...The Beats were a criticism of American complacency and an expression of new forms of literature that has constantly influenced our society and living. The Beat generation started from a group of American writers who emerged in the 1950s. Among many Beat Generation writers, most influential members were Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs and Gary Snyder. All the writers have contributed to the literature society in their own different and unique way. Here in this essay, I will explore on unique characteristics or contributions that each writer has made on our literature society. Norman Mailer was a predominant writer in 1950s. He is mostly known as the writer of “White Negro”. He contributed on our literature by clarifying who Beat Generations are and how do we define them. In his essay The White Negro, he defined the Beatnik as young white people who like Jazz and swing music so much that they adopted black culture as their own. Beatniks adopted the African American vernacular language to differentiate themselves from the so-called “Mainstream”. The word they use is semantically flexible that words such as man, beat, cool, swing, with it, crazy, dig, flip, creep and hip can mean hundreds different things depending upon context to tone and rhythm. By further defining and exploring the meaning of Beat Generation, he allowed others to see what beat generation is truly about. Without his essay “The White Negro”, people would have interpreted Beat Generation...
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...[pic][pic] [pic]Copyright © 2005 West Chester University. All rights reserved. College Literature 32.2 (2005) 103-126 [pic] | |[pic][pic][pic] | | | |[pic] | | | |[pic] | | | |[pic] | | | |[pic] | | | |[pic] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Access provided by Northwestern University Library ...
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...Baber 10/23/12 Beat Literature practice college paper Through out the beat literature you can find recurring themes like religion that make the different stories/poems very similar. The beat generation rejects the American culture that covers up the disasters that are happening. They turned to Buddhism for peace. A big group of people called “the beats” went off the mainstream path and started doing things that were not typical to do during that time period. Some things that were not mainstream was the beats started to practice Buddhism and the way they write their stories and poem for example the style and run on sentences. The members of the Beat Generation rejected mainstream Western traditions because they felt those traditions were covering up what was wrong in 1950s America. Through out the different beat literatures there are many references where the beats reject Western traditions and went off the mainstream path. In the Note on Religious Tendencies by Gary Snyder that the Beat Generation do “experimentation with narcotics […] and intelligent use of drugs.” (Religious Tendencies) This demonstrates the Beats would rather not follow the mainstream path and would rather do different things like try different kinds of drugs and experiment with them. The Beats wanted to push themselves away from being with the mainstream people. They want to do different things even if they were not acceptable. Trying the different drugs showed that the Beats were doing something...
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...The end of World War two brought upon conformity and a conservative mindset. The majority of young people's priorities were to marry, move to suburbs, and be financially successful. However, there was a young group of men who were strongly against the "American dream" that the rest of society was working for. These men were Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Neal Cassidy. They were a group of "struggling writers, students, hustlers, and drug addicts" (Wikipedia.com) better known as the "beats", and the founding fathers of the beat generation. Jack Kerouac is often seen as the leading pioneer of the beats. Kerouac was born in 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Lowell was a small town, and "out of the raw outline of the legend he made out of his life in Lowell is simple and uncomplicated" (Charters 23). Kerouac had wild and vivid fantasies of making his life a legend. "He was always adapting roles, always an outsider, a spectator peering into the window like a shadow" (Charters 29). Life in Lowell would be no material for a legend, but life in New York would be. It was in New York that Kerouac was introduced to William S. Burroughs. He would become the biggest influence on Jack's life at the time. Burroughs was a writer as well, but never considered himself one. He had interest in experimenting with criminal behavior, and often had contacts in the criminal "underground". However, His confidence and style awed Kerouac. Kerouac would leave New York and later return...
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...excitement of jazz to be particularly inspiring. Beat Generation in the 1950s marked the beginnings of a major cultural turning point in the United States. Jack Kerouac dominated the literature world with a new sense of adventure during the counterculture movement of the 1960s.No author described the connection between jazz and the beat movement better than Jack Kerouac. On...
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...Good afternoon dear professors and dear colleagues! Today I have an opportunity to present to you the research, the designation of which is «Lexical analysis of the novel «On the road» written by Jack Kerouac». Trips, journeys, wanderings and youth are the main sources of inspiration for Jack Kerouac whose book has remained bestseller for more than 60 years. Buddhist, philosopher and travelling writer, not only wrote the book about hitchhiking, but also gave the name to the whole direction in literature and society, namely beat generation. Besides, the novel is characterized by autobiographical features since Jack Kerouac depicts the life of beat generation, the representor of which he was. From linguistic point of view, «On the road» is a unique example of spontaneous prose invented by Kerouac therefore it is an interesting material to research. Furthermore, little research has been undertaken to study the novel ‘On the Road’ as a linguistic phenomenon. The actuality of the theme of our research consists in research of the emotive prose as a linguistic prose, stylistic and lexical peculiarities of which are not investigated enough. The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze lexical and stylistic items used in novel ‘On the Road’ by Jack Kerouac. The tasks of our paper lie in description of stylistic characteristics of emotive prose, in detection and analysis of lexical and stylistic items in the novel. The object of the research is the novel ‘On the Road’ written...
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...Howl In the post-World War II years, a cultural and literary movement began. A new generation of American writers, artists and thinkers reacted and expressed their ideas in obscene forms. They were called “The Beats” who were formed in the 1950’s by poets Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Howl by Allen Ginsberg illustrates America’s post-World War II culture and political issues through his journey and views. The use of metaphors, tone, and descriptive language draw parallels between the ideas of, conformity to institutions, sexual repression, and religion. According to the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Allen’s Ginsberg was a popular poet after World War II. He was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1926. Ginsberg attended college at Columbia...
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...While both Hipster from the Beat Generation and Hipsters today have a lot in common, the original hipsters accomplished, set grounds, and made a bigger name for themselves. Hipsters have been around for decades and have had the same goal, which is to relatively stand outside of the mainstream crowd. However, I believe the idea of being a hipster and knowing what it is to call oneself a hipster has been misconceived. Hipsters today do not really understand what it means to be different and a Hipster; rather, they are following suite instead of being different. Hipsters back then during the Beat Generation were frankly different. Ironically, they went according to their own “beat”. There weren’t any rules, from the way they dressed, how they...
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...United by Differences “I am an American.” No phrase has held so many meanings and explanations that it requires the context of the world to understand. America has come to be identified as a conglomeration of different ethnicities and cultures from across the world. Almost all Americans emigrated from another nation to form an encompassing society in this nation. America is comprised of a literal and metaphorical “melting pot” of immigrant cultures, customs, religions, and philosophies. Although our flag is not tied together by one culture or ethnicity, certain characteristics are truly woven into a person on this soil. An American is not defined by their religion, customs or place or origin, but by their drive for freedom, equality and the pursuit of the American Dream. Every American has been shaped by the plethora of different cultures that permeate through this unique society. While many other nations divide or separate through differences, Americans can be tied together by these very same disparities. A citizen can be English, Chinese, Polish, Italian, Greek; they can be Catholic, Buddhist, Jewish, or Islamic. No religion, no custom, no ethnicity can truly define every citizen of America because it “is every person’s country” (Crevecoeur 309). Yet, because of this great diversity, many Americans have an appreciation or understanding for the co-existence of lifestyles and beliefs. Since the founding of this country in Jamestown and the Pilgrims of Plymouth, immigrants...
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...A twist of Individuality Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl is one of the most widely read and translated poems of the century. The language incorporated in the poem is difficult to understand which requires readers to contemplate and think outside of the box. However despite the difficulty, Ginsberg gives the reader a deeper understanding of how he feels by expressing his individualism through the poem with tone and imagery. During the 1950’s, an American literary movement emerged known as the Beat Generation. The origins of the Beat Generation can be traced to Columbia University where Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and others initially met. These Beat poets who were referred to as “the best minds” in Howl, broke free from the habit of conformity...
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...The Beat Generation of the post-war 1950s is the Lost Generation of disillusioned rebellious young men looking for freedom and self-expression. It is a religious generation on a spiritual quest back and forth in the lands of America. A relatively small movement in terms of published literature, the Beatnik generation's literary sphere was dominated by three leading figures: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs. The writings of these figures generally focused on the major themes of the generation itself, advocating a modern bohemian hedonism far exceeding that of any other movement of the 20th century.The most prominent and famous writer of this Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac, portrays his journeys through America in his autobiographical novel On the Road. In the book, Sal Paradise, the literary equivalent of Jack Kerouac, is a writer outsider in the search of a place under the sun. He is bored, disillusioned, and unhappy. Upon meeting his hero, Dean Moriarty, Paradise goes on a journey through the lands of America and Mexico, experimenting with drugs, sex, and alcohol, hitchhiking, stealing, sleeping under the sun, starving, yet engaging in exuberant and memorable experiences. Both friends rebel against the conformist American dream and go on the road to break with conventions and rules, with heightened expectations of what life should be and what life could actually offer. As they follow through their travels, the way they interact or exist in the different...
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...Jack Kerouac’s novel, On the Road, is about the journey of a young college-age man across the country in search of something more from his life in post-war America. The book revolves around a young man named Sal Paradise, and the whole story is told from his perspective. The rambling writing, while hard to understand sometimes, offers a detailed record of his pursuit and the ensuing antics. The story starts in 1947 where Sal meets a man named Dean Moriarty, a lively and animated man who was a “sideburned hero of the snowy West” (Kerouac 2). It was Dean who prompted Sal’s adventurous travels west. Along the way, Dean and Sal befriend Carlo Marx, an energetic young poet who shares the same view of wanting something a little more out of life. Sal’s journeys across the U.S. and to Mexico open his eyes to the good and bad, the up and downs in life. His constant stints on the road with madman Dean sometimes got him in trouble with the law. Other times, the trips allowed Sal to truly find out more about himself, and relate to Dean on a more personal level to share and connect The meaning behind the title On the Road lies in Sal’s innate desire for something more. The road in this novel comes to symbolize freedom and the solution to answer life’s problems. Sal constantly finds a refreshing sense of purity once he hits the open road, especially in the company of Dean, whose spirit was the catalyst for the voyages in the first place. However, once Sal and Dean get to Mexico City...
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...A Howl in the Wind Allen Ginsberg was one of the most influential poets /writers during his time. He was considered as the founding father of the Beat Generation and was known for his poem, HOWL. In addition, Ginsberg was born in Newark, New Jersey in the year 1926, suffering from an emotionally troubled life throughout his teenaged years because he’s been secluded when finally realizing his desirability towards men, while his father Louis is the one who introduced Ginsberg to poetry. Besides his father, Ginsberg had many literary influences such as, William Carlos Williams, Lionel Trilling, Mark Van Doren, etc. Nonetheless, later in the years, after remaining an “iconic figure” of the counterculture throughout the 1960 and 70s, he passed...
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...Lester Bangs got his start in southern California, where he grew up surrounded by religion and strict restrictions on the media he consumed. Despite being heavily sheltered, he was exposed to the beat generation, and was heavily influenced by William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Like many of his generation, Bangs had a distrust of the government and a desire to break the mold of his parents, who were a devout Jehovah’s Witness and an absent alcoholic. Bangs was determined not to let his upbringing dictate his life, and spoke often about not using family as “not using that as an excuse.” Lester Bangs started his journalism career by writing for Rolling Stone, his first piece was a scathing review of MC5 and from then on he began to regularly...
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...价值取向的正确选择 一个国家和社会的体质对整个民族的价值取向有着深刻的影响。社会转型和改革往往会对人民价值取向产生一些变化。所造成的个人问题或者是社会问题应该怎样的面对并采取有效正确的措施来解决是每个民族都会面临的问题。我们不能采取鸵鸟的姿态一味的忽视，而是应该正视它并想办法克服。 刘心武的小说《人面鱼》告诉我们，人可以有选择追求不同欲望的权利，无论追求物质，爱情，还是精神都可以有，没有所谓的对与错，道德是否高尚，但一旦做了选择，就要快乐接受，要坦然面对，承担起作为一个成年人应该面临的得与失。凡事都不可能有十全十美，今天的你必然是昨天的你做出的选择和决定造就的。就像故事的女主人公，过去的她因为男方家里过于穷困，连可以伸直腿睡觉的床都没有，要跟他爸妈一起挤在一个公厕旁的小房间里，就放弃了与男主人公的爱情。出国后的她嫁给了有钱又热情追求她的汤尼，但对于女主人公而言她跟汤尼的关系是纯粹的物质，她对爱情，或者更确切的说是她的情欲得不到满足，洞房花烛夜的时候就对丈夫不满意。贯穿全文的绿色代表灵肉合一的性，可是跟托尼看不到绿色。作者创造了一个人面鱼，是当年知青下放村边池塘里一条畸形的鱼。这里的鱼代表欲望，孟子说:“鱼和熊掌不可兼得”，告诉我们人不可能实现自己所有的欲望，有得必有失，有失必有得。人面鱼第一次被提起是在汤尼家，她用人面鱼来搪塞汤尼的问题。她把唯一的得不到的情欲畸形神话了，那条畸形的鱼就代表着畸形的欲望。包围在周围的的小鱼，就是托尼对他万般宠爱。但她不满足，不快乐，跟丈夫育有一儿一女却仍然感觉不到幸福。既然女主人公选择了面包放弃了爱情，那么她就应该多看看选择面包所带给她的好处，而不是一味遗憾自己当年所丢弃的爱情。只要她能转念，坦然接受自己的选择所带给自己的好，那么其实她还是可以找到生活中的幸福和快乐的。跟女主人公追求的不同，男主人公最大的欲望是安贫乐道，知足常乐，安居乐业。他继承爸爸拉车的工作，除了想要捡些材料在公厕旁搭建一个小房间外没有奢求。他可能也是喜欢女主人公的，可是那个欲望太大，因为他们的身份地位差距悬殊，在当时连谈恋爱都是要批准的社会环境下，他一个穷小子是不可能娶部长的女儿为妻的，所以他选择了理性面对，没有寄出回信而是丢到池塘被人面鱼吃了，这是人面鱼第二次被提到，是作为一个见证者得角色，他选择了安分的过他的小日子。男的安贫乐道，很快乐，女的追求物质却并不快乐。两种对欲望追求的方向不一样，结果也不一样 。可是当个人的欲望追求强加给整个民族是，那么结果就不只是个人是否幸福快乐了，而是关乎整个民族的兴败。池塘里的小鱼之于人面鱼就像小红卫兵受到到毛泽东的保护和带领。毛泽东他为了自己的欲望，驱使并洗脑了两千多万的年轻人。可是对他们包庇的后果是他们大多数只能像男主人公一样继承爸爸的职位做拉车工。为了斗倒刘少奇，毛泽东不惜牺牲几千万人民去保住主席的地位。为了自己的欲望，他发动了文化大革命牺牲了民族文化。 个人的欲望选择影响一生，不接受可能就不快乐。可是如果这个选择落在了毛泽东这种国家领导人的身上，可能会影响整个民族。 莫言2001年的小说《倒立》让我们看到了改革开方21年以来，中国社会价值观的倒置，由而生成的一个极端功力，极端冷漠的社会， 和不正常的人际关系，也印证了他对改革开放后带来的问题的担忧。这些倒置是作者借由倒立的谢兰英的眼睛看到的。首先是倒置的官民关系。官不是人民的公仆，而是官本位。中国官本位有千年的历史。中国老百姓觉得官是管人的，所以见官就怕，不管大小都怕。20年没见的同学聚会上，小时候偷鸡摸狗，外号弼马温的孙大盛，现在摇身变成...
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