The Beat Generation
(1944-1960)
The Beat Generation began in 1944 in New York City when Jack Kerouac
(22) and Allen Ginsberg (18), both students at Columbia University, and
Harvard graduate William S. Burroughs (30) all met through mutual friends.
All three men shared a passion for literature, intellectual discussion, philosophy
and drug experimentation.
1955 was a landmark year for the Beat Generation. By this time many of
the Beats now congregated in San Francisco’s North Beach, an area with a rich
Italian immigrant population.
City Lights Bookstore, owned by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, was
the social nexus of the neighborhood
The Six Gallery Reading
October 1955
The Six Gallery Reading cont.
-Put the Beat Generation on the literary map
- Ushered in The San Francisco Poetry Renaissance
-Allen Ginsberg read his famous poem “Howl” for the first time
The Six Gallery cast
MC: Kenneth Rexroth
Readers
Allen Ginsberg
Gary Snyder
Michael McClure
Philip Whalen
Philip Lamantia
1957
The Year It Blew Wide Open!
The publication of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road and the celebrated obscenity
trial for “Howl” brought the Beats into the national spotlight and into
mainstream American consciousness. “Beatnik” became a household word.
Father of the Beat Generation –
He coined the term “Beat”
French-Canadian, non-native
speaker of English
High school football star – awarded
a scholarship to Columbia university,
where he met Ginsberg and Burroughs
Became an alcoholic in later life –
died of a stomach hemorrhage
Jack Kerouac
(1922-1969)
On The Road, Kerouac’s most famous novel,
was published in 1957. It brought the Beat
Generation into the mainstream. The NY Times
Book review sealed the deal.
The original manuscript was typed on a single
sheet of teletype paper 120 feet long.
The “Bible” of the Beat Generation
Other famous Kerouac novels:
The follow up novel after the success
of On The Road
About Kerouac’s friendship with poet
and Zen student Gary Snyder
Depicts the North Beach scene, the Six
Gallery Reading, and Kerouac’s forays into
Buddhism and the High Sierras
Details Kerouac’s relationship with an
African-American woman, Alene Lee
(“Mardou Fox” in the novel
Significant in its depiction of an inter-racial
relationship in mid-century America
Written in three days
Style modeled on Bebop jazz
Kerouac’s most experimental novel,
Compared to Joyce or Proust
The middle third of the novel
Is transcribed tape recorded conversation
Kerouac considered it his masterpiece
Not published in Kerouac’s lifetime
In Kerouac’s only American television appearance,
He read Visions of Cody in lieu of On The Road
Allen Ginsberg
(1926-1997)
Father a high school teacher and minor poet
Mother a communist Russian émigré who suffered
from severe mental illness
Attended Columbia University with intent to be a
labor lawyer. Met Burroughs and Kerouac in 1944
and dedicated his life to poetry
Became lifelong companion to Peter Orlovsky beginning in the 1950s
Literary agent and champion of the Beats
Very active in 1960s counterculture and beyond as a practicing Buddhist
Ginsberg’s most famous poem
First read at the Six Gallery
Contained profanity and strong
sexual content. Was outlawed for
being obscene and pornographic.
Published in 1956, “Howl” was taken
to trial in 1957.
Ultimately won its civil liberties battle
and paved the way for many other books
to be published in the United States
Arguably the most important poem of the second half of the 20th Century
William S. Burroughs
(1914-1997)
Eldest member of the Beat Generation
Harvard graduate
Met Kerouac and Ginsberg in NYC in 1944
Heroin addict for 15 years
Accidentally shot his
wife in the head
First novel: Junkie
Burroughs’s most famous novel
Published in 1959 by the Olympia Press in Paris
Because of its obscene content, could not be published
In the United States until after the “Howl” trial
The novel is a series of surrealistic sketches or “routines” originally
Sent to Allen Ginsberg in letter form
Jack Kerouac came up with the title
The Nova Trilogy
A science fiction trilogy
The Soft Machine
The Ticket that Exploded
Nova Express
Composed in the 1950s in Tangier, Paris (at the Beat Hotel), and London
Some of the material is left over from Naked Lunch
Utilizes the cut-up and fold-in methods of writing
Neal Cassady
The hero of On The Road (Dean Moriarty)
Source if inspiration for Kerouac and Ginsberg
Because of his exuberance, energy, and spontaneity
Like Ginsberg, became a countercultural icon of the 1960s