Lawrence Ferlinghetti Papers

Collection

Identifier: 1998-0201

Staff Only

Scope and Content

Typescript for Unfair Arguments with Existence (New Directions, 1963), with author's corrections, annotated as “Copy #3.” Accompanied by uncorrected galleys.

Dates

circa 1963

Access

The collection is open and available for research.

Restrictions on Use

Permission to publish from these Papers must be obtained in writing from both the University of Connecticut Libraries and the owner(s) of the copyright.

Biography

Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born on 24 March 1919, in Yonkers, NY, the youngest of five sons of Charles S. (an auctioneer) and Clemence (Mendes Monsanto). His father, an Italian immigrant, had shortened the family name upon arrival in America. Lawrence restored the family name in 1954. He attended the University of North Carolina (A.B., 1941), Columbia University (M.A., 1947) and Sorbonne, University of Paris (Doctorat de l'Universite with honors, 1949). He served with the U.S. Naval Reserve (1941-45) rising to lieutenant commander and was a commanding officer during the Normandy invasion. Known for his novels, short stories, plays, screenplays and poetry, Ferlinghetti has been awarded the National Book Award nomination (1970, for The Secret Meaning of Things), Notable Book of 1979 citation (Library Journal, 1980, for Landscapes of Living & Dying), Silver Medal for poetry (Commonwealth Club of California, 1986, for Over All the Obscene Boundaries), poetry prize, (City of Rome, 1993), San Francisco> street named in his honor (1994) and named first Poet Laureate of San Francisco (1998).

Throughout his career he has been a poet, playwright, editor, and painter; worked for Time, New York City, post-World War II; taught French in a adult education program, San Francisco, CA, 1951-52; City Lights Pocket Bookshop (now City Lights Books), San Francisco, co-owner, 1953—, founder and editor of City Lights Books (publisher), 1955—. He has participated in numerous national and international literary conferences, art exhibitions, and poetry readings.

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born Lawrence Ferling (original family name of Ferlinghetti restored 1954) on 24 March 1919, in Yonkers, NY. Throughout his career he has been a poet, playwright, editor, and painter; worked for Time, New York City, post-World War II; taught French in a adult education program, San Francisco, CA, 1951-52; City Lights Pocket Bookshop (now City Lights Books), San Francisco, co-owner, 1953—, founder and editor of City Lights Books (publisher), 1955—.

Acquisition Information

The materials were purchased.

Bibliography

Source: Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 1999.

General note

Published Works:

Writings by the Author

(Translator)Jacques Prevert, Selections from Paroles,City Lights, 1958.
Her (novel), New Directions, 1960.
edited by J. W. EhrlichHowl of the Censor (trial proceedings) , Nourse Publishing, 1961.
(With Jack Spicer) Dear Ferlinghetti,White Rabbit Press, 1962.
The Mexican Night: Travel Journal,New Directions, 1970.
A World Awash with Fascism and Fear,Cranium Press, 1971.
A Political Pamphlet,Anarchist Resistance Press, 1976.
Northwest Ecolog,City Lights, 1978.
(With Nancy J. Peters) Literary San Francisco: A Pictorial History from the Beginning to the Present,Harper, 1980.
The Populist Manifestos (includes “First Populist Manifesto”), Grey Fox Press, 1983.
Seven Days in Nicaragua LibreCity Lights,(journal) 1985.
Leaves of Life: Fifty Drawings from the Model,City Lights, 1985.
(Translator with others) Nicanor Parra, Antipoems: New & Selected,New Directions, 1985.
(Translator with Francesca Valente) Pier Paolo Pasolini, Roman Poems,City Lights, 1986.
Love in the Days of Rage (novel) Dutton, 1988.
(With Alexis Lykiard) The Cool Eye: Lawrence Ferlinghetti Talks to Alexis Lykiard,Stride, 1993.
Gibbs Smith(With Christopher Felver) Ferlinghetti: Portrait, 1998.

Poetry

Pictures of the Gone World,City Lights, 1955, enlarged edition, 1995.
Tentative Description of a Dinner Given to Promote the Impeachment of President Eisenhower,Golden Mountain Press, 1958.
A Coney Island of the Mind,New Directions, 1958.
Berlin,Golden Mountain Press, 1961.
One Thousand Fearful Words for Fidel Castro,City Lights, 1961.
Starting from San Francisco, with recording of poems,New Directions, 1961, revised edition without recording, 1967.
(With Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg) Penguin Modern Poets 5,Penguin, 1963.
Thoughts of a Concerto of Telemann,Four Seasons Foundation, 1963.
Where Is Vietnam?,City Lights, 1965.
To F— Is to Love Again, Kyrie Eleison Kerista; or, The Situation in the West, Followed by a Holy Proposal,F— You Press, 1965.
Christ Climbed Down,Syracuse University, 1965.
MacGibbon & Kee,An Eye On the World: Selected Poems, 1967.
Moscow in the Wilderness,Segovia in the Snow, Beach Books, 1967.
After the Cries of the Birds,Dave Haselwood Books, 1967.
Fuclock,Fire Publications, 1968.
Reverie Smoking Grass,East 128, 1968.
The Secret Meaning of Things,New Directions, 1969.
Tyrannus Nix?,New Directions, 1969.
Back Roads to Far Places,New Directions, 1971.
Love Is No Stone on the Moon,ARIF Press, 1971.
The Illustrated Wilfred Funk,City Lights, 1971.
Open Eye, Open Heart,New Directions, 1973.
Director of Alienation: A Poem,Main Street, 1976.
Who Are We Now? (also see below), City Lights, 1976.
Landscapes of Living and Dying (also see below), New Directions, 1979.
Mule Mountain Dreams,Bisbee Press Collective, 1980.
A Trip to Italy and France,New Directions, 1980.
Endless Life: Selected Poems (includes “Endless Life”), New Directions, 1984.
Over All the Obscene Boundaries: European Poems and Transitions,New Directions, 1985.
Inside the Trojan Horse,Lexikos, 1987.
Wild Dreams of a New Beginning: Including “Landscapes of Living & Dying” and “Who Are We Now?”,New Directions, 1988.
When I Look at Pictures,Peregrine Smith Books, 1990.
These Are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems, 1955-1993,New Directions (New York City), 1993.
A Far Rockaway of the Heart,New Directions, 1997.

Plays

Unfair Arguments with Existence: Seven Plays for a New Theatre (contains The Soldiers of No Country [produced in London, 1969], Three Thousand Red Ants [produced in New York City, 1970; also see below], The Alligation [produced in San Francisco, 1962; also see below], The Victims of Amnesia [produced in New York City, 1970; also see below], Motherlode, The Customs Collector in Baggy Pants [produced in New York City, 1964], and The Nose of Sisyphus), New Directions, 1963.
Routines (contains thirteen short plays, including The Jig Is Up, His Head, Ha-Ha, and Non-Objection),New Directions, 1964.
3 by Ferlinghetti: Three Thousand Red Ants, The Alligation, [and] The Victims of Amnesia,produced in New York City, 1970.

Editor

Beatitude Anthology,City Lights, 1960.
Pablo Picasso, Hunk of Skin,City Lights, 1969.
Charles Upton, Panic Grass,City Lights, 1969.
City Lights Anthology,City Lights, 1974, 1995.
City Lights Pocket Poets Anthology,City Lights, 1995.

Recordings

(With Kenneth Rexroth) Poetry Readings in “The Cellar,” Fantasy, 1958.
Tentative Description of a Dinner to Impeach President Eisenhower, and Other Poems, Fantasy, 1959.
Tyrannus Nix? and Assassination Raga, Fantasy, 1971.
(With Corso and Ginsberg) The World's Greatest Poets 1CMS, 1971.