Post Modernism: Beat Generation

What common qualities do the "Beats" share? Why were they so named? 

Beat poetry emerged from the disillusionment that followed World War II, a period of unimaginable atrocities including the Holocaust and the dropping of the atomic bomb over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, 1945 respectively. Science had militarially progressed mankind to the brink whereby millions could be killed instantly. Following the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union quickly entered a Cold War, a period of political hostility that created paranoia and cultural and political repression. 

By the 1950’s a new generation of American writers, many University educated from upper middle-class, rebelled against societal norms of American culture built on capitalism and materialism. They were mainly a boys club that included Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Gary Synder, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and others. (Poetry Foundation, 2020) 

Common characteristics of the Beat generation: 

  • Formless and Colloquial language. Spontanous writing was a reaction against stiff formal verse that uses high minded language. They wanted their works to be accessible to everyone which is why it was written in the vernacular. 

  • Drugs. They experimented with all kinds of drugs, from alcohol and marijuana to LSD and other psychedelic drugs. Some claiming it facilitated creativity to break through an invisible barrier to a higher plain of enlightenment. 

  • Sexuality. They were openly gay and bisexual and candidly wrote about it at a time when homosexual acts were illegal  

  • Controversy. Being controversial was essential to the beats. They were ticked off and they wanted to tick people off and were unafraid of obscenities and works being banned for example Allen Ginsberg poem “Howl” 

  • Nature. Some beat writers formed an appreciation for nature and wrote extensively on the subject. 

  • Religion. Many studied and developed a respect for Eastern religions like Budhism

(Mountford, 2020) 

The term "Beat Generation" was invented by Jack Kerouac to describe someone living with no money and few prospects. Herbert Huncke coined the phrase "Beat" in a conversation with Kerouac, who was interested in how their generation would be remembered. "I'm beat," was Huncke's reply, meaning tired and beat to his socks. (Huncke, 2020) 

REFERENCES 

Mountfort, P. (2020). Literature/Desire. Learning Tasks [ Week 11.4: ONLINE LECTURE ]. ENGL600¬_2020_01 (Literature/Desire(s1,2020). Retrieved from http://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/ 

Mountfort, P. (2020). Literature/Desire.Critical Reader. ENGL600¬_2020_01 (Literature/Desire(s1,2020). Retrieved from http://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/ 

Huncke. H (2020). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Huncke 

Poetry Foundation. An Introduction to the Beat Poets. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/147552/an-introduction-to-the-beat-poets 
   

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