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摘要
摘要
From painters' lofts and bohemian haunts in the Greenwich Village of the 1950s to funky clubs and Bowery bars like the Five Spot, jazz musician David Amram retraces in this engaging memoir the creative paths he followed through restless days and long, exhilarating nights with his collaborator and friend Jack Kerouac. With candor and humor, Amram re-creates the moments that shaped a mutually stimulating relationship--like the jazz-poetry reading, the first ever in New York, he performed with Kerouac, whose On the Road had recently made him an overnight literary success; or like the 1959 film, Pull My Daisy, they hilariously made with fellow Beats Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky, and Larry Rivers. Amram illuminates the private side of Kerouac, too, his extraordinary intellect and his ardent pursuit of music and literature long after the critics had turned on him and many of his old friends had abandoned him. Among the last of a generation that altered the style and substance of the arts in its time, Amram also celebrates in this at once wise and affecting book the renascence of interest in Kerouac's work three decades after his death. For the beat indeed goes on. And so does the collaboration.
评论 (5)
出版社周刊评论
In the late 1950s, musician and composer Amram (Vibrations) pulled frequent all-nighters with Jack Kerouac and pals. The artists drank Thunderbird, smoked pot and recited spontaneous poems while Amram belted his French horn. In 1957, Amram and Kerouac went public with the act at a small East Village gallery; two years later, they documented their unique teamwork in the short film Pull My Daisy. They never worked together again: Kerouac moved with his mother to Florida, where he became increasingly reclusive and enfeebled by alcohol, and Amram went on to compose more than 100 orchestral and chamber pieces and wrote scores for such films as The Manchurian Candidate. In this memoir, the author hopes to clear up "decades of misinformation and mythology" about Kerouac and many of the other poets, painters and artists of the so-called Beat movement (a label he vehemently rejects). Unfortunately, the characters Amram renders come off as unreal as the stereotypes he wishes to destroy. Readers interested in Kerouac should look elsewhere. Memory Babe: A Cultural Biography of Jack Kerouac by Gerald Nicosia is the most comprehensive biography. For a more personal account, read former Kerouac lover Joyce Johnson's memoir Minor Characters. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.) Forecast: As with most things Kerouackian, this book is sure to attract the many, still cultish, fans. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
From composer Amram (Vibrations, not reviewed), a pleasingly exuberant memoir of wildly creative and encouraging times performing with Jack Kerouac. It's not so much an autobiography really as an unpretentious, freewheeling festival of highly diverting tales: the nights Amram and his Beat buddy spent at the Five Spot and Bickford's and Circle-in-the-Square; their early improvisations, such as Orizaba 210 Blues; making Pull My Daisy with Alfred Leslie as their contribution to the New Cinema; the pleasures of working with lyric artists; the downtown life in New York City, "checking out old friends, rapping with strangers and hanging out in the style that was still the major source of Saturday night entertainment." But beyond telling some good stories, Amram wants to convey what his group of pals was all about, to get past the Beatniks as a merchandising trend and reveal their motivations. This never comes across as a lecture; Amram is too passionate for that, and he has a way with the patter: "We were told we were offbeat, but we felt we were on the case." Amram serves up Corso, Ginsberg, Orlovsky, and others as decidedly quirky but generous souls welcoming to the table everyone who had an open heart. They were looking for "the diamonds in the sidewalk," always "trying to catch lightning in a bottle," free spirits who took their creativity seriously, even if some realized too late that creativity was a "natural gift" that didn't require diving to the bottom of a bottle. Creative output would be their measure, not the limelight-or as Gary Goodrow said, "If you stick to your principles long enough, you can successfully avoid being fashionable for the rest of your life." Amram includes stories about shows that used Kerouac material after he had died. A piece of pure entertainment that also reveals the individuality of Amram's friends and gives the Beat stereotype its walking papers. (8 b&w photos, not seen)
《书目》(Booklist)书评
Celebrated composer, jazz musician, and lover of literature Amram remembers his friend Jack Kerouac as a visionary artist blessed with a musician's ear and astonishing improvisational skills, but with too sensitive a soul to weather the vicissitudes first of fame, then of neglect. Amram's remarkably vivid and detailed chronicle of the last dozen years of Kerouac's life offers many riveting moments, including a hilarious account of the making of the film Pull My Daisy and a surreal bar scene in which he and Kerouac encounter a mob sporting brand-new «beatnik» duds, inducing Kerouac to quip, «It's just like Catholic school, everyone's in uniform.» The trivialization of Kerouac's work was no laughing matter, however: it stoked his fatal despair. Happily, Amram's uniquely intimate, energetic tribute ends on a high note with a recap of the long-awaited critical recognition of the true splendor and spirituality of Kerouac's oeuvre. Amram's offhanded tallying of his own phenomenal accomplishments adds sparkle to this invaluable work of «live» cultural history, which is every bit as radiant as his enduringly popular first memoir, Vibrations (1968). Donna Seaman.
Choice 评论
Amram is a distinguished jazz musician and author of classical music and film scores, including The Manchurian Candidate and Splendor in the Grass. His score for the classic Beat generation short film Pull My Daisy (1955), in which he appears, has linked him forever with Kerouac, who wrote and narrated the film. The present rambling but intelligent book provides insights into Kerouac and the Beat milieu, certainly. Amram was, in fact, more than a sidekick to the Beats, and this reviewer would have appreciated a more detailed discussion of his own creative work. But Amram is good on people and events, and his spirit is generous--and he is clearly pleased with his life and contacts. The book includes some excellent photographs, presented in no particular order. The index is limited to names but is long, Amram having apparently met just about everyone in music, art, and literature. The book provides no astonishing revelations, but it deepens understanding of the Beat milieu and the aspirations of its iconic figures. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers, all levels. B. Almon University of Alberta
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
Following the reissue of his earlier biography, Vibrations, this engaging memoir focuses on American composer Amram's lifelong friendship with Jack Kerouac, recounting their early meetings in Greenwich Village, collaborations on jazz-poetry readings at New York City venues like the Brata Gallery and the Circle in the Square Theater, and legendary work on Robert Frank's 1959 film Pull My Daisy. Amram has little use for the naysaying critics who were quick to label his friends "beatniks" and "know-nothing bohemians." His memoir, an upbeat celebration of the spirit that inspired the poetry of Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, also documents the continuing influence and growing recognition of the Beat movement, as Amram discusses his current participation in various recording projects and academic conferences related to Kerouac and the Beat generation. Amram's distinctive voice is a refreshing antidote to much of the hype surrounding the Beats. Recommended for academic and public libraries. William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.