Settled in San Francisco since 1953, City Lights Bookstore is home to the works of several writers, including Allan Ginsberg, Robert Duncan, and Frank O’Hara. It is located in San Francisco’s old red-light district, which still houses many strip and burlesque clubs (Stefanelli). The independent bookstore, founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin, is one of several attractions for tourists, housing various books and poems from artists of the Beat Generation, as well as the works of many new and contemporary writers. An official historic landmark since 2001, the City Lights Bookstore also paved the way for the advancement of the Beat Generation, which changed the way writers were able to express themselves to the public through their art (Brook).

The co-founder of City Lights Bookstore, Ferlinghetti, is an American poet, painter, and liberal activist (Hunter). His energetic support for the liberalization of Ginsberg’s work (as well of the works of several other writers, although they were not as publicised as the obscenity trial for Howl) stems from his own beliefs for equal rights and freedom of expression, which is also why he has been able to establish such a strong reputation for both himself and his celebrated business. When Ferlinghetti and co-founder Martin opened the City Lights Bookstore, it was the first all-paperbound bookshop in the United States. The title City Lights was initially what Martin called his pop-culture magazine, and together with Ferlinghetti decided it would be a fit for the name of the bookstore (Stefanelli).

The City Lights publication expanded from poetry and began to incorporate memoirs, essays, biographies, and several other forms of prose. Of the many published, the most prominent and worthy of mention include Neal Cassady’s memoir The First Third, political books by Noam Chomsky and Tom Hayden, and a short story collection by Charles Bukowski, Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness (which has since then been republished into two volumes) (Lawlor).

City Lights’ involvement with Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems is one of the ways in which it publicised its support for the independent poetry that was previously seen as obscene and valueless, and not for its artistic merit. Published in 1956, these works by Ginsberg put himself, as well as Ferlinghetti, through a trial that would decide whether or not Howl could be published – the argument being the obscenity some read in the poetry (Raskin). Ginsberg’s reputation and history or publication with Ferlinghetti is, in a sense, what ‘made’ City Lights Bookstore into what it is. A reputation was created that brought positive attention to the business, and gave them a place in history involving the cut-back of censorship and the liberalization of American publishing.

The Beat Generation, which changed the way people wrote and viewed poetry (and other forms of art), stemmed from Ginsberg and several other writers that were published by City Lights. It involved post-World War II veterans who began their prominent exposure to the public in the 1950s – this includes Allen Ginsberg (Howl), William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch), and Jack Kerouac (On The Road). Beat artists celebrated non-conformity and spontaneous creativity, which brought excitement and possibilities of creative exploration for their readers (Kroes). Ferlinghetti’s support for independent writers and the publicity that followed the works he published is what gave the City Lights Bookstore the ability to attain and maintain such a strong place in the hearts of writers and readers around the globe – but more specifically in San Francisco.

Works Cited

Brook, James. Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1998. Print.

Bryfonski, Dedria, and Laurie Lanzen Harris. “Jack Kerouac (1922-1969).” Contemporary Literary Criticism. 14. (1980): 303-307. Web. 29 Jan. 2012.

Campbell, James. This Is The Beat Generation: New York, San Francisco, Paris. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999. Print.

Ferlinghetti, Lawrence, and Nancy Joyce Peters. Literary San Francisco: A Pictorial History From Its Beginnings To The Present Day. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1980. Print.

Holmes, John Clellan. “This Is The Beat Generation.” New York Times Magazine. (1953): n. page. Wed. 29 Jan. 2012.

Hunter, Jeffrey W., Deborah A. Schmitt and Timothy J. White. “Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-).” Contemporary Literary Criticism. 111. (1999): 48-73. Web. 29 Jan. 2012.

Hyde, Lewis. On The Poetry Of Allen Ginsberg. Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2002. Print.

Knight, Brenda. Women of the Beat Generation: the Writers, Artists, and Muses At the Heart of Revolution. York Beach: Conari Press, 1996. Print.

Kroes, Rob. Beat Culture: The 1950’s And Beyond. Amsterdam: Amerika Instituut, 1999. Print.

Lawlor, William T. Beat Culture: Lifestyles, Icons, and Impact. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2005. Print.

Morgan, Bill. The Beat Generation in San Francisco. San Francisco: City Lights Bookstore, 2003. Print

Raskin, Jonah. American Scream: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and the Making of the Beat Generation. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2004. Print.

Schoenberg, Thomas J., and Lawrence J. Trudeau. “The Beat Generation.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. 222. (2009): 1-129. Web. 29 Jan. 2012.

Stefanelli, Maria Anita. City Lights: Pocket Poets and Pocket Books. Rome: 2004. Print.

Wills, David S. “Howl Goes To Hollywood.” Beatdom Issue Five. (2010): 18-21. Print.

Witalec, Janet. “Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997).” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. 120. (2002): 1-143. Web. 29 Jan. 2012.