Essay on relevance of Ginsberg s Howl among Russia

Before I start, I want to say that “Howl” for me is a symbol and representation of the Beat generation. Quoting the poem feels forced and unnecessary.

There is a type of people who praise the Beat Generation. When you ask them why, they cannot give a certain answer. Hundreds of reasons can be found to their adoration but a significant one is that they feel a connection. Can we say this connection is nothing more than a delusion? I don’t think so. Let’s not include their complexes and misconceptions into the list of reasons and proceed strictly from the relevance of the poem or the absence of it.

I understood that I’ve spent several days writing down ideas and digging too deep at times but the answer was so simple and close all along. Why did I choose Ginsberg of everyone else? It felt like this choice was a breath of fresh air and that might be the exact reason why many exalt Beat’s creations. It opposes fine literature and poetry and even the very life we are forced to live.

If I were to say I have a certain opinion on “Howl”, I would be lying. I’m no different from these “Beat lovers”, I feel my opinion but have difficulty putting it into words. This is one but not the only thing that our generations have in common. We feel, describe but avoid labelling.

Calling Ginsberg and his fellow creators a counterculture is wrong. Yes, it opposes the habitual way of life but as I’ve said, no labelling is acceptable. Their way of life can be spotted in today’s Russia but would any of these people dare to say they try to destroy the foundations? Beat way of life is a search for comfort and happiness, not declaration of war. And a search for drugs and autodestructions as a way to make life somewhat bearable.

One of the main differences between the Beat generation and mine is that we have no foundation. And Ginsberg does. His foundation is the “lost” generation. Hemingway’s quote “No subject is terrible if the story is true” perfectly describes Ginsberg’s way of writing. Both generations wrote Truth, only the language differed. Also, the connection is seen in the interest of both generations in Buddhism (Salinger’s “Franny and Zooey”, “Simour: Introduction” and the author’s last years). Ironically, my generation’s lack of foundation is the reason we feel a connection with “Howl”. It is pure life, it is chaos. We come from everything and nothing, we want pleasures in any form and that’s exactly what Ginsberg wanted: “I really would like to stop working forever… and do anything but write poetry and have a leisure to spend the day outdoors and go to museums and see friends… Just a literary and quiet city-hermit existence”. Replace poetry with any hobby and the quote now relates to any modern teenager (not only modern and not only teenager, any person really).

Beat generation formed because it’s representatives valued friendship, mutual help, respect for each other’s talents and, as Ginsberg has said, respect of each other’s madness. We too had such unions later that century but sadly they had no impact on the freedom of speech and acceptance of sexual diversity. Nowadays no unions are even formed, we are a generation of individualism, we have no uniting ideology, everyone is by themselves. Even if we do have one, it is not yet deliberate. In the forties Beats didn’t have it either, it had taken a dozen years for them to form it.
Continuing the parallel, Russia now is much like America in the forties. Excluding the lack of culture, we are alike: censorship, spoken and unspoken, racism, oppression of minorities. Looking back at our history, there hardly is a possibility for it to change in the near future. Would Ginsberg “win” if it was Russia, not America he was born in? My answer is “no”. His Howl wouldn’t be heard and if would, he might be Beaten to death by the “patriots”.

I feel a need to sum up everything I’ve said. We have a strong connection with “Howl” because we, as Ginsberg at the moment of writing, crave change, not because we want a rebellion but because we have trouble breathing.