(1930–2001)

(Born Nunzio Gregory Corso) American poet, novelist, and playwright.

Critics cite Corso, in conjunction with Allen Ginsberg,William S. Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac, as an essential founding member of the Beat Generation. Corso’s poetry reiterates the basic tenet of the movement: rejection of the established social order in favor of experimentation. Although Corso was not a prolific writer, his poetry has increasingly been heralded by critics and the public, particularly his poetry collections The Happy Birthday of Death (1960) and Long Live Man (1962). Building on personal experiences garnered as a result of his turbulent background and lack of formal education, Corso explores the meaning of life and death, employing a subtle humor and an element of fantasy. Through interviews with the popular press, Corso became a representative of the Beat movement to the American public, creating an avant-garde, anti-establishment, rebel persona. In addition to...