In 1974, Allen Ginsberg and poet Anne Waldman launched the Jack Kerouac School at Naropa Institute (now Naropa University) in Boulder, Colorado. The Institute—founded by Tibetan teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche—was modeled on the ancient Buddhist learning centers of India and described by Waldman and poet Andrew Schelling as “part monastery, part college, part convention hall or alchemist’s lab.”

Ginsberg taught at Naropa until his death in 1997. One of his courses, “Literary History of the Beats,” began with a handout titled Celestial Homework—a reading list he gave to students. Steve Silberman, who took the class in 1977, has done the world a favor by compiling as many of the recommended texts as he could find in free online editions. In the link below Open Culture provides links to the whole list.

ARTICLE: Allen Ginsberg’s “Celestial Homework”: A Reading List for His Class “Literary History of the Beats”

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