Monday Muse Watches Allen Ginsberg

Originally released in 1994, re-released in 2005, and screened at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in 2010, The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg, by independent filmmaker and photographer Jerry Aronson, is perhaps the most comprehensive portrait available of the American poet (1926-1997). Aronson collected more than 120 hours of film that incorporates Ginsberg's own readings, significant archival material, and historical interviews with family, friends, contemporaries, and artists who fell under Ginsberg's considerable influence. 

Below is a 20:30-minute excerpt from the fascinating film, which has received more than 250 awards and screenings; toward the end, Ginsberg reads from his celebrated 1956 work Howl. At the film's Website, you'll find interviews with Joan Baez, Hunter S. Thompson, Ken Kesey, Patti Smith, Andy Warhol, and others, as well as links to such "extras" as a video on the making of the documentary and excerpts from a film by Jonas Mekas on Ginsberg's "last three days on Earth as a spirit".

Allen Ginsberg Project Website (Allen Ginsberg Trust)

Allen Ginsberg Project Blog

Allen Ginsberg Poems, Profiles, and Readings at Academy of American Poets (Poets.org), American Masters, Modern American Poetry, The New York Times, Penn Sound, The Poetry Foundation

Allen Ginsberg Interview at The Paris Review, No. 37, Spring 1966

Allen Ginsberg on the Beat Generation

Beat Poets

"Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg", National Gallery of Art, May-September 2010 (A number of excellent resources are available at the link.)

The Beat Museum

The Beat Generation and the Sixties: A Guide to Web Resources, University of Adelaide