Last Exit to Brooklyn should explode like a rusty hellish bombshell over America and still be eagerly read in a hundred years.
Interpretation
Ginsberg emphasizes the enduring impact of 'Last Exit to Brooklyn' and its potential to shock and provoke thought long after its release.
In this quote, Allen Ginsberg expresses his belief that 'Last Exit to Brooklyn' is a powerful and transformative work of literature that should impact its readers profoundly. He envisions the book as a provocative force, serving as a critique of American society, and believes that its relevance will persist for generations, provoking reactions similar to 'a rusty hellish bombshell'. Ginsberg's desire for the book to be read and appreciated a century later reflects his view of its significance in challenging societal norms and igniting discussions about its themes.
In practice
In a literature class discussing impactful novels, this quote can highlight the lasting significance of controversial books.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of the night.
Marijuana is a useful catalyst for specific optical and aural aesthetic perceptions. I apprehended the structure of certain pieces of jazz and classical music in a new manner under the influence of marijuana, and these apprehensions have remained valid in years of normal consciousness.
Many seek and never see, anyone can tell them why. O they weep and O they cry and never take until they try unless they try it in their sleep and never some until they die. I ask many, they ask me. This is a great mystery.
What if someone gave a war and Nobody came?
Fortunately art is a community effort - a small but select community living in a spiritualized world endeavoring to interpret the wars and the solitudes of the flesh.
Sometime Iβll lay down my wrath, As I lay my body down Between the ache of breath and breath, Golden slumber in the bone.
What I am going to write is the last of what I have to say. I will say that literature is the only consciousness we possess and that its role as consciousness must inform us of our ability to comprehend the hideous danger of nuclear power.
Every word a woman writes changes the story of the world, revises the official version.
We read Charlotte Bronte not for exquisite observation of character - her characters are vigorous and elementary; not for comedy - hers is grim and crude; not for a philosophic view of life - hers is that of a country parson's daughter; but for her poetry. Probably that is so with all writers who have, as she has, an overpowering personality, so that, as we say in real life, they have only to open the door to make themselves felt.
Lost Illusion is the undisclosed title of every novel.
Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of a human need for it, and it has not changed except to become more needed
I'm not sure that it's possible to write a novel about people who don't transgress or stumble, people who don't surprise themselves with the things they do, people who can explain all their actions with perfect logical consistency. At least it's not possible for me to write that sort of novel.
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