignorant Poet—How many times do I have to tell you that it's a Buddhist, AN EASTERN FUTURE ahead—Greeks and poem styles are child's play, even Neal knows that (without college education). At Berkeley study Sanskrit and start translating big Sutras never before translated and write poetry with Buddhist base. The Greeks are a bunch of ignorant cocksuckers as any fool can plainly see,—better than that, even greater and deeper than Buddhism, is Primitive Africa where old men when it's time to die sit down and think themselves out to death, Pari Nirvana, they call it FACING THE WALL—