Howl

In 1955, the then unknown Allen Ginsberg recited his counterculture poem „Howl” in New York, a poem that is today considered the battle cry of the Beat generation. „Howl” was published in a very small edition by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who was subsequently taken before a court of law and charged with circulating obscene writings in 1957. Both the prosecutor and Jake Ehrlich defending invited experts to discuss the literary significance of Ginsberg’s somewhat vulgar language, the limits of free expression and the sense and purpose of art. Proceedings turned to concentrate increasingly on the book and its author. Ginsberg gave a question and answer interview with a journalist in the same year.