Beat Pt I

L-R: Larry Rivers, Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso (back of head), David Amram, Allen Ginsberg

I love Beats. This post will be the beginning of many as I learn about their epic coolness. Secretly I want to be one and plan on recruiting serious beatnik fans like me to change the world. Again.

The Beat Generation is the name given to a group of American writers who became renowned in 1950s post-war America. They started a cultural revolution and their resultant novels and artworks were centered on critiquing American consumerist culture. Instrumental writers of the Beat Generation included Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Jeremy Corso. Ginsberg’s crazy drug-induced ‘Howl’ contributed to the liberalising of censorship rules in the USA.

The phrase “Beat Generation” was coined by Jack Kerouac in 1948, describing the underground, non-conformist youth movement gathering in New York at the time. The adjective “beat” originally meant “tired” or “beaten down”. In spite of the negative connotations of these terms, those associated with the Beat Generation felt that although they were on the bottom, they were looking up. In Kerouac’s own words, “beat” meant “down and out, but full of intense conviction”. Members of the Beat Generation were characterised by their spontaneity, refusal to conform and accept mainstream values, open-mindedness and experimentation with sexuality and an interest in Eastern religions such as Buddhism. They maintained involvement in and awareness of world issues, and freely voiced their opinions and observations.

The Beat writers were influenced by British romantic poets including Keats and Shelley and American Romantic writers such as Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson. They were also inspired by the improvisation and spontaneity of jazz music and the free, uncontrolled self-expression shown by abstract artists. Influence of the Beat Generation is evident in the works of many notable writers and musicians. The unique spelling of the band name ‘The Beatles’ rather than the correct spelling “beetles” is said to be in reference to the Beat Generation. Bob Dylan was a younger writer of the Beat Generation and acquaintance of writers such as Ginsberg, who features in the music video of Dylan’s song ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’. Ken Kesey, author of the novel ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ was also a younger writer of the Beat Generation.