Papers Published
- S.E. Hall. "Do Look Back: On the Fiftieth Anniversary of Howl." Minnesota Review 69 (): 191-198. [hall.shtml]
(last updated on 2008/09/10)Abstract:
This exploration of the legacy of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" explores the commodification of dissent in contemporary U.S. culture. It argues that the poem's continued popularity is testament not to its successful indictment of the US military-industrial-media complex, but rather to that complex's impressive nimble resilience. Looking back on the important work the poem did in opening up discourses on sexuality in its own moment, we might see "Howl" as a bomb that could only go off once, rather than as the eternally transgressive move it has come to symbolize within a commodified discourse of dissent.