Items related to Grace Beats Karma: Letters from Prison 1958-60
Synopsis
Book by Cassady, Neal
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From Kirkus Reviews
Unlike the Beats and hippies he inspired and who enshrined him in turn (most notably as Dean Moriarity in On the Road), Cassady (1926-68) left behind few writings other than a big mess of a novel, The First Third (1971). What a pleasure for literary bohemians and their scholars alike, then, that Carolyn Cassady, the author's long-suffering wife (see her Off the Road, 1990), has released these several dozen letters that Cassady wrote to her (and to a few others) while imprisoned in California for selling a small quantity of marijuana to some narcs. The letters speak of mundane concerns but mostly of matters of the spirit (at the time, Cassady was obsessed with Christianity), and are written in the sort of linguistic frenzy and often inspired wordplay that energized Kerouac & Co.: ``My Dear Dear Carolyn: Not since we last quaffed, or is it quiffed, gardenias together has 2 hrs. 43 min. & 12 seconds passed so quickly as did that amount on our Wed. afternoon of consoling inspiration....''; ``Dearest Better Half, Whole Wife, Forever Best Love, Sweetest Sour Suffering, My Sins Carolyn Closest, Christ Comrade Ceaselessly Cheerful....'' This isn't everyone's cup of tea, of course, spiked as it is with huge dollops of self-indulgence, but it's a welcome--if relatively minor- -literary and cultural offering that some will down like elixir. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
From Publishers Weekly
For those interested in the Beat Generation, this selection of letters reveals a brilliantly playful and spiritually struggling Neal Cassady (immortalized as Dean Moriarty in Kerouac's On the Road ), who was sentenced in 1958 to five years to life in the California prison system after selling small quantities of marijuana to federal agents. Addressing his wife as "Dear Diligent Dharma Decoding Directoress Carolyn," Cassady seems buoyant in his early letters. Transferred to San Quentin Prison, he becomes more somber, writing to his godfather, Father Harley Schmitt, about sinners and saints, and "the crime begotten Hell of this 412 712 912 foot cell." To his children, Cassady offers intensely whimsical history lessons about the Fourth of July and Mother Goose nursery rhymes. He apologizes to his wife for acting mean when she visits and writes of his eagerness to see her as his 1960 parole date approaches. However, as Carolyn Cassady writes in her introduction, her husband's release did not lead to a flowering of love but rather to a divorce; still, she states, "I have never stopped loving the man I knew he truly was."
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherBlast Books
- Publication date1992
- ISBN 10 0922233071
- ISBN 13 9780922233076
- BindingPaperback
- LanguageEnglish
- Edition number1
- Number of pages240
- Rating
Search results for Grace Beats Karma: Letters from Prison 1958-60
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Grace Beats Karma: Letters from Prison, 1958-60
Published by
Blast Books, 1993
ISBN 10: 0922233071
ISBN 13: 9780922233076
Used
Soft cover
First Edition
Seller: Whitledge Books, Austin, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. GRACE BEATS KARMA: LETTERS FROM PRISON, 1958-60, Neal Cassady, softcover, stated first edition and second printing, 1993. BOOK CONDITION: very good. The text block is in fine condition, with no tears, dogears, or marks. Gray foxing along upper edge. No bookplate or signature of a prior owner. Not a library book or remainder. The wraps are in good condition (some corner curling, front and back). 9 x 6, 223 pages, 12 ounces XX [From the back cover] Neal Cassady inspired a generation of writers including Beat luminaries Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac and counterculture authors Ken Kesey and Torn Wolfe to attempt to set down pieces of his exuberant life in their writing. But the complexity of the real-life Neal Cassady has never been as poignantly and starkly revealed as in his letters written from San Quentin to his wife, their three children, and his godfather. In 1958, as the Beat movement was taking American culture by storm, Cassady was taken Off the streets when he was handed a draconian sentence of five years to life for selling three marijuana cigarettes to undercover cops. Writing from the isolation Of prison, he unveiled many sides Of himself that have been obscured by the mythological man conjured up by his friends and fans: Neal Cassady the devoted family man, the loyal railroad brakeman, the self-doubting seeker of enlightenment. Tender, resentful, beatific, lustful, euphoric, despairing, and humorous, these letters provide new insight into Cassady's life, Of which he himself remarked, ?Seldom has there been a Story of a man so balled up.". Seller Inventory # 002257
Quantity: 1 available
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Grace Beats Karma: Letters From Prison 1958-60
Seller: Mullen Books, ABAA, Marietta, PA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Softcover. black wraps w/ color illustration & multi-color printing. 223 pgs. Bright pages. "For those interested in the Beat Generation, this selection of letters reveals a brilliantly playful and spiritually struggling Neal Cassady (immortalized as Dean Moriarty in Kerouac's On the Road ), who was sentenced in 1958 to five years to life in the California prison system after selling small quantities of marijuana to federal agents. Addressing his wife as "Dear Diligent Dharma Decoding Directoress Carolyn," Cassady seems buoyant in his early letters. Transferred to San Quentin Prison, he becomes more somber, writing to his godfather, Father Harley Schmitt, about sinners and saints, and "the crime begotten Hell of this 412 712 912 foot cell." To his children, Cassady offers intensely whimsical history lessons about the Fourth of July and Mother Goose nursery rhymes. He apologizes to his wife for acting mean when she visits and writes of his eagerness to see her as his 1960 parole date approaches. However, as Carolyn Cassady writes in her introduction, her husband's release did not lead to a flowering of love but rather to a divorce; still, she states, "I have never stopped loving the man I knew he truly was."--Publisher's Weekly / Amazon. Good+ (rubbed edge-wear to wraps, corners & spine. crease to upper corner area. interior bright). Seller Inventory # 192229
Quantity: 1 available
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Grace Beats Karma: Letters from Prison 1958-60
Seller: The Book Spot, Sioux Falls, MN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Seller Inventory # Abebooks206592
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