Philip Whalen (1923-2002)

A selective list of online literary criticism for Philip Whalen, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars, articles published in reviewed sources, and web sites that adhere to the Modern Language Association Guidelines for Web Pages

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Literary criticism

Berrigan, Anselm. "Transmissions: on Philip Whalen's Overtime." Jacket Magazine 11 (April 2000)

Bouchard, Daniel. "An Hour with Philip Whalen." Poet Daniel Bouchard writes about a recent visit to Whalen. Jacket Magazine 11 (April 2000)

Christensen, Paul. "To Hunt for Words Under the Stones." Christensen discusses Philip Whalen's poetry in the context of the American tradition of Williams, Olsen, and Oppen. Jacket Magazine 11 (April 2000)

Clark, Tom. A review of Overtime: Selected Poems, edited by Michael Rothenberg, introduction by Leslie Scalapino, (Penguin, 1999). Jacket Magazine 7. Another review, by Keith Kumasen Abbott. The Beat Review 2, 1 (Jan. 2008)

Devaney, Tom. "An Introduction to Reading the Poetry of Philip Whalen." Devaney tries to deal with the reputed difficulty of Whalen's poetry. Jacket Magazine 11 (April 2000)

Fischer, Norman. A review of Philip Whalen's Overtime: Selected Poems. Jacket Magazine 11 (April 2000)

Hrebeniak, Michael. "In Memoriam Philip Whalen," Jacket Magazine 18 (Aug. 2002)

Schneider, Tensho David. "Looking Things Up With Philip Whalen." Schneider writes about hanging out with Whalen (1981). Jacket Magazine 11 (April 2000)

Smith, Dale. Introduction to a special Philip Whalen feature. "The essays presented in this feature vary, moving between critical evaluations within modernism (Paul Christensen), a proposal for a study of Whalen in context of American letters (Tom Devaney) and reviews of Overtime (Anselm Berrigan and Lewis MacAdams). David Schneider's recollection and Bill Berkson's brief memoir/ letter present personal accounts, while David Meltzer's engaging interview gathers the history that gives personal and cultural contexts to nearly half a century's poetic achievements." Jacket Magazine 11 (April 2000)

Smith, Dale. "Reading Philip Whalen." Jacket Magazine 5 (1998)

Suiter, John. An essay about John Suiter's Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalem & Jack Kerouac in the North Cascades, "Gary Snyder on Crater Mountain, 1952, " by Noel V. Bourasaw. Skagit River Journal

Suiter, John. A web site for John Suiter's Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalem & Jack Kerouac in the North Cascades, provides excerpts from the book, some photos, and information about purchasing it

Welch, Lew. "Whalen's Poetry Swings Like Jazz." A review of Whalen's On Bear's Head. San Francisco Chronicle, June 22, 1969

Philip Whalen's obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle, June 27, 2002

Tom Raworth has collected tributes and memories of Philip Whalen at his web site

On Univ. of Calif. Berkeley's acquisition of Philip Whalen's twenty-years worth of personal papers and personal library. Press release

A non-traditional syllabus, from Naropa, for a class focusing on "Philip Zenshin Whalen and Gary Snyder's early processes of artistic synthesis and fusion along with their Buddhist appropriations and assimilations." Contains archival audio clips

Beats and San Francisco Renaissance

Fields, Rick. How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America (Shambhala Publications). Publisher's web site

The history of Circle magazine, an experimental San Francisco publication started in 1944

A site from the Naropa Institute contains audio files of lectures given at Naropa by Beat writers. The Naropa Archive Project is preserving and providing access to over 3500 recordings made at Naropa since 1974

Hayward, Michael. The publishing history of Beat writers, MA thesis (1991)

Details on the reading "6 Poets at 6 Gallery" in San Francisco, 1955

Book Collecting: Beat Literature, article by a book collector, Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD

Excerpt from A Secret Location on the Lower East Side: Adventures in Writing, 1960-1980, by Steve Clay & Rodney Phillips. Based on the acclaimed 1998 exhibition at The NY Public Library documenting experimental literary publishing in this period. Courtesy of Granary Books (now blocked)

"A Secret Location on the Lower East Side: Adventures in Writing, 1960-1980." Underground Publications Document Poetry's 'Mimeo Revolution' in Exhibition at The NY Public Library, featuring the handmade, experimental publications of work by poets and artists of the period. Press release about a 1998 exhibition at the NY Public Library (removed)

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