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?
3 comments:
I wrote my post on this same essay, and I really enjoyed reading your take on on what Snyder had to say. I liked your analysis on the Transamerica Pyramid, where Snyder calls it a "wasteful and arrogant building." What I noticed about this essay was that instead of glorifying all the famos or well-known landmarks in San Francisco, and North Beach in particular, Snyder focuses on all the little and obscure details of North Beach. He cherishes the small things that make up this section of San Francisco, which he beautifully describes, as only a true Beatnik can.
It's interesting that Snyder sees so much negativity in the Transamerica Pyramid, which is one of modern San Francisco's defining and most popular tourist destinations. Even its name shows how San Francisco is important enough to house a building with such a patriotic name. Although the poetically-connected building that stood below it is no longer there, and North Beach isn't what it was in the 50s and 60s, there are plenty of freaks and lovers to be found in San Francisco, and the city shows its comradery though its endless street festivals and demonstration that the entire population seems to be attending. You just have to look outside of North Beach to find the bohemian lifestyle mourned by Snyder in this piece.
Your reading made me think of the essay You are Here (So You Think). It seems Snyder is not concerned with the tourist attractions that misrepresent S.F., but rather with the 'real' S.F. as habitat. From it's non-anglo community to is "tiny watershed divide" Snyder observes that we could call the 'authentic' North Beach.
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