Ginsberg’s South American Trips
Oliver Harris
Cambridge University Press eBooks March 27, 2026 DOI: 10.1017/9781009525572.020 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
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| Key points | Argues that Ginsberg's 1960 South American travels and his South American Journals, published in 2019, show he was prescient about the visionary value of ayahuasca and reveal a spiritual crisis and search for poetic form. Contends that The Yage Letters, coauthored with Burroughs, played a greater role in Ginsberg's creation than scholars have recognized. |
Abstract
Overshadowed by other international journeys, Ginsberg’s six months traveling alone through South America in 1960 have been relatively neglected by biographers and critics. However, recent editions and new research enable a better understanding of the literary and political significance of his geographic and drug trips in the region. The long-delayed publication of his South American Journals in 2019 reveals how prescient Ginsberg was to see the visionary value of ayahuasca (aka yagé), the indigenous psychedelic, set against the policing of reality by a materialistic world. His journals also show the full extent of his spiritual crisis in South America and his difficulties in finding a poetic form to express his experiences. Although The Yage Letters has been neglected by Ginsberg scholars, the complex backstory of the book of South American trips he coauthored with William S. Burroughs reveals a much greater role in its creation.