The novel, titled "Little Boy," fuses elements of autobiography, literary criticism, poetry and philosophy, in a headlong, often stream-of-consciousness style. "It's not a memoir, it's an imaginary me," Mr. Ferlinghetti said in a phone interview. "It's an experimental novel, let's put it that way."-- New York Times, Alexandra Alter, "At 99, the Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti Has a New Novel," June 6, 2018.
"In this unapologetically unclassifiable work, Lawrence Ferlinghetti lets loose an exhilarating rush of language to craft what might be termed a closing statement about his highly significant and productive hundred years on this planet. The "Little Boy" of the title is Ferlinghetti himself as a child, shuffled from his overburdened mother to his French aunt to foster childhood with a rich Bronxville family. Service in World War Two (including the D-Day landing), graduate work, and a scholar gypsy's vagabond life in Paris followed. These biographical reminiscences are interwoven with Allen Ginsberg-esque high energy bursts of raw emotion, rumination, reflection, reminiscence and prognostication on what we may face as a species on Planet Earth in the future. Little Boy is a magical font of literary lore with allusions galore, a final repository of hard-earned and durable wisdom, a compositional high-wire act without a net (or all that much punctuation), and just a gas and an inspiration to read."--Jacket.
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