R.I.P. Donald M. Allen

[pynchonoid]

Considering the influence Pynchon says Beat writers
had on him, this may be of interest:

Donald M. Allen -- editor of Beat writers, others 
- Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, September 5, 2004 

Donald M. Allen, an editor with a knack for
discovering writers who would become luminaries and
poets who challenged tradition, died last Sunday in
San Francisco. He was 92 years old. [...]

He first made a name for himself as editor at Grove
Press in New York, where he published the acclaimed
anthology, "The New American Poetry 1945-1960. "

The collection introduced writers from the Beat
Generation and the New York and Black Mountain
schools.

"He had published this groundbreaking poetry anthology
that got everyone excited," said Marjorie Perloff,
author and professor emeritus at Stanford.

Perloff met Mr. Allen in the early '70s when she was
working on a book about the poet Frank O'Hara. The
poet's editor was Mr. Allen.

"He was living in Bolinas when we met," said Perloff,
noting that Mr. Allen had moved from New York to San
Francisco around 1968. "I think Donald was the best
editor for poetry of the last few decades. He put
certain poets on the map and put a more experimental,
avant-garde poetry on the map."

In San Francisco, he edited Jack Kerouac's "Mexico
City Blues" and the San Francisco issue of Evergreen
Review, which contained the first separate printing of
Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl."

He founded two influential literary presses, Grey Fox
Press and Four Seasons Foundation, which published
Gary Snyder, Kerouac, Ginsberg, O'Hara, Robert Duncan,
Philip Whalen, Philip Lamantia, Lew Welch and Joanne
Kyger. The presses also published works on philosophy,
Buddhism and seminal gay and lesbian titles. Mr. Allen
also edited author Richard Brautigan's first four
books.

[...] Mr. Allen's papers are collected at Geisel
Library at UC San Diego and the Stanford Library. The
papers include manuscripts and correspondence between
writers and editors.  [...]

Page B - 5 
URL:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/05/BAGUG8K97I1.DTL
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle 


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