Beat Countercultural Movement

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Recommended: Values of the beat generation

To say that the Beat generation has affected modern culture seems at first to be no great revelation; it is inevitable that any period of history will affect the time that follows. The Beat generation is especially significant, though, because of its long lasting impact on American culture. Many aspects of modern American culture can be directly attributed to the Beat writers, primarily Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and Jack Kerouac. (Asher) Their influence has changed the American perception of obscenity, has had profound effects on American music and literature, and has modified the public’s views on such topics as sex and drug use.

The label “Beat Generation” was first publicized in a 1952 New York Times Magazine article entitled, “This is the Beat Generation.” In this article, author John Clellen Holmes states that “beat” means “More than mere weariness,” involving “a sort of nakedness of mind, and, ultimately, of soul; a feeling of being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness.” (Holmes) These feelings became the inspiration for the Beat writers and from them sprang ideas that permeated throughout society. Major interests among the Beats were freedom, self-expression, and a rejection of mainstream ideologies (such as those governing drugs, sex, and spirituality). (Scheibach 213)

Much of this new post-World War II era thinking was ill-received by many Americans at the time. Popular Beat writer Allen Ginsburg recited his famous poetic work, “Howl,” at the Six Gallery in San Francisco on October 13, 1955. This reading was followed by a book of his poems, including Howl, being published, which was subsequently seized by officials and lead to an obscenity trial in 1957. (Howl)This landmark event marked a ch...

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...ll aspects of American culture, and their influence can still be felt today. For good or for ill, nothing has impacted the whole of society quite so much as the Beat generation, which has been described as the first true American subculture.

Works Cited
Asher, Levi. Literary Kicks: The Beat Generation. 24 July 1994. .

Holmes, John Clellon. "This is the Beat Generation." New York Times Magazine 16 November 1952.

Scheibach, Micheal. "Atomic Narratives and American Youth." McFarland, n.d. 213.

WikiMedia Foundation, Inc. Beat Generation. 15 December 2008. .

—. Howl. 15 December 2008. .

—. Obscenity. 15 December 2008. .

—. Sexual Revolution. 15 December 2009. .

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