The
Beat Movement: The beat movement was a reaction to society by a
generation that perceived themselves as left without options, and
seemingly, without hope. The disjointed, searching literature that is
characteristic of the Beat Movement is a manifestation of their own
search for identity. The “Beat Generation” developed
first among a small group of friends in the 1940’s, gained
force and popularity in the 1950’s, and began to wane in the
late 1960’s and 1970’s.
Historical
Importance: More than any other generation in American history,
this generation really was beat. Raised during the Great Depression,
Educated during World War II, these young men (and women) knew
nothing but American desperation. During the years the Beats were
writing, conformity was expected and mandated, and every young man
was expected to fit the soldier mold. The subjects the beats chose to
write about, even the techniques they used, (like improvisation, free
association, collage writing, etc.) were all utilized to help them
break free of the nation’s conformity. What sets apart the
beats from other writers, is that the beats chose to live life, then
write about it.
The
Beat Movement’s Most Famous Figures:
(source:
Miriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary)
William
S. Burroughs (1914-1997) Became spokesman for Beat generation in
The Naked Lunch (1959).
Jack
Kerouac (1922-1969) With On the Road (1957) became leader
and spokesman of the Beat generation; wrote in unedited,
nonconformist style.
Allen
Ginsberg (1926-1997) Member of Beat movement with friends Jack
Kerouac, William Burroughs, etc.; wrote Howl (1956), Kaddish
and other Poems (1961).
Exemplary
Quotes:
“I
ran a quarter-mile to an abandoned cute English-style filling station
and stood under the dripping eaves. High up over my head the great
hairy Bear Mountain sent down thunderclaps that put the fear of God
in me. All I could see were smoky trees and dismal wilderness rising
to the skies. ‘What the hell am I doing up here?’ I
cursed, I cried for Chicago.”
-Jack
Kerouac, On the Road
In
this passage, Sal Paradise has just tried to hitchhike alone,
unsuccessfully. Even in this short excerpt, we can see a need for
movement and for change, but a yearning for a home and for something
stable.
"I saw
the best minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
looking for an angry fix”
-Alan Ginsberg
Howl
The first few lines of Ginsberg’s Howl
are enough to express his general sentiment about his generation: An
intelligent and gifted generation was ruined by their desire to
discover more of themselves and their world.
“You're
supposed to make only two quarts of Kool-Aid from a package, but he
always made a gallon, so his Kool-Aid was a mere shadow of its
desired potency. And you're supposed to add a cup of sugar to every
package of Kool-Aid, but he never put any sugar in his Kool-Aid
because there wasn't any sugar to put in it.
He created
his own Kool-Aid reality and was able to illuminate himself by it.”
-Richard Brautigan
Trout Fishing in America
A
seemingly simple excerpt about a child and his weak Kool-Aid, this
can be seen as Brautigan’s comment on the people in the mass
culture he was surrounded by. Without seeking to know themselves,
without adding “sugary goodness” to their life, they were
still satisfied with their lives because it was all they’d ever
known.
he
Beat Movement: The beat movement was a reaction to society by a
generation that perceived themselves as left without options, and
seemingly, without hope. The disjointed, searching literature that is
characteristic of the Beat Movement is a manifestation of their own
search for identity. The “Beat Generation” developed
first among a small group of friends in the 1940’s, gained
force and popularity in the 1950’s, and began to wane in the
late 1960’s and 1970’s.