Details the history of the Beat movement, which began in the 1940s, and describes the lives of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs; along with other writers, artists, and events in a graphic novel format.
An anthology of the best of the beats edited by Anne Waldman (who should know) and containing a chronology of the movement from Kerouac to Snyder. The emphasis is on the the poetry and prose excerpts; However, the volume includes brief biographical sketches, an introduction by Ginsberg, a recommended beat vacation guide of the places where the gang passed out or recovered, and more scholarly references. The writers selected for inclusion represent the core of beat: Corso, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Orlovsky, di Prima, Burroughs, Baraka, Ferlinghetti, Kyger, Kandel, Kaufman, Whalen, McClure, and Snyder. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Surveying fiction, poetry, and letters from the Beat writers, this introduction to the sexual reverberations created by this literary movement in the 1940s and 1950s reveals how gay writers were often the people encouraging sexual freedom and experimentation during this period. Original.
The first book-length study of why the Beats were so fascinated by Mexico and how they represented its landscape, history, and mystical practices in their work, this volume examines such canonical figures as Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg, Lamantia, McClure, and Ferlinghetti, as well as lesser-known female Beat writers like Margaret Randall, Bonnie Bremser, and Joanne Kyger.
In the late 50s after an unsuccessful stint in college, Larry Fink dropped out and began an odyssey of hitchhiking through America. Striking out that great Beat mecca, New York City, Fink settled down on Minetta Lane with a chap who fancied himself a poet. Larry was quick to hit McDougal Street where he met Turk, Mary, Bobbie, Motha, Ambrose, Randy and Mike Stanley, and not to mention Hugh Romney (aka Wavy Gravy) and LeRoi Jones and so many more - they soon left New York to cross America for Mexico - in search of the freedoms of the road.
The phrase "beat generation" -- introduced by Jack Kerouac in 1948 -- characterized the underground, nonconformist youths who gathered in New York City at that time. Together, these writers, artists, and activists created an inimitably American cultural phenomenon that would have a global influence. In their constant search for meaning, the Beats struggled with anxiety, alienation, and their role as the pioneers of the cultural revolution of the 1960s. The Philosophy of the Beats explores the enduring literary, cultural, and philosophical contributions of the Beats in a variety of contexts. Editor Sharin N. Elkholy has gathered leading scholars in Beat studies and philosophy to analyze the cultural, literary, and biographical aspects of the movement, including the drug experience in the works of Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, feminism and the Beat heroine in Diane Di Prima's writings, Gary Snyder's environmental ethics, and the issue of self in Bob Kaufman's poetry. The Philosophy of the Beats provides a thorough and compelling analysis of the philosophical underpinnings that defined the beat generation and their unique place in modern American culture.
In this fascinating and informative exploration of the relationship between drugs and literature, the reader will discover the lives and writings of three celebrated "beat" writers: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs. In examining the drugs they used and the consequent effects on how they lived, what they wrote about, and how they wrote, the author offers an intriguing study of the role of drugs in the creative process. No literary movement had ever explored such a variety of drugs (heroin, morphine, alcohol, amphetamines, marijuana, LSD, etc.) with such such intensity as these three iconic writers. As precursors to and models for a whole generation of "flower children," they had a profound impact not only in literature but on the whole of society.
The definitive illustrated collection of Beat culture from the people who made the scene--now in paperback It's been nearly fifty years since Jack Kerouac took to the road, but Beat culture continues to be a popular and influential force in today's writing, music, and art. With more than 75 contributors, this celebratory potpourri of words, illustrations, and photography contains original and previously published essays by Richard Miller, Ann Douglas, Johnny Depp, Michael McClure, Hettie Jones, Hunter S. Thompson, Joyce Johnson, Richard Hell, and others. It includes rare pieces from the Rolling Stone archives by William Burroughs, Lester Bangs, and Robert Palmer as well as intimate photographs by Robert Frank, Annie Leibovitz, and rarely seen photos taken by the Beats themselves. A rich tapestry of voices and a visual treat, this treasury of Beat lore and literature is a true collector's item whose entertainment value will go on...and on. "A huge dim sum cart of a book...a first-rate companion." --Publishers Weekly "Compelling reading." --The Denver Post
The Beats, Black Mountain, and New Modes of American Poetry explores correspondences amongst the Black Mountain and Beat Generation writers, two of most well-known and influential groups of poets in the 1950s. The division of writers as Beat or Black Mountain has hindered our understanding of the ways that these poets developed from mutual influences, benefitted from direct relations, and overlapped their boundaries. This collection of academic essays refines and adds context to Beat Studies and Black Mountain Studies by investigating the groups’ intersections and undercurrents. One goal of the book is to deconstruct the Beat and Black Mountain labels in order to reveal the shifting and fluid relationships among the individual poets who developed a revolutionary poetics in the 1950s and beyond. Taken together, these essays clarify the radical experimentation with poetics undertaken by these poets.