Burns Jim Burns 
Brits, Beats and Outsiders 

This third collection of essays and reviews is somewhat different in content to Beats, Bohemians and Intellectuals and Radicals, Beats and Beboppers. Those books were primarily concerned with American writers, whereas this one has a dozen or so pieces looking at aspects of British writing (and art and music) from the 1930s to the 1960s. Some forgotten writers and magazines of the 30s and 40s are dealt with, and several items focus on the 60s, a period often derided as producing a lot of bad poetry. It probably did, but I suspect that’s true of any period and the 60s also produced some interesting work and it was a lively time for little magazines and small presses.As the titles of the previous collections indicated, the Beats occupy what might be called a central role, and so it is here. I’ve included essays on leading lights of the movement, such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg, but have also written about lesser-known poets like Ray Bremser and Stuart Perkoff