Book of Martyrdom and Artifice First Journals and Poems 1937-1952

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) kept journals throughout his entire life, beginning at the age of eleven. These first journalsdetail the inner thoughts of the awkward boy from New Jersey, who would become the major poet and spokesperson of the literary phenomenon called the Beat Generation.The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice covers the most important and formative years of Ginsberg's storied life. It was duringthese years that he met Jack Kerouac and William S Burroughs, both of whom would become lifelong friends and significant literary figures. Ginsberg's journals - so candid he insisted they be published only after his death - also document his relationships with such notable figures of Beat lore as Carl Solomon, Lucien Carr and Herbert Huncke. Conversations with Kerouac, his beloved muse Neal Cassady and others have been transcribed from Ginsberg's memory and information will be found here relating to the famous murder of David Kammerer by Carr - a startlingly violent chapter in Beat prehistory - which has been credited in New York magazine as "giving birth to the Beat Generation". It was also during this period that he began to recognize his homosexuality, and to think of himself as a poetGinsberg, Allen is the author of 'Book of Martyrdom and Artifice First Journals and Poems 1937-1952', published 2006 under ISBN 9780306814624 and ISBN 0306814625.