The Trickster in Ginsberg: A Critical Reading

This scholarly close reading of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” considers the iconic poem through a four-part trickster framework: appetite, boundlessness, transformative power and a proclivity for setting and falling victim to tricks and traps. The book pursues various different narratives of the trickster Coyote and the historical and biographical contexts of “Howl” from a truly interdisciplinary perspective.

This study seeks to contribute to the current literature on the poetry of the Beats and of Allen Ginsberg, specifically his “Howl,” and the ways it continues to expand in meaning, depth and significance today.