The Beat Generation

"The one thing that we yearn for in our living days, that makes us sigh and groan and undergo sweet nauseas of all kinds, is the remembrance of some lost bliss that was probably experienced in the womb and can only be reproduced (though we hate to admit it) in death." (Kerouac, Jack. “On the road.”). This quote, from Jack Kerouac’s book On the Road, is a brilliant example of the overall feel of the Beat Generation. Jack Kerouac is one of the most influential writers of the Beat Generation, rivaled only by the likes of Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burrough. But what exactly is the Beat Generation? What does it mean? Who of note was involved? When did it take place? The “Beat Generation” is a play on words, implying that the participants had been beaten down. The Beat Generation at its core is a collection of post-World War II authors who started to gain notoriety around the 1950’s (Schwartz, Richard A). The Beat Generation can also be classified as a literary and political movement, starting as early as the 1940’s that popularized the “beatnik” mindset (Schwartz, Richard A). The beatnik’s inhabited coffeehouses in the 1950s, performing alternative poetry and making numerous dissident declarations (Schwartz, Richard A). The founders of the Beat Generation included the likes of Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Kerouac, Burroughs and Ginsberg, while three of the more notorious members of the movement, they were by no means alone – some of the more esoteric members of the Beat Generation were Gregory Corso, who joined them in the early 1950’s, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Kenneth Rexroth (Schwartz, Richard A). These authors challenged and enthusiastically campaigned against the homogenization of the American culture...

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