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Calling this relatively small group of struggling writers, artists, hustlers and drug addicts a "generation" was to make the claim that they were representative and important—the beginnings of a new trend, analogous to the influential Lost Generation. This is the kind of bold move that could be seen as delusions of grandeur, aggressive salesmanship or perhaps a display of perceptive insight. History shows it was clearly not just a delusion, but possibly a real insight into some real trends that became self-reinforcing: the label helped to create what it described.
The members of the beat generation were new bohemian libertines, who engaged in a spontaneous, sometimes messy, creativity. The beat writers produced a body of written work controversial both for its advocacy of non-conformity and for its non-conforming style. They were both directly and indirectly influenced by the European trend in Existentialist philosophy.
The canonical beat generation authors met in New York: Jack Kerouac, Allen GinsbergAllen Ginsberg ( June 3, 1926 April 5 1997) was a gay American Beat poet born in Paterson, New Jersey. He formed a bridge between the Beat movement of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s, befriending, among others, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, William S, William Burroughs, (in the 1940sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Years: 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Events and trends Technology First nuclear bomb First cruise missile, the) and later (in 1950Events January January 5 US Senator Estes Kefauver introduces a resolution calling for examination of organized crime in the USA January 6 The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with) Gregory CorsoGregory Corso ( March 26, 1930 January 17, 2001) was an American poet, the fourth member of the canon of Beat Generation writers (with Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs). Incarcerated in Dannemora for burglary in 1947, Gregory Corso dove into literature, a. Columbia UniversityColumbia University officially known as Columbia University in the City of New York is a private institution of higher education. It is one of the world's foremost research universities and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1754 under a royal charter, where Ginsberg and Kerouac had met as undergraduates, was its original locale. In the mid- 50sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Years: 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. this group expanded to include San Francisco area figures such as Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen and Lew Welch.
Some major works from these writers are Kerouac's On the Road, Ginsberg's Howl, and Burroughs' Naked Lunch.
Perhaps equally important were the less obviously creative members of the scene: Lucien Carr (who introduced Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs); Herbert Huncke, a drug addict and petty thief met by Burroughs in 1946; Hal Chase, an anthropologist from Denver who in 1947 introduced into the group Neal Cassady. Cassady was immortalized by Kerouac in the novel On the Road (under the name "Dean Moriarty") as a hyper wildman, frequently broke, largely amoral, but frantically engaged with life.
Cassady was known for "rapping" the loose spontaneous babble that later became associated with "beatniks". He was not much of a writer himself, though the core writers of the group were impressed with the free-flowing style of some of his letters, and Kerouac cited this as a key influence on his invention of the spontaneous prose style/technique that he used in On the Road (the other obvious influence being the improvised solos of Jazz music).
All of this does not yet mention the oft-neglected women in the original circle, such as Joan Vollmer and Edie Parker . Their apartment in the upper west side of Manhattan often functioned as a salon and/or crash-pad, and Joan Vollmer in particular was a serious participant in the marathon discussion sessions. See the section "Women of the Beat Generation" below.
In 1950 Gregory Corso met Ginsberg, who was impressed by the poetry Corso had written while incarcerated for burglary. Then during the 1950s there was much cross-pollination with San Francisco area writers (Ginsberg, Corso, Cassady and Kerouac all moved there for a time). Ferlinghetti (one of the partners who ran the City Lights press and bookstore) became a focus of the scene as well as the older poet Rexroth, whose apartment became a Friday night literary salon. Rexroth organized the famous Six Gallery reading in 1955, the first public appearance of Ginsberg's poem Howl. A short fictional account of this event forms the second chapter of Jack Kerouac's 1959 novel The Dharma Bums.
When On the Road was finally published in 1957 (it had been written in 1951), it received a strong review in the New York Times Book Review and became a best-seller. This produced a wave of fame that all of the beats from then on had to surf on or drown under.
William Burroughs' Naked Lunch was the first of a series of novels in which he completely revolutionized science fiction by introducing elements more usually found in modernist writing. The impact of his achievement has influenced trends in science fiction ever since and can be seen particularly clearly in the writings of Michael Moorcock, Norman Spinrad, Brian Aldiss and J. G. Ballard.