Passionate Opinions (P)

In a third and final volume, these enjoyable essays by the author of the classic Go cover the late Holmes's personal life, the origins of the Beats, the literature of the past few decades and American culture at large. Many writings display the hyperbole of an intellectual in afterburnthat anxious groping that characterized the Beats. But, throughout, evocative rhythms and phrasings dominate the artistic prose, as in this picture of mid-'40s Manhattan: ``Double-decker buses came to swaying stops beside the Hudson River, disgorging girls attached to armfuls of psych; Chock Full O'Nuts was hazy with talk of existentialism; the V-12ers, playing that autumn's last sets of tennis in white flannel shorts, were hooted by the veterans in their square prewar suits.'' These essays may begin to reveal the under-acclaimed author as the astute observer of his times that he was. For those of his generation, Holmes's loving reminiscences are a tonic; for others, they will, at the least, provide a glimpse of an amazing mind and spirit. (Nov.)