The Relevance of Rexroth
by Ken Knabb
88 pages. 1990. Reprinted in Public Secrets (1997)
Chapter 1: Life and Literature
Brief biography. What he was like in person. His poetry. Opposition to Pound, Eliot, and
academia. Remarkable variety and liveliness of his essays. Views on Blake, Baudelaire,
Whitman, Henry Miller, etc.
Chapter 2: Magnanimity and Mysticism
Magnanimity as central theme of his life and works. Mystical experiences. Views on
Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, psychedelics, pseudosciences, D.H. Lawrence, Martin Buber,
etc.
Chapter 3: Society and Revolution
His opposition to Bolshevism. His anarchist perspectives and activities. Views on the
Beats, the sixties counterculture, ecology, underground songs, etc. Ambiguity of his
position as public social critic. Limits of his social analyses and of his notion of
cultural subversion.