HOLMES, John Clellon.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Go. First edition of the first Beat novel, signed on the front free endpaper by key figures of the Beat generation, who also appear as characters in the novel: Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Carolyn Cassady, and Al Hinkle. Hinkle's inscription is dated June 3, 2011, with a note in his hand, "Best of luck to Joe Lee".The novel is inspired by Holmes's life and the lives of his friends in postwar New York. The character of David Stofsky is based on Ginsberg, Will Dennison on Burroughs, Marilyn on Cassady, and Ed Schindel on Hinkle, while fictionalized versions of Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, and Bill Cannastra also appear.Holmes popularized the term "Beat Generation" in an article in The New York Times Magazine in 1952: "the origins of the word 'beat' are obscure, but the meaning is only too clear to most Americans. More than a mere weariness, it implies the feeling of having been used, of being raw … Its members have an instinctive individuality, needing no bohemianism or imposed eccentricity to express it."Provenance: Joe Lee, with his ownership stamp on the front free endpaper. Lee held a significant collection of Beat literature.

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