16 pages • 32 minutes read
Lawrence FerlinghettiSometime During Eternity . . .
Lawrence FerlinghettiFiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1958A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context
After emerging from World War II as one of the victorious Allies, the United States entered a period of marked and rapid economic prosperity. As one of the Allied powers which had not suffered direct invasion by Axis forces, the USA was able to recover from the hardships of the 1930s Great Depression, in part due to its active role in wartime manufacturing and supply, and also in part due to its intact infrastructure and political stability. During the 1950s, America witnessed the expansion of the middle class and a general increase in the standard of living. While Europe struggled to recover from the residual deprivations of war, a mass refugee crisis, and the division of the continent into the democratic West and the Soviet East, America projected an air of sunny self-confidence with a boom in industry, finance, and entertainment.
Despite this prosperous exterior, the USA had many social and racial tensions simmering just below the surface. Segregation—the legal separation of African American citizens from Caucasian citizens—remained ongoing, and discrimination against immigrant groups fleeing the effects of war in Europe was rife. The general conservatism of American culture was also oppressive for those who were not its main beneficiaries, and gender minorities such as women and the LGBTQ community often faced a deeply restrictive and bigoted environment.
It was against this backdrop that some dissident cultural movements emerged, featuring writers and artists who questioned the status quo and to experiment with new ways of creating and living. Ferlinghetti was a part of this generation, and played an active role in challenging and changing American culture (See: Cultural Context).
Cultural Context
Lawrence Ferlinghetti lived and wrote in the midst of a literary movement that later came to be known as the Beat Generation, or Beatnik poets. Disenchanted with the complacency and generally conservative values of the culture in the United States in the wake of World War II, poets and writers such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac wrote experimental works that explored controversial political, personal, and social themes. Their works often demonstrated a break with traditional literary forms in favor of more avant-garde approaches to expression.
While Ferlinghetti did not personally identify as a Beat poet, he was nevertheless both socially and through his work as a publisher closely associated with the movement. In 1953, Ferlinghetti cofounded the City Lights bookstore and publishing house in San Francisco, California, where in 1956 he oversaw the publication of Ginsberg’s poetic masterpiece, Howl (See: Further Reading & Resources). Ferlinghetti found himself in trouble with the authorities for publishing supposedly obscene material, as Ginsberg’s Howl contained graphic descriptions of sexual activity and drug use. The case went to trial in 1957, and ultimately, Ferlinghetti was acquitted.
Through his publishing as well as writing activities, Ferlinghetti helped bolster the new generation of American poets and writers who would, in turn, inspire the counterculture movements of the 1960s and beyond. The works of Ferlinghetti and his contemporaries thus mark a transitional phase in which the cultural conservatism of the United States began to gradually give way to more radical political and cultural ideas.
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