The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced

American culture The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western culture, Western, and Culture of Europe, European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian Americans, Asian American, African Americans, African American, ...

and

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

in the

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period ...

era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by

Silent Generation The Silent Generation, also known as the Traditionalist Generation, is the Western demographic cohort following the Greatest Generation and preceding the Baby Boomers. The Silent Generation is generally defined as people born from 1928 to 1 ...

ers in the 1950s, better known as Beatniks. The central elements of Beat culture are the rejection of standard narrative values, making a spiritual quest, the exploration of American and Eastern religions, the rejection of

economic materialism Materialism can be described as either a personal attitude which attaches importance to acquiring and consuming material goods or as a logistical analysis of how physical resources are shaped into consumable products. The use of the term materi ...

, explicit portrayals of the human condition, experimentation with

psychedelic drug Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science ...

s, and sexual liberation and exploration.

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Genera ...

's ''

Howl Howl most often refers to: *Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species *Howl (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl may also refer to: Film * ''The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 American arthouse b ...

'' (1956), William S. Burroughs' '' Naked Lunch'' (1959), and

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian anc ...

's '' On the Road'' (1957) are among the best known examples of Beat literature.Charters (1992) ''The Portable Beat Reader''. Both ''Howl'' and ''Naked Lunch'' were the focus of obscenity trials that ultimately helped to liberalize publishing in the United States.Ann Charters, ''introduction'', to ''Beat Down to Your Soul'', Penguin Books (2001) p. xix " ..the conclusion of the obscenity trial in San Francisco against Lawrence Ferlinghetti for publishing Ginsberg's ''Howl and Other Poems'' ..in which Judge Clayton W. Horn concluded for the defendant that 'Howl' had what he called 'redeeming social content.'", p. xxxiii "After the successful ''Howl'' trial, outspoken and subversive literary magazines sprung up like wild mushrooms throughout the United States."Ted Morgan, ''Literary Outlaw'', New York: Avon, 1988. p. 347, trade paper edition : "The ruling on ''Naked Lunch'' in effect marked the end of literary censorship in the United States." The members of the Beat Generation developed a reputation as new bohemian hedonists, who celebrated non-conformity and spontaneous creativity. The core group of Beat Generation authors— Herbert Huncke, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Lucien Carr, and Kerouac—met in 1944 in and around the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

campus in New York City. Later, in the mid-1950s, the central figures, with the exception of Burroughs and Carr, ended up together in San Francisco, where they met and became friends of figures associated with the San Francisco Renaissance. In the 1950s, a Beatnik subculture formed around the literary movement, although this was often viewed critically by major authors of the Beat movement. In the 1960s, elements of the expanding Beat movement were incorporated into the

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

and larger

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

movements. Neal Cassady, as the driver for Ken Kesey's bus '' Furthur'', was the primary bridge between these two generations. Ginsberg's work also became an integral element of early 1960s hippie culture, in which he actively participated. The

culture was practiced primarily by older members of the following generation.

Origin of name

Although Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948 to characterize a perceived underground, anti-conformist youth movement in New York, fellow poet Herbert Huncke is credited with first using the word "beat". The name arose in a conversation with writer

John Clellon Holmes John Clellon Holmes (March 12, 1926, Holyoke, Massachusetts – March 30, 1988, Middletown, Connecticut) was an American author, poet and professor, best known for his 1952 novel '' Go''. Considered the first " Beat" novel, ''Go'' depicted even ...

. Kerouac allows that it was Huncke, a street hustler, who originally used the phrase "beat", in an earlier discussion with him. The adjective "beat" could colloquially mean "tired" or "beaten down" within the African-American community of the period and had developed out of the image "beat to his socks", but Kerouac appropriated the image and altered the meaning to include the connotations "upbeat", "beatific", and the musical association of being "on the beat", and "the Beat to keep" from the ''Beat Generation'' poem.

Significant places

Columbia University

The origins of the Beat Generation can be traced to

and the meeting of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Carr, Hal Chase and others. Kerouac attended Columbia on a football scholarship. Though the beats are usually regarded as anti-academic, many of their ideas were formed in response to professors like Lionel Trilling and

Mark Van Doren Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thin ...

. Classmates Carr and Ginsberg discussed the need for a "New Vision" (a term borrowed from W. B. Yeats), to counteract what they perceived as their teachers' conservative, formalistic literary ideals.

Times Square "underworld"

Ginsberg was arrested in 1949. The police attempted to stop Ginsberg while he was driving with Huncke, his car filled with stolen items that Huncke planned to fence. Ginsberg crashed the car while trying to flee and escaped on foot, but left incriminating notebooks behind. He was given the option to plead insanity to avoid a jail term, and was committed for 90 days to Bellevue Hospital, where he met Carl Solomon. Solomon was arguably more eccentric than psychotic. A fan of

Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...

, he indulged in self-consciously "crazy" behavior, like throwing potato salad at a college lecturer on

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

ism. Solomon was given shock treatments at Bellevue; this became one of the main themes of Ginsberg's "Howl", which was dedicated to Solomon. Solomon later became the publishing contact who agreed to publish Burroughs' first novel, ''

Junkie Junkie is a pejorative usually referring to a person with an addiction. Entertainment and media * ''Junkie'' (novel), a novel by William S. Burroughs * "Junkie" (song), 2013 song by Medina featuring Svenstrup & Vendelboe * ''The Junkies'', a ...

'', in 1953.

Greenwich Village

Beat writers and artists flocked to

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

in New York City in the late 1950s because of low rent and the "small town" element of the scene. Folksongs, readings and discussions often took place in

Washington Square Park Washington Square Park is a public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York City's public parks, it is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity. ...

. Allen Ginsberg was a big part of the scene in the Village, as was Burroughs, who lived at 69 Bedford Street.Beard and Berlowitz. 1993. ''Greenwich Village''. "The Beat Generation in the Village." 165–198. Burroughs, Ginsberg, Kerouac, and other poets frequented many bars in the area, including the San Remo Cafe at 93 MacDougal Street on the northwest corner of Bleecker, Chumley's, and Minetta Tavern.

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a ho ...

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter ...

Franz Kline Franz Kline (May 23, 1910 – May 13, 1962) was an American painter. He is associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. Kline, along with other action painters like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert M ...

, and other abstract expressionists were also frequent visitors of and collaborators with the Beats. Cultural critics have written about the transition of Beat culture in the Village into the Bohemian hippie culture of the 1960s. In 1960, a presidential election year, the Beats formed a political party, the "Beat Party," and held a mock nominating convention to announce a presidential candidate: the African-American street poet

Big Brown Big Brown may refer to: * Big Brown (horse), an American thoroughbred racehorse * Big brown bat, an North American bat * Big Brown, a nickname for the delivery company United Parcel Service * Big Brown Box, an Australian online retailer *Big Brown ...

, won a majority of votes on the first ballot but fell short of the eventual nomination. The Associated Press reported, "Big Brown's lead startled the convention. Big, as the husky African American is called by his friends, wasn't the favorite son of any delegation, but he had one tactic that apparently earned him votes. In a chatterbox convention, only once did he speak at length, and that was to read his poetry."

San Francisco and the Six Gallery reading

Ginsberg had visited Neal and Carolyn Cassady in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

in 1954 and moved to San Francisco in August. He fell in love with Peter Orlovsky at the end of 1954 and began writing ''Howl''. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, of the new City Lights Bookstore, started to publish the City Lights Pocket Poets Series in 1955.

Kenneth Rexroth Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (1905–1982) was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider ...

's apartment became a Friday night literary salon (Ginsberg's mentor William Carlos Williams, an old friend of Rexroth, had given him an introductory letter). When asked by Wally Hedrick to organize the Six Gallery reading, Ginsberg wanted Rexroth to serve as master of ceremonies, in a sense to bridge generations. Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Ginsberg and Gary Snyder read on October 7, 1955, before 100 people (including Kerouac, up from Mexico City). Lamantia read poems of his late friend John Hoffman. At his first public reading Ginsberg performed the just finished first part of ''Howl''. It was a success and the evening led to many more readings by the now locally famous Six Gallery poets. It was also a marker of the beginning of the Beat movement, since the 1956 publication of ''Howl'' (''City Lights Pocket Poets'', no. 4) and its obscenity trial in 1957 brought it to nationwide attention. The Six Gallery reading informs the second chapter of Kerouac's 1958 novel '' The Dharma Bums,'' whose chief protagonist is "Japhy Ryder", a character who is actually based on Gary Snyder. Kerouac was impressed with Snyder and they were close for a number of years. In the spring of 1955 they lived together in Snyder's cabin in Mill Valley, California. Most Beats were urbanites and they found Snyder almost exotic, with his rural background and wilderness experience, as well as his education in

cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The portm ...

and Oriental languages. Lawrence Ferlinghetti called him "the Thoreau of the Beat Generation." As documented in the conclusion of ''The Dharma Bums'', Snyder moved to Japan in 1955, in large measure in order to intensively practice and study

Zen Buddhism Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

. He would spend most of the next 10 years there.

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

is one of the primary subjects of ''The Dharma Bums'', and the book undoubtedly helped to popularize Buddhism in the West and remains one of Kerouac's most widely read books.

Pacific Northwest

The Beats also spent time in the Northern Pacific Northwest including Washington and Oregon. Kerouac wrote about sojourns to Washington's North Cascades in ''The Dharma Bums'' and ''On the Road''.

Reed College Reed College is a private university, private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor style architecture ...

in Portland, Oregon was also a locale for some of the Beat poets. Gary Snyder studied anthropology there, Philip Whalen attended Reed, and

held multiple readings on the campus around 1955 and 1956. Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen were students in Reed's calligraphy class taught by

Lloyd J. Reynolds Lloyd J. Reynolds (1902–1978) was an American calligrapher and professor at Reed College (1929–1969) who taught classes on creative writing, art, and calligraphy. Lloyd Reynolds was born in 1902 in Bemidji, Minnesota. He received a BA in Bota ...

Significant figures

Burroughs was introduced to the group by David Kammerer. Carr had befriended Ginsberg and introduced him to Kammerer and Burroughs. Carr also knew Kerouac's girlfriend

Edie Parker Edie Kerouac-Parker (September 20, 1922 – October 29, 1993) was the author of the memoir ''You'll Be Okay'', about her life with her first husband, Jack Kerouac, and the early days of the Beat Generation. While an art student under George G ...

, through whom Burroughs met Kerouac in 1944. On August 13, 1944, Carr killed Kammerer with a Boy Scout knife in Riverside Park in what he claimed later was self-defense. He waited, then dumped the body in the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

, later seeking advice from Burroughs, who suggested he turn himself in. He then went to Kerouac, who helped him dispose of the weapon. Carr turned himself in the following morning and later pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Kerouac was charged as an accessory, and Burroughs as a material witness, but neither were prosecuted. Kerouac wrote about this incident twice in his own works: once in his first novel, '' The Town and the City'', and again in one of his last, '' Vanity of Duluoz''. He wrote a collaboration novel with Burroughs, ''

And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks ''And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks'' is a novel by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. It was written in 1945, a full decade before the two authors became famous as leading figures of the Beat Generation, and remained unpublished in co ...

'', concerning the murder.

Participants

Women

Beat Generation women who have been published include Edie Parker; Joyce Johnson; Carolyn Cassady; Hettie Jones;

Joanne Kyger Joanne Kyger (November 19, 1934 – March 22, 2017) was an American poet. The author of over 30 books of poetry and prose, Kyger was associated with the poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, the Beat Generation, Black Mountain, and the New Y ...

; Harriet Sohmers Zwerling; Diane DiPrima; and Ruth Weiss, who also made films. Carolyn Cassady wrote her own detailed account about life with husband Neal Cassady which also included details about her affair with Jack Kerouac. She titled it '' Off the Road'', and it was published in 1990. Poet

Elise Cowen Elise Nada Cowen (July 31, 1933 – February 27, 1962) was an American poet. She was part of the Beat generation, and was close to Allen Ginsberg, one of the movement's leading figures. Background Born to a middle-class Jewish family in Washi ...

took her own life in 1963. Poet Anne Waldman was less influenced by the Beats than by Allen Ginsberg's later turn to

. Later, female poets emerged who claimed to be strongly influenced by the Beats, including Janine Pommy Vega in the 1960s,

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album ''Horses''. Called the "punk poet ...

in the 1970s, and

Hedwig Gorski Hedwig Irene Gorski (born July 18, 1949) is an American performance poet and an avant-garde artist who labels her aesthetic as "American futurism." The term "performance poetry," a precursor to slam poetry, is attributed to her. It originated ...

in the 1980s.

African Americans

Although African Americans were not widely represented in the Beat Generation, the presence of some black writers in this movement did contribute to the movement's progression. While many of the Beats briefly discussed issues of race and sexuality, they spoke from their own perspectives—most being white. However, black people added a counterbalance to this; their work supplied readers with alternative views of occurrences in the world. Beats like the poet Robert "Bob" Kaufman and the writer LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) provide through their work distinctly Black perspectives on the movement. Kaufman wrote about a number of his experiences with the racist institutions of the time. Following his time in the military, he had trouble with police officers and the criminal justice system. Like many of the Beats, Kaufman was also a fan of

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

and incorporated it into his work to describe relationships with others. LeRoi Jones ( Amiri Baraka) married Beat writer, Hettie Cohen, who became Hettie Jones, in 1958. They worked together with Diane di Prima, to develop ''

Yūgen Japanese aesthetics comprise a set of ancient ideals that include '' wabi'' (transient and stark beauty), '' sabi'' (the beauty of natural patina and aging), and '' yūgen'' (profound grace and subtlety). These ideals, and others, underpin much o ...

'' magazine. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were associated with a number of Beats (

, and Gregory Corso). That is, until the assassination of the Civil Rights leader,

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of ...

. During this time, LeRoi Jones branched off from the other Beat writers, including his wife, to find his identity among the African-American and Islamic communities. The change in his social setting along with awakening influenced his writing and brought about the development of many of his most notable works, like ''Somebody Blew Up America'', in which he reflected on the

attacks of 9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

and America's reaction to this incident in relation to other occurrences in America.

Culture and influences

Sexuality

One of the key beliefs and practices of the Beat Generation was free love and sexual liberation, which strayed from the Christian ideals of American culture at the time. Some Beat writers were openly gay or bisexual, including two of the most prominent (Ginsberg and Burroughs). However, the first novel does show Cassady as frankly promiscuous. Kerouac's novels feature an interracial love affair ('' The Subterraneans''), and group sex ('' The Dharma Bums''). The relationships among men in Kerouac's novels are predominately homosocial.

Drug use

The original members of the Beat Generation used a number of different drugs, including alcohol,

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in variou ...

, benzedrine,

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. Ther ...

, and later

s such as

peyote The peyote (; ''Lophophora williamsii'' ) is a small, spineless cactus which contains psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. ''Peyote'' is a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl (), meaning "caterpillar cocoon", from a root , "to g ...

, Ayahuasca, and LSD. They often approached drugs experimentally, initially being unfamiliar with their effects. Their drug use was broadly inspired by intellectual interest, and many Beat writers thought that their drug experiences enhanced creativity, insight, or productivity. The use of drugs was a key influence on many of the social events of the time that were personal to the Beat generation.

Romanticism

Gregory Corso considered English Romantic poet

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his ach ...

a hero, and he was buried at the foot of Shelley's grave in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome. Ginsberg mentions Shelley's poem ''

Adonais ''Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, Author of Endymion, Hyperion, etc.'' () is a pastoral elegy written by Percy Bysshe Shelley for John Keats in 1821, and widely regarded as one of Shelley's best and best-known works.Kaddish,'' and cites it as a major influence on the composition of one of his most important poems. Michael McClure compared Ginsberg's ''

'' to Shelley's breakthrough poem ''

Queen Mab Queen Mab is a fairy referred to in William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', where "she is the fairies' midwife". Later, she appears in other poetry and literature, and in various guises in drama and cinema. In the play, her activity i ...

.'' Ginsberg's main Romantic influence was William Blake, and studied him throughout his life. Blake was the subject of Ginsberg's self-defining auditory hallucination and revelation in 1948. Romantic poet John Keats was also cited as an influence.

Jazz

Writers of the Beat Generation were heavily influenced by

artists like

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

and the stories told through Jazz music. Writers like

(''On the Road''), Bob Kaufman ("Round About Midnight," "Jazz Chick," and "O-Jazz-O"), and Frank O'Hara ("The Day Lady Died") incorporated the emotions they felt toward Jazz. They used their pieces to discuss feelings, people, and objects they associate with Jazz music, as well as life experiences that reminded them of this style of music. Kaufman's pieces listed above "were intended to be freely improvisational when read with Jazz accompaniment" (Charters 327). He and other writers found inspiration in this genre and allowed it to help fuel the Beat movement.

Early American sources

The Beats were inspired by early American figures such as Henry David Thoreau,

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a cham ...

Herman Melville Herman Melville (born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are ''Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a r ...

and especially

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

, who is addressed as the subject of one of Ginsberg's most famous poems, ''

A Supermarket in California "A Supermarket in California" is a poem by American poet Allen Ginsberg first published in ''Howl and Other Poems'' in 1956. In the poem, the narrator visits a supermarket in California and imagines finding Federico García Lorca and Walt Whitman ...

''.

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

was occasionally acknowledged, and Ginsberg saw

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

as having an influence on Beat poetry. The 1926 novel '' You Can't Win'' by outlaw author Jack Black was cited as having a strong influence on Burroughs.

French surrealism

In many ways,

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

was still considered a vital movement in the 1950s. Carl Solomon introduced the work of French author

to Ginsberg, and the poetry of

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

had direct influence on Ginsberg's poem '' Kaddish.'' Rexroth, Ferlinghetti, John Ashbery and

Ron Padgett Ron Padgett (born June 17, 1942, Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American poet, essayist, fiction writer, translator, and a member of the New York School. ''Great Balls of Fire'', Padgett's first full-length collection of poems, was published in 1969. He ...

translated French poetry. Second-generation Beat

Ted Joans Theodore Joans (July 4, 1928 – April 25, 2003) was an American jazz poet, surrealist, trumpeter, and painter, who from the 1960s spent periods of time travelling in Europe and Africa. His work stands at the intersection of several avant-gar ...

was named "the only Afro-American Surrealist" by Breton. Philip Lamantia introduced Surrealist poetry to the original Beats. The poetry of Gregory Corso and

Bob Kaufman Robert Garnell Kaufman (April 18, 1925 – January 12, 1986) was an American Beat poet and surrealist as well as a jazz performance artist and satirist. In France, where his poetry had a large following, he was known as the "black American ...

shows the influence of Surrealist poetry with its dream-like images and its random juxtaposition of dissociated images, and this influence can also be seen in more subtle ways in Ginsberg's poetry. As the legend goes, when meeting French Surrealist

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

, Ginsberg kissed his shoe and Corso cut off his tie.Miles (2001) ''Ginsberg''. Other influential French poets for the Beats were Guillaume Apollinaire,

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he sta ...

and

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...

Modernism

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West (Pittsburgh), Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, Calif ...

was the subject of a book-length study by Lew Welch. Admitted influences for Kerouac include Marcel Proust,

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

and Thomas Wolfe.

Buddhism and Daoism

Gary Snyder defined wild as "whose order has grown from within and is maintained by the force of consensus and custom rather than explicit legislation". "The wild is not brute savagery, but a healthy balance, a self-regulating system.". Snyder attributed wild to

and

Daoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

, the interests of some Beats. "Snyder's synthesis uses Buddhist thought to encourage American social activism, relying on both the concept of impermanence and the classically American imperative toward freedom."

Topics

While many authors claim to be directly influenced by the Beats, the Beat Generation phenomenon itself has had an influence on American culture leading more broadly to the hippie movements of the 1960s. In 1982, Ginsberg published a summary of "the essential effects" of the Beat Generation:

* Spiritual liberation, sexual "revolution" or "liberation," i.e., gay liberation, somewhat catalyzing women's liberation, black liberation, Gray Panther activism. * Liberation of the world from censorship. * Demystification and/or decriminalization of
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternativel ...
and other drugs. * The evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as a high art form, as evidenced by
the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...
,
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
, Janis Joplin, and other popular musicians influenced in the later fifties and sixties by Beat generation poets' and writers' works. * The spread of ecological consciousness, emphasized early by Gary Snyder and Michael McClure, the notion of a "Fresh Planet." * Opposition to the military-industrial machine civilization, as emphasized in writings of Burroughs, Huncke, Ginsberg, and Kerouac. * Attention to what Kerouac called (after Spengler) a "second religiousness" developing within an advanced civilization. * Return to an appreciation of idiosyncrasy vs. state regimentation. * Respect for land and indigenous peoples and creatures, as proclaimed by Kerouac in his slogan from ''On the Road'': "The Earth is an Indian thing."

"Beatniks"

The term " Beatnik" was coined by Herb Caen of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...

'' on April 2, 1958, blending the name of the recent Russian satellite Sputnik and Beat Generation. This suggested that beatniks were (1) "far out of the mainstream of society" and (2) "possibly pro-Communist." Caen's term stuck and became the popular label associated with a new stereotype—the man with a

goatee A goatee is a style of facial hair incorporating hair on one's chin but not the cheeks. The exact nature of the style has varied according to time and culture. Description Until the late 20th century, the term ''goatee'' was used to refer sol ...

and beret reciting nonsensical poetry and playing bongo drums while free-spirited women wearing black leotards dance. An early example of the "beatnik stereotype" occurred in Vesuvio's (a bar in North Beach, San Francisco) which employed the artist Wally Hedrick to sit in the window dressed in full beard, turtleneck, and sandals, creating improvisational drawings and paintings. By 1958 tourists who came to San Francisco could take bus tours to view the North Beach Beat scene, prophetically anticipating similar tours of the Haight-Ashbury district ten years later. A variety of other small businesses also sprang up exploiting (and/or satirizing) the new craze. In 1959, Fred McDarrah started a "Rent-a-Beatnik" service in New York, taking out ads in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'' and sending

and friends out on calls to read poetry. "Beatniks" appeared in many cartoons, movies, and TV shows of the time, perhaps the most famous being the character

Maynard G. Krebs Maynard Gwalter Krebs is the "beatnik" sidekick of the title character in the U.S. television sitcom ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'', which aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963. The Krebs character, portrayed by actor Bob Denver, begins the series a ...

in '' The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'' (1959–1963). While some of the original Beats embraced the beatniks, or at least found the parodies humorous (Ginsberg, for example, appreciated the parody in the comic strip '' Pogo'') others criticized the beatniks as inauthentic

poseur A poseur is someone who poses for effect, or behaves affectedly, who affects a particular attitude, character or manner to impress others, or who pretends to belong to a particular group.

feared that the spiritual aspect of his message had been lost and that many were using the Beat Generation as an excuse to be senselessly wild.

"Hippies"

During the 1960s, aspects of the Beat movement metamorphosed into the

counterculture of the 1960s The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world in the 1960s and has been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights mo ...

, accompanied by a shift in terminology from " beatnik" to "

". Many of the original Beats remained active participants, notably Allen Ginsberg, who became a fixture of the anti-war movement. Notably, however, Jack Kerouac broke with Ginsberg and criticized the 1960s politically radical protest movements as an excuse to be "spiteful". There were stylistic differences between beatniks and hippies—somber colors, dark sunglasses, and goatees gave way to colorful psychedelic clothing and long hair. The Beats were known for "playing it cool" (keeping a low profile). Beyond style, there were changes in substance: The Beats tended to be essentially apolitical, but the hippies became actively engaged with the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement.

Literary legacy

Among the emerging novelists of the 1960s and 1970s, a few were closely connected with Beat writers, most notably Ken Kesey (''

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest may refer to: * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Ken Kesey * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (play), a 1963 stage adaptation of the novel starring Kirk Douglas * ''One Flew Over the ...

''). Though they had no direct connection, other writers considered the Beats to be a major influence, including

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), them ...

('' Gravity's Rainbow'') and Tom Robbins ('' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues''). William S. Burroughs is considered a forefather of postmodern literature; he also inspired the

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian Futurism, futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of low-life, lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial in ...

genre. One-time Beat writer LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka helped initiate the

Black Arts The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The movement expanded from ...

movement. As there was focus on live performance among the Beats, many Slam poets have claimed to be influenced by the Beats. Saul Williams, for example, cites Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, and

as major influences. The Postbeat Poets are direct descendants of the Beat Generation. Their association with or tutelage under Ginsberg at The Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and later at Brooklyn College stressed the social-activist legacy of the Beats and created its own body of literature. Known authors are Anne Waldman,

Antler Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on ...

, Andy Clausen, David Cope, Eileen Myles, Eliot Katz,

Paul Beatty Paul Beatty (born June 9, 1962) is an American author and an associate professor of writing at Columbia University. In 2016, he won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Booker Prize for his novel '' The Sellout''. It was the first time ...

Sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sap ...

, Lesléa Newman, Jim Cohn, Thomas R. Peters, Jr. (poet and owner of beat book shop), Sharon Mesmer, Randy Roark, Josh Smith, David Evans.

Rock and pop music

The Beats had a pervasive influence on

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

and popular music, including

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

and

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and e ...

. The Beatles spelled their name with an "a" partly as a Beat Generation reference, and

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

was a fan of Jack Kerouac. The Beatles even put Beat writer William S. Burroughs on the cover of their album ''

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composi ...

.'' Ginsberg later met and became friends of members of the Beatles, and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...

played the drums, guitar, Hammond organ, and maracas on Ginsberg's album ''Ballad of the Skeletons.'' Ginsberg was a close friend of Bob Dylan and toured with him on the

Rolling Thunder Revue The Rolling Thunder Revue was a 1975–1976 concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan with numerous musicians and collaborators. The purpose of the tour was to allow Dylan, who had now become a major recording artist and concert perfor ...

in 1975. Dylan cites Ginsberg and Kerouac as major influences.

cites Kerouac as one of his biggest influences, and fellow Doors member

Ray Manzarek Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. (né Manczarek; February 12, 1939 – May 20, 2013) was an American keyboardist. He is best known as a member of the Doors, co-founding the band with singer and lyricist Jim Morrison in 1965. Manzarek was induct ...

has said "We wanted to ''be'' beatniks." In his book ''Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors'', Manzarek also writes "I suppose if Jack Kerouac had never written ''On the Road'', The Doors would never have existed." Michael McClure was also a friend of members of The Doors, at one point touring with Manzarek. Ginsberg was a friend of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, a group of which Neal Cassady was a member, which also included members of the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

. In the 1970s, Burroughs was a friend of Mick Jagger,

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

, and

. The musical group Steely Dan is named after a steam-powered dildo in Burroughs' '' Naked Lunch''. British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band Soft Machine is named after Burroughs' novel '' The Soft Machine''. Singer-songwriter Tom Waits, a Beat fan, wrote "Jack and Neal" about Kerouac and Cassady, and recorded "On the Road" (a song written by Kerouac after finishing the novel) with Primus. He later collaborated with Burroughs on the theatrical work '' The Black Rider''. Jazz musician/film composer Robert Kraft (not to be confused with NFL Team owner Robert Kraft) wrote and released a contemporary homage to Jack Kerouac and Beat Generation aesthetics entitled "Beat Generation" on the 1988 album ''Quake City''. Musician Mark Sandman, who was the bass guitarist, lead vocalist and a former member of the alternative jazz rock band

Morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. Ther ...

, was interested in the Beat Generation and wrote a song called "Kerouac" as a tribute to

and his personal philosophy and way of life. The band Aztec Two-Step recorded "The Persecution & Restoration of Dean Moriarty (On the Road)" in 1972. There was a resurgence of interest in the beats among bands in the 1980s. Ginsberg worked with

the Clash The Clash were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave music, new wave moveme ...

and Burroughs worked with

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of th ...

, R.E.M., Kurt Cobain, and Ministry, among others.

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended ...

of U2 cites Burroughs as a major influence, and Burroughs appeared briefly in a U2 video in 1997. Post-punk band

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after att ...

named a song "Interzone" after a collection of stories by Burroughs.

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

featured Burroughs on her 1984 album '' Mister Heartbreak'' and in her 1986 concert film, '' Home of the Brave.'' The band

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

produced the album '' Beat'' inspired by the Beat Generation. More recently, American artist

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, Glamour (presentation), glamour, and melan ...

references the Beat movement and Beat poetry in her 2014 song "

Brooklyn Baby "Brooklyn Baby" is a song by American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey for her third studio album '' Ultraviolence'' (2014). It was written by Del Rey, and Barrie O'Neill, while production was handled by Dan Auerbach. The song was released on Jun ...

". In 2021, rapper R.A.P. Ferreria released the album ''Bob's Son: R.A.P. Ferreira in the Garden Level Cafe of the Scallops Hotel'', named for Bob Kaufman and containing many references to the work of Kaufman, Jack Kerouac, Amiri Baraka, and other beat poets.

Criticism

The Beat Generation was met with scrutiny and assigned many stereotypes. Several magazines, including ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' and ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

,'' depicted members of the Beat Generation as nihilists and as unintellectual. This criticism was largely due to the ideological differences between American culture at the time and the Beat Generation, including their

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

-inspired beliefs.

Norman Podhoretz Norman Podhoretz (; born January 16, 1930) is an American magazine editor, writer, and conservative political commentator, who identifies his views as " paleo- neoconservative".

, a student at Columbia with Kerouac and Ginsberg, later became a critic of the Beats. His 1958 ''

Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affiliated Joh ...

'' article "The Know-Nothing Bohemians" was a vehement critique primarily of Kerouac's ''On the Road'' and ''The Subterraneans,'' as well as Ginsberg's ''Howl''. His central criticism is that the Beat embrace of spontaneity is bound up in an anti-intellectual worship of the "primitive" that can easily turn toward mindlessness and violence. Podhoretz asserted that there was a link between the Beats and criminal delinquents. Ginsberg responded in a 1958 interview with ''

'', specifically addressing the charge that the Beats destroyed "the distinction between life and literature". In the interview, he stated that "the bit about anti-intellectualism is a piece of vanity, we had the same education, went to the same school, you know there are 'Intellectuals' and there are intellectuals. Podhoretz is just out of touch with twentieth-century literature, he's writing for the eighteenth-century mind. We have a personal literature now— Proust, Wolfe, Faulkner, Joyce."

Internal criticism

In a 1974 interview,Knight, Arthur Winfield. Ed. ''The Beat Vision'' (1987), Paragon House. ; (pbk). Gary Snyder comments on the subject of "casualties" of the Beat Generation:Charters (2001) ''Beat Down to Your Soul''.

Kerouac was a casualty too. And there were many other casualties that most people have never heard of, but were genuine casualties. Just as, in the 60s, when Allen and I for a period there were almost publicly recommending people to take acid. When I look back on that now I realize there were many casualties, responsibilities to bear.

When the Beats initially set out to "construct" new communities that shirked conformity and traditionalism, they invoked the symbols of the most marginalized ethnic identities of their time. As the reality set in, of racial self-identity lost within the communal constructs of their own making, most of the Beat writers altered their message drastically to acknowledge the social impulse to marginalize the self in the conflict between isolationism and absorption of self by communal instincts seeking belonging. They began to deeply engage with new themes such as the place of the white man in America and declining patriarchal institutions.

Quotes

Films

* '' D.O.A.'' (1949) — a film noir, set in San Francisco, which includes one of the earliest (fictional) depictions of the Beat culture *Jack Kerouac (wrote), Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie (directed) '' Pull My Daisy'' (1958) *'' Bell, Book and Candle''* (1958) (motion picture) *''

The Beat Generation ''The Beat Generation'' is a 1959 American crime film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren, with Ray Danton, Fay Spain, Maggie Hayes, Jackie Coogan, Louis Armstrong, James Mitchum, Vampira, and Ray Anthony. It i ...

''* (1959) (motion picture) *'' A Bucket of Blood''* (1959) Roger Corman Production *'' The Subterraneans''* (1960) (motion picture) *'' Visit to a Small Planet'' (1960) (motion picture) *''

Greenwich Village Story ''Greenwich Village Story'', a 1963 feature film written and directed by Jack O'Connell, centres on the bohemian milieu of Greenwich Village. The female protagonist, Genie (played by actress Melinda Cordell, credited here as Melinda Plank), a tale ...

''* (1961) *'' Next Stop, Greenwich Village''* (1976) *'' Heart Beat'' (1980) (motion picture) *''What Happened to Kerouac?'' (1986) (documentary) *'' Absolute Beginners'' (1986) (motion picture) *'' Naked Lunch'' (1991) (motion picture) *''

Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg ''The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg'' is a 1993 film by Jerry Aronson chronicling the poet Allen Ginsberg's life from his birth and early childhood to his thoughts about death at the age of 66. The film has been completed and released a numbe ...

'' (1993) (documentary) *'' So I Married an Axe Murderer'' (1993) (motion picture) *''Allen Ginsberg Live in London'' (1995) (documentary) *'' The Last Time I Committed Suicide'' (1997) *'' The Source'' (1999) (documentary) *'' Beat'' (2000) (motion picture) *'' American Saint'' (2001) (dramatic motion picture) *'' Words of Advice: William S. Burroughs on the Road'' (2007) *'' Neal Cassady''* (2007) *'' Crazy Wisdom: The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics'' (2008) (documentary) *''

'' (2010) (motion picture) *'' William S. Burroughs: A Man Within'' (2010) (documentary) *'' Magic Trip'' (2011) (documentary) *''

Big Sur Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast of California between Carmel and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. It is frequently praised for its dramatic scenery. Big S ...

'' (2012) (motion picture) *'' Corso: The Last Beat'' (2012) (documentary) *'' On the Road'' (2012) (motion picture) *
The Beat Hotel
' (2012) (documentary) *'' Kill Your Darlings'' (2013) (motion picture) * '' Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder'' (2013) (documentary) *''

Inside Llewyn Davis ''Inside Llewyn Davis'' () is a 2013 period black comedy musical drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen. Set in 1961, the film follows one week in the life of Llewyn Davis, played by Oscar Isaac in his breakt ...

'' (2013) (motion picture)

References

Sources

* Charters, Ann (ed.) (1992) ''The Portable Beat Reader''. Penguin Books. (hc); (pbk). Th
table of contents is online
* Charters, Ann (ed.) (2001) ''Beat Down to Your Soul: What Was the Beat Generation?'' NY: Penguin, 2001. * Knight, Arthur Winfield. Ed. ''The Beat Vision'' (1987) Paragon House. ; (pbk) * Knight, Brenda. ''Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution''. * McClure, Michael. ''Scratching the Beat Surface: Essays on New Vision from Blake to Kerouac''. Penguin, 1994. * Miles, Barry (2001). ''Ginsberg: A Biography''. London: Virgin Publishing Ltd., paperback, 628 pages, * Morgan, Ted (1983) ''Literary Outlaw The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs.'' , first printing, trade paperback edition Avon, NY, NY * Phillips, Lisa. ''Beat Culture and the New America 1950–1965'' published by the Whitney Museum of American Art in accordance with an exhibition in 1995/1996. softcover. hardcover (Flammarion) * Raskin, Jonah. ''American Scream: Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" and the Making of the Beat Generation''. University of California Press, 2004. * Starer, Jacqueline. Les écrivains de la Beat Generation éditions d'écarts Dol de Bretagne France. 1SBN 978-2-919121-02-1 * Weidner, Chad. ''The Green Ghost: William Burroughs and the Ecological Mind''. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2016. 1SBN 978-0809334865

External links

Beat Poetry, Broadsides and Little Magazines Digital Collection: Utah State University
{{Authority control 20th-century American literature American literary movements Cultural generations Literary circles Culture of Columbia University History of Columbia University North Beach, San Francisco Obscenity controversies in literature 1940s neologisms Counterculture communities