TOUGH POETS PRESS


The Whole Shot: Collected Interviews with Gregory Corso
Edited by Rick Schober
Foreword by Dick Brukenfeld
May 1, 2015 / 204 pages
ISBN 9780692427132 Paperback / $12.95

Thirteen interviews with Beat poet Gregory Corso (1930–2001) that span the most productive years of his career: from 1955, when his first collection of poems was published, to 1982, the year following the publication of his last book of all new poetry. Foreword by Dick Brukenfeld, publisher of Corso's The Vestal Lady on Brattle and Other Poems (1955), that recounts the poet’s early days in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and as a "stowaway" on the Harvard University campus.

"Gregory Corso has too long been marginalized and is deserving of greater recognition by Beat scholars. This book goes a long way towards repositioning him as a member of the core Beats. It is invaluable as a Beat resource and should have a place in any self-respecting Beat collection."
— David S. Wills, Beatdom #16, Summer 2015

"Rick Schober has assembled an important collection of interviews that provide a fascinating glimpse into the thoughts, writings and life of a Beat writer who deserves closer attention. The Whole Shot is nicely annotated and judiciously selected, capturing Corso in all his varied moods. The Corso that emerges in this collection is raconteur, provocateur, intellectual and Beat, but above all, a poet worth listening to."
— Erik Mortenson, professor of English and Comparative Literature at Koç University and author of Capturing the Beat Moment: Cultural Politics and the Poetics of Presence

"In The Whole Shot, Rick Schober has assembled a fascinating collection of interviews with Gregory Corso, gathered from far-flung sources and dating from the mid 1950s to the mid 1980s. These are supplemented with a number of informative notes furnished by the editor, and the collection is further enriched with a foreword by Dick Brukenfeld who was an early friend and supporter of Corso as well as the publisher of the poet's first collection, The Vestal Lady on Brattle. Casting light on Corso's life and writing, these highly readable interviews hold much of interest. The Whole Shot makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of an original and vigorous poetic voice and will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in Gregory Corso, the Beat Generation or modern poetry."
— Dr. Gregory Stephenson, Professor of English, Germanic and Romance Studies at the University of Copenhagen and author of Exiled Angel: A Study of the Work of Gregory Corso

"Rick Schober's dazzling anthology of interviews with Beat poet Gregory Corso provides a wealth of information about Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, even as it offers valuable insights into the rambunctious cultural movements that rocked the western world from the 1950s to the 1980s. Perhaps best of all, this volume brings Corso's inimitable voice back to life as he moves from to New York to Paris to San Francisco rapping, reading, drinking, eating and living the life that he explored in words. The Whole Shot is essential reading for all students, scholars and aficionados of the work of that 'wicked angel,' Gregory Corso, who published his first book in 1955 and who is just now beginning to be appreciated as a major twentieth-century American writer."
— Dr. Jonah Raskin, Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Sonoma State University and author of American Scream: Allen Ginsberg's Howl and the Making of the Beat Generation

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