Saturday, January 22, 2011

The Witness: I am trying to answer. Mr. Ginsberg is trying to say as powerfully as he can or trying to express as powerfully as he can his indignation at certain things he sees taking place in the world today. He is obviously - perhaps one of our biggest problems is the atom bomb. He's tired of it. He's sick to the point of saying this. He doesn't want to temper it by saying it any less softly. He's angry, and when you are angry sometimes you do use words of this sort. I would say yes, it's relevant; it's in keeping with the wrath he feels, with the language that he has used throughout most of these poems. And, yes, I would say it was relevant to the literary value of the work.

Boganmelderen Luther Nichols svarer på spørgsmål i sagen mod Allen Ginsbergs digtsamling "Howl" i september 1957. Her er det specifikt ordlyden "America, go f*** yourself with your atom bomb" som vurderes. En dramatisering af sagen findes i filmen "Howl" og transkriberet i bogen Howl on trial. The Battle for Free Expression (2006). Et af kvalitetsmarkørerne som benyttes i sagen er "duration" - vil værket holde? Ironisk, eftersom retssagen mod digtsamlingen nærmest garanterer dets indskrivelse i litteraturhistorien.