Genesis Angels: The Saga of Lew Welch and the Beat Generation

by Aram Saroyan

Book Overview

A poet's journey that is also a multi-faceted narrative of the key Beat figures Kerouac, Ginsberg, Cassady, and Burroughs. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688034365
• ISBN13: 9780688034368
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Let no one grieve . . .

. . . over any shabby dismissal of Genesis Angels. To anyone interested in Lew Welch: please ignore Cioran Sellers, who appears to be writing from the cold, dank cellar of his heart. I found a library copy of this short book--which, by its length alone is clearly not intended to be anything approaching an exhaustive bio of Welch--and inhaled it an afternoon like Lew would a bottle of whiskey. The title, admittedly, is misleading. Simply dropping "The Saga" would be far more accurate (and a better title), but what matters is Saroyan's success in bringing his own poetic sensibility to this effort to weave Welch into the larger Beat canvas; the "vapid pseudo 'Beatnik' dialogue" is an artifact of Mr. One Star's tin ear. The prose flows like sweet water down Mount Tam and all the key points of Welch's story are touched upon with sensitivity. Example of Saroyan's psychological-poetic approach to Welch: "And Lew could feel his tired and sad and alcoholic and bruised and battered body and spirit, heart and soul, opening itself--once more--timidly, almost sullen, scared and tentative; as a trout just taken off the hook, and put back in the water, will remain still and simply breathe in the water for a few moments before re-entering his swimming life." The turkey buzzard soars on brazen wing, indeed.