This paper discusses Jack Kerouac's "On the Road", Allen Ginsberg's "Howl", and William Burroughs's "Naked Lunch" as examples of the literary, 1950s BeatGeneration.
Abstract This paper explains that Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs were the galvanizing forces behind the BeatGeneration; their writings and revolutionary narrative techniques created a national sensation that is still debated in modern literary circles. The author points out that Kerouac's ?On the Road ?, the most respected work of the group, at first glance seems incoherent; but, as the novel progresses, we discover the story moves from a superficial sense of order to a deeper, more penetrating sense of openness. The paper relates that "Howl" is not the work of an angry young man; Ginsberg emerges from this rather long poem as a rancorous and somewhat gloomy mystic seer as opposed to a deferential and conventional kind of person that had symbolized the youth of the post-WWII period.
From the Paper "The sex that is virtually dominant in the world of "Naked Lunch" appears to reflect the sex that Freud revealed as the ultimate cause, means, and end. Anything goes in Interzone, and the sex is there in all varieties and expressions. However, it is "junk" which sufficiently separates the narrator from the group consciousness to let him have this vision of things as they are. Junk has its literal importance as a stimulus, but it is also important as a symbol. In general, it is a symbol of meaninglessness, or life as the be-all and end-all of an evolving world. Only be coming into ultimate contact with junk, by knowing it as a symbol, one can realize the separate life."
Abstract 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 BeatGeneration. 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?"
Tags: On, the, Road, The, Town, and, the, City, Sal, Paradise
Abstract This paper is an in-depth examination of the emergence of Buddhism on the American cultural scene in the 1950s. It discusses Beat literature, the origins and aspects of the BeatGeneration, and their effect on American culture. The author illustrates the works of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and Allen Ginsberg's "Howl". It analyzes the friendship between the close-knit group of friends and their rise to literary fame, both individually and as a group. It demonstrates how personality and drug addiction is seen in their writing style. This paper also describes the permanent place of Buddhism in American society as a result of the culture of the Beat artists
From the Paper "Historical events are usually much more complex than the annals of the past can easily demonstrate. The average person has only a cursory knowledge of most historical episodes, leaving intellectual movements like scientific advancements, philosophical developments, and social reforms largely incomplete and misunderstood from a "public relations" standpoint. For example, a common definition for Buddhism might read something like this: A philosophy dedicated to the realization of the essence of life, leading to true selfless enlightenment and the reconciliation of suffering. Now of course that definition leaves an enormous amount of leeway for the real body of experiences and thoughts that are Buddhism. Likewise, the average person might reflect upon the Beat Generation as a social and literary movement motivated by personal escape from the monotony of 1950's American society. But as much as I know about these two subjects (which admittedly I am no expert at but am a learned student of), I cannot develop a brief definition that can come close to adequately representing these topics."
Abstract This paper explains how the BeatGeneration came about, tells how this generation got its name, explains why and in what way it was a counterculture movement that challenged the mechanical existence of the majority and talks about how it effects American society even to this day.
From the Paper "According to modern mythology, it has been said that the birth of the Beat Generation can be traced back to the year 1944. World War II raged throughout Europe. This was the year of the D-Day landing, and this was the year that the United Nations first came to power, and this was the year that "Lady Chatterly's Lover" by D. H. Lawrence was found to be obscene in the United States, and this was the year in which New York City was flooded by European Surrealists gathering together with American artists and writers, influencing the thoughts and works and direction of the art movements nationwide. This was also the year that Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Herbert Hunckle met in New York City among the artists gathered there, and this meeting around Columbia University and Times Square would lead to the writing of one of the great Beat Generation novels."
Abstract Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac
This paper is an analysis of On the Road, the most famous literary product of the Beatgeneration. The author looks at the life of the book's creator, Jack Kerouac, and his philosophies on life, and restless spirit as he wandered and searched for meaning in all Kerouac encountered.
From the paper:
"Though it is not the only work of his art, On the Road, for better or worse, has become Kerouac's most famous novel. This book has performed as a means to meet the desires for a number of other people who feel to be having a restless and curious soul. The book itself initiated a cultural revolution, hence diverting about millions of people on new ideological channels. At the same time it arched Kerouac to a fame that he was never expecting and for which his calm, sacred soul was not prepared to deal with."
Tags: road, on, beat, generation, paradise, sal, moriarty, dean
Abstract This paper introduces the beginning of the BeatGeneration and how it was influenced by the author Jack Kerouac as shown in his story: "The Good Blonde".
From the paper:
"Expression of this need for individualism despite a conformity in society, expressed itself in the Beats with free association and jazz inspired language and improvisational literary techniques, in experimentation in drugs, sex, anything that would break free of the good soldier mold."
Tags: Ginsburg, free-, style, norm, jazz, narcotics, hitchhiking, free, love
Abstract This paper studies the book "On the Road". It describes the main characters and their personalities. It summarizes the tale and its plot of friendship and travel. The author finds that 'On the Road' is a testament to the wandering pioneer spirit of America by detailing travels across America. He feels that it presents the "beatgeneration" as a "holy" generation, one free from the hazards of aspiration, greediness and beliefs that was in a constant search for some greater truth.
From the Paper "On the road is one of the best Beat novels written by Jack Kerouac. It is a captivating, moral and touching tale that has given a detailed account of a friendship and the four trips across America. The writer has used his full creativity and talents in producing this piece of work. The presentation is so effective that the readers starts to have a feeling that if he/she is in that place. The narrator of this tale is a character named as Sal Paradise who is a young college boy living with his aunt in Paterson, New Jersey. The real story starts from the point when a college friend of Sal invites him to spend some time with him in San Francisco besides he also wanted to see his most beloved friend Dean Moriarty in Denver. Dean Moriarty is the second most prominent character of the story that is presented as a talkative, womanizer type of a guy, who was living in New York in a hope to become a writer. He is very much idealized by Sal as he is too joyous and is very confident and smart while being with women. "
Abstract This is a look at the various literary criticisms of "Howl", the famous poem by Allen Ginsburg. The author argues that the criticism is as schizophrenic as the poem itself. Opinions are presented from the following critics and writers: Robert Henson, Diane Middlebrook, Alicia Ostriker and Norman Podhoretz.
From the Paper "Allen Ginsberg, born in 1926, and often hailed as the poet laureate of "the beat generation" creates in "Howl", a frenzied controversy, among writers, which is the source and subject of much criticism and contradiction. ?Howl,? Published in 1955, perhaps Ginsberg's most famous poem and the center of a highly scandalized censorship case, has been both praised and criticized as a monolith for ?the beat generation.? Acclaimed by members of what could be considered low culture, the pop cultural masses, as well as by what could be considered high culture, the academic and renown scholar, as a representation of social hypocrisy, "Howl" cannot be categorized by either. The academic and knowledgeable language, references and devices used in a radical and informal style make it impossible to force "Howl" into either high or low culture brackets. "Howl" eludes the past 50 years of criticism as a comprehensive outburst of everything frustrated and repressed in the postwar baby boom era and thus is a deceptively easy yet slippery target for this discussion"
Abstract The paper discusses the core theme and purpose of Jack Kerouac's novel "On the Road" which was published in 1957. The novel is essentially about the author's trips to various parts of the country in search of wisdom and truth. This paper focuses on the actual purpose of the journey and finds out if the writer was finally able to reach his destination or not. The paper also discusses the Beatgeneration briefly and explains why it was difficult for people to understand the theme of the novel when it first appeared in 1950s.
From the Paper "On the Road is one of the most widely read books that emerged out of the Beat generation of the 1950s. To understand On the Road better, it is important to delve deeper in the society and culture of the time when Americans were increasingly looking for an alternative lifestyle and in their quest for something unique and different, they experimented with everything that appeared wild and adventurous. Jack Kerouac was one important beats icon and in his book, he has essentially talked about the journey that took him to different parts of the country. The author has not discussed this journey as simply a vacation trip; there is something intensely deep and meaningful in his travel chronicles. He was not precisely interested in visiting various parts of the country but his journey actually reflects a disturbed soul and mind looking for some stability in unpredictable and uncertain times."
Abstract This paper discusses the life and writing of Jack Kerouac, the 1950s American author whose novel "On the Road" is considered a classic. The paper traces Kerouac's childhood in Massachusetts, including watershed events such as the death of his older brother. Then the paper analyzes the influence of the BeatGeneration and other social phenomena on Kerouac's writing. The paper concludes with Kerouac's tragic demise from alcohol.
From the Paper "The Beat Generation. The Fabulous Fifties. Elvis. Rock and Roll. The Communist Menace. And then there was author Jack Kerouac. He defined a restless, dynamic and evolving generation of angst-ridden adventurers, who were desperately searching for the true meaning of life in the embodiment of this complex muse. Kerouac exuded a James Dean-like persona - in the way he wrote about, and ultimately lived, his life. Agnes Machate writes of Kerouac and his fellow writers of the Beat Generation: "They did not seem to pay too much attention to what was socially practical; in this regard they were rebels. If being non-conformist met their need for freedom and let them express themselves the way the wanted, and allowed them to be what they wanted to be, they did not have to obey any rules. They wouldn't fit in a group, but instead, stand out, so they wouldn't conform just to avoid an unpleasant treatment from society." ("The Generation of Extremes" 1)."
Tags:beat, generation, on, the, road, american, novel, alcoholism, rebel
Abstract Discusses Jack Kerouac's novel "On the Road" and its historical significance as a BeatGeneration novel. The paper looks at the novel's exploration of identity, its rebellion against the conventional era of the 1950s and the quest of the main protagonists for something different and better.
From the Paper "Jack Kerouac along with William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg was a seminal figure of the Beat Generation which emerged in the ..."
Abstract This paper explains that Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" is an expression of the beatgeneration of 1950s America. The author points out the way the novel functions as a document of the psychological and cultural experience of an individual. The paper states that the book also offers insight into the attitudes and behavior of a society.
From the Paper "To say that Jack Kerouac's novel "On the Road" is autobiographical is a little like saying that Rembrandt did self-portraits once in a while. In a way that relatively few fictional treatments of one's current experience of life have managed, "On the Road" functions ..."
Tags: Jack, Kerouac, ON, THE, ROAD, Beat, Generation
Abstract This paper describe the beatgeneration, a close group of American writers of the 1950s of whom Jack Kerouac is associated. This group rejected materialism and consumer society and put forth a new set of values. The paper relates that Jack Kerouac in his 1957 novel "On the Road" speaks about this dissatisfaction with contemporary society by presenting a moral and psychological portrait . The paper also points out that Kerouac uses the stream of consciousness technique to recreate his and his friends' deeply philosophical and spiritual cross-country road trips across America. The paper highlights the two main characters of the novel, Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, who in reality are Jack Kerouac and his closest friend Neal Cassady.
From the Paper "The Beats were intellectuals, writers who experimented with Zen Buddhism and drugs; the spiritually enlightening experiences that came as a result of the experimentation are described in the novel by characters such as Carlo Marx - real life Beat icon, Allen Ginsberg - and Dean Moriarty. What is interesting to mention here is that Sal Paradise, the main character and narrator of the novel, does not participate in his friends' experiments with Benzedrine. Moreover, he expresses his reluctance as to the possibility of finding one's soul i.e. what the other members of his entourage were looking for."
Abstract Reviews the generations of the 1920s, 50s, 60s, 80s and 90s. Differences in outlook and approaches to life. Discusses the social meaning of the labels attached to each generation. Lost generation, beatgeneration, hip culture, Hippies, Yuppies, Generation X. Media attention to counter cultural efforts. Protest movements. Ties to youth culture.
From the Paper "The labels attached to many American generations in the twentieth century generally refer to a small number of people. Gertrude Stein's famous remark to Ernest Hemingway about his "lost generation," for example, referred to a group of writers (Gans, 1992). Similarly, the number of people actually involved in Beat culture in the 1950s and in Hippie culture and New Left politics in the 1960s, as well as the actual number of people who could be termed Yuppies in the 1980s, was relatively small. Even the label Generation X which has been applied to the most recent generation, while it may have a broader scope, still seems to reflect attitudes, concerns, and interests that are held by only a portion of the generation in question. Yet the widespread use of these terms--which were stretched far beyond their original constituencies--had two effects. On the one hand, the broadened ..."
Abstract This paper discusses how first generation immigrants view the world that they are entering as one of promise and hope. By the time that this group of individuals has become socialized however their offspring has inherited the first generation ideals, but their view of the world often lacks the strength of the cultural values that their parents originated with. The paper further discusses how by the third generation the socialization of the family often leaves a tremendous gap between the values of the original immigrants and their grandchildren. The paper then goes on to consider why the two groups often cannot relate to one another and much of the cultural identity is lost. Weber considered this process between the immigrant generations through the concept of value axiom in which social controls ultimately changed the ideologies held by individuals of the same background over periods of time.
