Hollow City: Snyder's Fears Come to Life

Thirty years after Gary Snyder wrote "North Beach", his essay which describes San Francisco as a threatened habitat, Rebecca Solnit explores similar concepts in her book Hollow City. She compares San Francisco artists and activists to "endangered species whose habitat is drying up- drying up because there's no place to go that offers the same possibilities, and this habitat is being made over into something less complex and more commercial" (Solnit 155). 

Solnit deglamorizes 1960s era San Francisco by focusing on gentrification and displacement and focuses primarily on the forced relocation of artists from neighborhoods such as North Beach. Because of the prices of housing and living expenses, people of the artistic community were pushed out by the rich and relocated to Haight-Ashbury, impoverished neighborhoods, and the streets. Solnit documents the rapid decline of the artistic community in San Francisco in the research she presents and by the photographs she includes in her account. Through these two mediums, Solnit's vision of San Francisco is a habitat that is selling out to yuppies and the internet phenomenon, confirming Snyder's fears that San Franciscans would forget their artistic and cultural foundations, converting to the "dark side" that is corporate America. 

As Solnit points out, "It was homogenization, a loss of complexity, rather than absolute removal that most complained of" (83). With artists spread out across the city and in the streets due to gentrification, the artistic center no longer exists, leaving the habitat vulnerable to yuppification and to domination from corporations such as Starbucks. Currently, this is the state of San Francisco. Solnit literally illustrates this by including a collage of old shops that have been converted into Starbucks shops (148-151). Also, because of continual gentrification and the disastrous economic impact of the hippie generation, today "...young people going to the city to make it can't afford to live the way artists used to live...It contributes to an enormous anxiety for the young, who are the people who become artists in an environment where other people are artists. They go there and they can't survive there" (98). The news seems grim all around for young hopefuls who dream of living in the city and for current residents of San Francisco.

However, the book ends in a slightly uplifting note. Solnit encourages anti-gentrification coalitions and grass roots organizations to take charge to make changes in the city to prevent displacement. She also discusses various propositions that protect San Francisco citizens from gentrification. But, it is much more difficult to find the solutions Solnit presents to the issues she describes throughout the book after wading through the seemingly hopeless information she gives readers. The purpose of the book is more focused on raising questions and filling in the blanks when it comes to "the crisis of American urbanism".  

Question: What kind of response do you think authors like Ginsberg, Brautigan, and Kerouac would have to Hollow City?

Just a Little Proposition.

a) For my final project, I will be creating a zine with two other students. The zine will include our own art work, photography, creative writing pieces, analytical essays, and commentary centered around the theme of "re-imagining" San Francisco. We are planning on taking some themes from the course such as the Beat generation, San Francisco architecture, and San Francisco street art and examining them through a modern lens, tracing the progress of the city and comparing the idealized San Francisco to the real, urban experience.

b) The evolution of San Francisco as a city and an eclectic mixture of people has been a key theme from this course, whether this is seen through fiction and poetry or through non-fiction books and articles. The texts that we will primarily be incorporating are Hollow City and Reclaiming San Francisco because we will be taking a similar stance on our view of San Francisco as a city of progress and constant reconfiguration. However, the theme looking back to the past in order to find identity also radiates through the work of Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg. 

c) To begin the process of creating our zine, we headed straight to the source: San Francisco. It was important for us to go back to the city after studying some of the literature that was produced there and explore it with our project in mind. We smelled all the dried sea food and roots in Chinatown, photographed Jack Kerouac Alley, browsed through some poetry books at City Lights, ate Italian food in George Washington Park, and joined up with the Prop 8 Protest March and rallied down to Fisherman's Wharf. Other than physically experiencing the city as research, we each broke down the broad topic of re-imagining San Francisco into about 8 smaller subtopics. I will be writing about my first trip to San Francisco and the San Francisco street art scene (probably one more topic to come- maybe something to do with community activism in San Francisco or environmental issues). I will also be interviewing someone my age from San Francisco. For research, I'm planning on talking to friends who live in the city to learn more about street art and doing some reading to compare contemporary popular San Francisco art to past generations. This week I'm planning on doing most of the research for all my topics.

d) Through the work that we have studied and the ideas that we have explored in this course, it is clear that San Francisco is a city of constant evolution and progress, continually building on its colorful past to shape the present. After studying San Francisco's historical and literary past, our goal is to re-imagine San Francisco by comparing our previous idealistic views of the city to the raw, urban experience using the knowledge that we've gained from this course, from outside sources, and from the city itself. 

e) I am worried that our topic might be too broad. We broke it down into things we were interested in, and I hope it comes through in our project that there are so many ways that San Francisco continually reshapes itself and grows as a city, not just the areas we chose to focus on in our zine. I think it will help once I begin my research and choose very specific areas of interest to write about.

The Duality of Dharma

To a restless college student like myself, Ray Smith of The Dharma Bums seems to have it all. No responsibilities, an eccentric posse of friends, and a creative space where he can write poetry, drink all the wine he can handle, and immerse himself in free love and orgies. Ray lives his life at the pace of the Midnight Ghost and never thinks twice about his next adventure. However, the life of a Dharma Bum is not always so glamorous. Throughout the novel, Ray must deal with death, intense spiritual challenges, and the loneliness that comes along with living the life of a rambling man. 

Jack Kerouac illustrates the concept of a Dharma Bum through Ray, a character who is fully in tune with the joys of life and all the wonders that surround him, as well as the struggles and hardships that life presents. To Kerouac, true Dharma Bums incorporate religious morals and simplicity into their everyday lives, finding enlightenment and bliss, even when they are "down and out" in true Beatnik fashion. The life of a Dharma Bum is not all poetry, wine, wandering, and yabyum. Ray truly embodies a Dharma Bum because he is able to handle the complications and hardships of his life while continually gaining wisdom and moral strength along the way.

Ray defines "Dharma Bum" and identifies with the term even before hearing it from Japhy Ryder. With all of Ray's experiences throughout the novel cast aside, Ray's interpretation of a Dharma Bum  at the beginning of the novel is perhaps the most telling definition found in the book: "...But then I really believed in the reality of charity and kindness and humility and zeal and neutral tranquility and wisdom and ecstasy, and I believed that I was an oldtime bhikku in modern clothes wandering the world (usually the immense triangular arc of New York to Mexico City to San Francisco) in order to turn the wheel of the True Meaning, or Dharma, and gain merit for myself as a future Buddha (Awakener) and as a future Hero in Paradise" (Kerouac 5). This quote sets up the rest of the novel because it gives Ray an ultimate goal, to"gain merit for [himself] as a future Buddha (Awakener) and as a future Hero in Paradise", and shapes the way the reader interprets Ray's experiences through the remainder of the text. Ray's wanderings throughout the novel, no matter how aimless they appear to be, take on a purpose because we see that Ray's goal is to reach the ultimate state of enlightenment, no matter how glorious or grim those experiences may be. 

Ray carries this attitude into all the situations he finds himself in, and the most perfect example is the scene in which Japhy, Morley, and Ray climb the Matterhorn. It is here that the reader sees the test of Ray's Dharma Bum character because he is put to one of the greatest physical, mental, and spiritual challenges in the text. At many points in that scene, it appears that Ray has reached the highest state of enlightenment, or "Buddha (The Awakener)" because of his intense mental and spiritual connections with nature and with Japhy. He even states, "And I promised myself that I would begin a new life" (77), ultimately allowing himself to fully embrace the Dharma Bum mantra. However, this is countered by the immense fear and self-doubt he is overwhelmed by when he has nearly reached the peak of the Matterhorn. But, even in a time of high anxiety and physical pain, Ray holds onto his religious teachings and the Dharma Bum ways, " ...'Oh what life this is, why do we have to be born in the first place, and only so we can have our poor gentle flesh laid out to such impossible horrors as huge mountains and rock and empty space,' and with horror, I remembered the famous Zen saying, 'When you get to the top of a mountain, keep climbing' " (83-84). Ironically, Ray does not make it to the top of the mountain. While it is clear by his thoughts that he is deeply set on his religious principles and he has the best intentions, Ray never fully becomes "Buddha (The Awakener)". The term Dharma Bum also implies that the person is a wanderer and will forever seek that state of sublime enlightenment. The scene on the mountain shows that Ray, and all the other Dharma Bums, will never be fully exalted and can never attain the wisdom that they so desperately search for.

Question: Would the novel have changed for you if Ray had climbed to the top of the Matterhorn? If so, how?

A Pulsing Habitat

Gary Snyder's "North Beach" is anything but a simplistic recollection of the good times he spent in the sunny neighborhood in San Francisco. While it is clear that he is somewhat nostalgic for vibrant and creative space that he left behind in the 1950s, Snyder, as he so often does in his other pieces, pushes his readers to view North Beach as a "habitat" that is being threatened by capitalistic and environmental ruin. When thinking about North Beach or any cultural and artistic center in this way, it becomes necessary to protect it so that it can continue to flourish.

Snyder establishes North Beach as a unique habitat from the first page of the essay. He describes the appeal of the neighborhood and what kind of people it attracts. Unlike Brechin's Imperial San Francisco, Snyder focuses from the very beginning on the "totally non-Anglo" (Snyder 3), a different history that Brechin continually ignored in his book. The whole appeal of North Beach to Snyder and other beats was the rich "culture of warmth" (3) that diversity provided. To Snyder, North Beach was a habitat for those who felt the "spiritual and political loneliness of America of the fifties..." (3). He goes on to describe the neighborhood from a native inhabitant's perspective, as if he is just walking around the city showing the reader around. He mixes images of industry, such as "the Barbary Coast strip of clubs" with ecological images like "a tiny watershed divide" (4), constantly reminding his readers that North Beach is a habitat by repeating the term throughout the piece. Finally, to really express the importance of North Beach as a habitat in need of preservation, Snyder drops lines such as, "...pulse after pulse came out of North Beach from the fifties forward that touched the lives of people around the world" (5).

This idealized habitat is contrasted by images of imperial power and cultural degradation. Often, Snyder reflects on this with nostalgia and longing for a simpler time, particularly when he speaks of the Transamerica Pyramid: "A habitat. The Transamerica Pyramid, a strikingly wasteful and arrogant building, stands square on what was once called Montgomery Block, a building that housed the artists and revolutionaries of the thirties and forties" (4-5). The nostalgia continues when he states, "That close, loose circle of comrades, lovers, freaks, and friends (how many we mourn already!) in the rolling terrain of North Beach..." (6). It is as if he is mourning a time when North Beach was at its peak of creative production, and now, with the threat of "wasteful and arrogant" influence pushing its way into this special habitat, Snyder fears that the past and the foundations of the neighborhood will be completely forgotten.

Although Snyder does appear to be longing for the past in this essay, he is not suggesting that North Beach returns to it. Through the mixture of images of the past and the present, Snyder indicates that the habitat of North Beach is continually evolving. It will never be what it was in the 1950s and Snyder knows this. He simply requests from his readers that the foundations of North Beach be carried on into the future, protected and admired.

Question: Snyder's "Four Changes" was written in 1969. Do you think any of the changes that Snyder believed should happen have happened since then? How do we read a piece like this in the present, when we are somewhat bombarded by green movements and the concept of sustainability? 

Personal and Racial Hygiene

(Pears's Soap Ad- Page 163)

In this particular section of the book, Brechin focuses on the role of the Union Iron Works company and its contributions to the San Francisco military contado. The Pears's Soap advertisement represents these ideas along with the more daunting themes of impending war, racial discrimination in San Francisco, the power of American imperialism, and the concept of femininity in the early 1900s. 

In the passage leading up to this advertisement, Brechin discusses the Great White Fleet and the multiple purposes of this display of naval power. Among many reasons for this cruise, President Roosevelt "...wanted Japan, in particular, to understand American strength and resolve" (Brechin 162). In the advertisement, this idea is definitely conveyed through the battleships. Because of the proportions and angles of the ad, the ships seem to go on far beyond the horizon, as if there are hundreds of them. The apparent size of the fleet in the ad suggests that the United States is prepared and well-equipped for anything, including war and imperial domination. The smoke from the ships darkens the white clouds in the advertisement and the decks are crowded with sailors, adding to the intimidation factor of these ships. It is as if they are ready to do battle right there in the San Francisco Bay. Finally, the battleship in the foreground charges through the ocean with power and gives the viewers of the ad an idea of the size of these massive ships as it comes closer to the woman on the soap stack. All of these details portray America and its military as a force to be reckoned with in a time of political uncertainty and the increasing threat of war.

Although the battleships clearly communicate imperialism and war in the ad, the central and more bizarre focus is placed on the woman and the soap in the ad. The woman embodies another of Roosevelt's ideas behind the cruise: "Roosevelt also hoped that the visit of the fleet to San Francisco would equally impress its citizens, popularizing his beloved navy and mollifying Californians for his interference in the recent school board affair" (162). The woman clearly appears to be impressed by the display of battleships. Her wistful facial expression and body language suggest that she is completely adoring of the fleet. She appears fragile and pure in her modest white gown as she waves her handkerchief at the ships, as if she needs their protection. The focus of the ad is on her, which makes the statement that a woman's role during this time period was to be indirectly supportive of the troops. To do this, she must be a symbol of innocence that is worth protecting. This suggests that the women need protecting from "yellow peril", or the belief that the culture and territory of the United States would be "imminently inva[ded]" by Asia, Japan specifically (157). This is where is seemingly inadequate link between battleships and soap comes in. 

The text in the ad states, "Two of the world's most useful and valued necessities to protect our women and keep them happy." This is a strange advertisement slogan at first glance. How could soap "protect" women? This goes back to one of Roosevelt's main reasons for sending the fleet to San Francisco. When San Francisco made the decision to segregate Japanese-Americans from whites and other races, Roosevelt strongly opposed it, calling the decision a "wicked absurdity" (158). Given the prominence of the soap and the fact that it is placed right in the middle of the Great White Fleet, one cannot help but make the association that the artist of the ad casts the soap in a double role. It keeps women happy by cleaning their bodies and protects them from the "imminent invasion" of the Japanese-Americans in San Francisco. The soap keeps them clean from the spoiling of the American population, which was so highly propagandized during the early 1900s. Further, The Overland Monthly, the widely read and racially intolerant paper this ad appeared in, supported the idea of segregation and was highly influential in the minds of San Franciscans. Like the Great White Fleet, this ad serves to boost pro-American morale, but on a darker note, it also propels anti-Japanese sentiment that was already raging in San Francisco.  

Question: How do you think Americans would react to a paper like the Overland Monthly today?

Digesting Furniture into Flowers and Trees

Images of environmental degradation and industrial conquest saturate Richard Brautigan's 'Trout Fishing in America'. Brautigan leaves no stream or bank untouched by human imprint. He portrays nature in 'Trout Fishing' as a victim to the pollution, disruption, and industrial impact of humans. Brautigan presents recurring images of death, decay, and ecological deformation to induce a sort of sympathy toward nature, which is repeatedly violated by humans throughout the novel. While Brautigan clearly takes on a grim and unpromising attitude toward nature in 'Trout Fishing', he brings in a much different perspective in the poem "Let's Voyage into the New American House" from 'The Pill vs. the Springhill Mine Disaster' collection.

Instead of focusing on nature as the victim in this piece, the speaker takes a deep look at one particular human-created structure that is overtaking nature: the American home. The speaker personifies the house and its desires in the poem. The house wants to fall apart and befriend nature, as opposed to destroying it, which is so obviously portrayed in 'Trout Fishing'. The poem is presented in a list pattern. By creating a repetitive list of parts of the house that want to be free, Brautigan suggests that the list could keep going on and on because he only mentions five parts of the house in the poem. This is both hopeful  and saddening because on one hand, it shows readers a different side of human-created structures. The personification of the different parts of the house make the structure seem as if it wants to be something better or something more than a human tool to destroy nature. However, it is saddening because doors will never "fly with perfect clouds", and floors will never "digest/their furniture into/flowers and trees". the house is stuck in a transition between wanting to be something better than what it is and being imprisoned by the desires of humans, Americans specifically. While human industry continues to destroy nature, it is also imprisoning the structures themselves.

Question:

Trout Fishing in America: What do you think came first? The novel or the cover?