Amy Newman's 'Howl': An Homage to the Genius of Allen Ginsberg

Genius breeds copycats, along with armies of critics armed to the teeth with words intended to slay literary reputations. No twentieth-century American poet of genius bred more imitators than Allen Ginsberg, except perhaps his friend and fellow Beat poet, Jack Kerouac, both of whom began their careers by imitating the elders in the tribe. Kerouac ratcheted up his voice and tried to sound like Thomas Wolfe and William Saroyan. Ginsberg played ventriloquist and copied the likes of Hart Crane and T...