Have you read Howl?  You'd know if you had:  it's a singularly unforgettable piece of literature.  Written by Allen Ginsburg, one of the so-called Beats of the American Fifties, Howl represents a coming out of the American culture, an honesty about feelings and viewpoints that had rarely heretofore been expressed.

    While some have called Howl obscene, and from standpoints it is, others have lauded it as one of the most authentic manifestations in literature.  Both conclusions are probably true.  Moreover, although many may rue its publication, and perhaps many more find its impact troubling, none can deny that, on balance, Howl unmasked cultural forces that probably needed to be made so.  It shook up the staid world of the affluent and lily white American Fifties, reminding those who would listen that, although God indeed exists, a personal and pervasive presence of love and purpose, humanity must always strive to interpret, and re-interpret, this love and purpose for changing and particular moments of passage and time.  While God does not change, humanity does.

    The challenge is understanding the balance:  the infinite in a finite world or the finite in a finite world.