domingo, junho 25, 2006

the last Beat

Conversa com
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, aos 86 anos de idade

Are you saying the word "literarians" refers to all readers of books, as opposed to people who prefer their culture plugged into an electric socket?
Yes. In the 60's, there was a famous slogan,"Be Here Now," which in fact was a best-selling book by Ram Dass. Today, with the cellphones, the fax, the Internet, the whole schmear - the slogan you have today is "Be Somewhere Else Now."

Some critics feel that the colloquial tradition in American poetry lives on most forcefully today in rap music. Do you consider Jay-Z and 50 Cent poets of any sort?
They do performance poetry, but the Beats did performance before the rappers did. The Beats believed that the oral message is what counted, and having your poem printed in a book was not as important.