Literature in the Beat Generation

Paper Summary:

In the late 1950s groups of young people decided to "drop out" of society and questioned the right of authority to determine what morality was. This paper examines the writers who represented this time in U.S. history, later know as the Beat Generation. The paper looks specifically at the works of Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, but also mentions Allen Ginsburg and Gregory Corso.

From the Paper:

"The Beat movement was especially valid on college campuses, which may seem strange (as it did at the time) to parents whose hard work had scraped up tuition money so their kids could get a better education. The fact that these kids were now reading "Naked Lunch" by William Burroughs, and reading whatever Ken Kesey wrote (including "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) and were flocking to "road" movies like "Easy Rider" was something the older generation simply could not understand. Why would these kids, brought up in nice homes, with doting parents, want to rebel against the system that got them to college in the first place?"

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