The Times of London reported yesterday that the City Lights bookshop and publisher had turned 50 in 2003 and they wanted to make sure it got its proper, on time, recognition for being at the "leading edge" of contemporary literature.
In case you don't know City Lights, it was known as the home of the Beat Generation in North Beach California back in 1958 when 'Howl' by Allen Ginsburg was a poem I liked a lot. The thing I liked about it was that it sure wasn't about the folks next door. But neither were the heroes of Atlas Shrugged, which I read the next year. They were all sober and had ambition, which was like me but not like the folks next door. Well, that was easy.
What wigged me out was that the Times article managed to get a disparaging word in about Ayn Rand.
That satisfies the requirements for B. S. in my book.
And it gives me the opportunity to say that 'Howl' and Ginsburg and all the rest are good when you're young but when I grew up I put away childish things and became an admirer of Ayn Rand.
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