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Ghost Tantras
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Ghost Tantras Paperback - 2013

by Michael McClure

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Reader reviews for Ghost Tantras

From the publisher

Michael McClure is a living legend. One of the poets who participated in the famous Six Gallery reading that featured the public debut of Allen Ginsberg's landmark poem Howl, he was immortalized by Jack Kerouac in his novel Big Sur. A central figure of the Beat Generation, McClure collaborated with Wallace Berman and Bruce Conner and was later associated with San Francisco's psychedelic counterculture.

Originally self-published in 1964 and long out of print, Ghost Tantras is one of McClure's signature works, a book mostly written in "beast language." A mix of lyrical, guttural and laryngeal sound, lion roars and a touch of detonated dada, this is one of his best-known but least available books, a deep well from which decades of poetry have drawn.

McClure's inspiration has always been the animal consciousness that still lives in mankind, and he has had a consistent message: "When a man does not admit that he is an animal, he is less than an animal." Ghost Tantras is his original and singular manifesto for a poetry that relies not on images and pictures, but on muscular, sensual, energetic sound.

Praise for Michael McClure:

"Michael McClure shares a place with the great William Blake, with the visionary Shelley, with the passionate D.H. Lawrence."--Robert Creeley

"McClure's poetry is a blob of protoplasmic energy."--Allen Ginsberg

"Without McClure's roar there would have been no Sixties."--Dennis Hopper

Details

  • Title Ghost Tantras
  • Author Michael McClure
  • Binding Paperback
  • Pages 120
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher City Lights Books, San Francisco
  • Publication date 2013-11
  • ISBN 9780872866270 / 0872866270
  • Weight 0.3 lbs (0.14 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.1 x 5.3 x 0.5 in (18.03 x 13.46 x 1.27 cm)
  • Category Poetry
  • Library of Congress subjects PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / General, POETRY / American / General
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2013020599
  • Dewey Decimal Code 811.54

About the author

Michael McClure is an American poet, playwright, songwriter and novelist. After moving from Kansas to San Francisco as a young man, he was one of the five poets who participated in the legendary 1955 Six Gallery reading that featured the public debut of Allen Ginsberg's landmark poem Howl. McClure remains a key figure of the Beat Generation and is immortalized as Pat McLear in Jack Kerouac's novel Big Sur. A central figure in the Beat Movement and the San Francisco Renaissance, his poetry is heavily infused with an awareness of nature, especially in the animal consciousness that often lies dormant in mankind. He has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Obie Award for Best Play, an NEA grant, the Alfred Jarry Award and a Rockefeller grant for playwriting. McClure is still active as a poet, essayist and playwright and lives with his second wife, Amy, in the San Francisco Bay Area. McClure continues to reach new audiences through his poetry, plays and performance.

More Copies for Sale

Ghost Tantras (City Lights/Grey Fox)
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Ghost Tantras (City Lights/Grey Fox)

by McClure, Michael

  • Used
Condition
Used
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780872866270 / 0872866270
Quantity available
1
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A$33.29
A$5.76 Delivery to USA

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Description:
City Lights Publishers. Used - Good. Good condition. Early printing. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
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A$33.29
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Ghost Tantras (City Lights/Grey Fox)
Stock photo: cover may vary

Ghost Tantras (City Lights/Grey Fox)

by McClure, Michael

  • Used
  • Good
  • Paperback
Condition
Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780872866270 / 0872866270
Quantity available
1
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Item price
A$57.83
Free Delivery to USA

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Description:
paperback. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
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A$57.83
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GHOST TANTRAS.
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GHOST TANTRAS.

by McClure, Michael.

  • Used
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Fine in illustrated wrappers.
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780872866270 / 0872866270
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$93.83
A$7.15 Delivery to USA

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Description:
San Francisco:: City Lights,, (2013). SIGNED first edition -. Fine in illustrated wrappers.. First thus. An early and very experimental collection of poems by McClure, originally self-published in 1964. He calls them his "personal songs, but anyone can sing them." Includes a new introduction to this edition by McClure and a photograph of a page of the original manuscript. SIGNED on the half title page. [16] 99 pp
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Item price
A$93.83
A$7.15 Delivery to USA
Ghost Tantras (City Lights/Grey Fox)
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Ghost Tantras (City Lights/Grey Fox)

by McClure, Michael

  • New
  • Paperback
Condition
New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780872866270 / 0872866270
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$134.28
A$8.59 Delivery to USA

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Description:
City Lights Publishers, 2013-11-12. Paperback. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title!
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Item price
A$134.28
A$8.59 Delivery to USA
Ghost Tantras (City Lights/Grey Fox)
Stock photo: cover may vary

Ghost Tantras (City Lights/Grey Fox)

by McClure, Michael

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Excellent
Edition
1st Edition
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780872866270 / 0872866270
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$288.72
Free Delivery to USA

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Description:
City Lights Publishers, 2013. 1st Edition. Soft cover. Fine. Association copy, with an autographed note laid in from the City Lights publishing to Jack Shoemaker, McClure's friend and sometimes editor-publisher. Shoemaker is a legend in the independent press world who has stuck with the Beats (in particular, Gary Snyder) from start to finish. As the editor of Sand Dollar Books, Shoemaker published McClure's The Book of Joanna and Hail Thee Who Play. As editor of North Point Press, he published McClure's widely read memoir Scratching the Beat Surface. The letter reads, in part, "Dear Jack, Hope this finds you well, and makes you glad! Of course, we have you to thank for this edition ." The signature is a little hard to parse, but might be "Dani"? On official City Lights stationary. A cool item. The book is fine, the letter very near fine with a hint of handling. ALS.
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Item price
A$288.72
Free Delivery to USA
Ghost Tantras (City Lights/Grey Fox)
Stock photo: cover may vary

Ghost Tantras (City Lights/Grey Fox)

by McClure, Michael

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Excellent
Edition
1st Edition
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780872866270 / 0872866270
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$505.26
Free Delivery to USA

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Description:
City Lights Publishers, 2013. 1st Edition. Soft cover. Fine. Signed by McClure and by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the editor and publisher of this volume (founder of City Lights), on the title page. Uncommon signed, and unique with Ferlinghetti's signature. Laid in is a promotional slip advertising McClure reading Ghost Tantras at Moe's Books in Berkeley. A fine, unread paperback.
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Item price
A$505.26
Free Delivery to USA