Allen Ginsberg’s life could very well be termed ‘the heroic journey of a poet.’ In turn, this volume just released from  University of Minnesota Presschronicles one of his voyages that took place during the first half of 1965.

Iron Curtain Journals comes to us Ginsberg’s most intimate travelogue, recording his observations and experiences as he moved through Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Poland, Auschwitz and England.

And while it’s true that most “journals” suffer from a dry and stale ‘you had to be there’ tone, Ginsberg’s work suffers no such fate. Because the poet’s mind was so active, because it was always searching, his prose resonates with the same richness and detail that’s gleaned from his legendary poems. Accordingly, this volume  spotlights the bare edges of Ginsberg’s poetics as he melds them with a keen awareness of the politics of the times.

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