BarkellWH -> RE: The Beat Scene (Apr. 28 2015 17:51:56)
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The so-called "Beat Generation" was originally spearheaded by a group of writers and other more free-spirited individuals in the immediate post-World War II era. The original core--Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and others were in New York hanging around the Columbia University campus. Later, in the mid-'50s, they shifted to San Francisco, where they added others to their band. Jack Kerouac wrote such Beat classics as "On the Road,", "The Dharma Bums," and "The Subterraneans." Allen Ginsberg wrote a very famous poem, "Howel," and Burroughs wrote several books, probably the best known being "The Naked Lunch." All, by the way, are still in print. In San Francisco, they more or less coalesced around Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a poet who opened up a bookstore called "City Lights." City Lights became a focal point for writers and other "unconventional" types, including Neal Cassidy, who became one of Jack Kerouac's best friends. City Lights book store still exists, and is located on Columbus Avenue, near North Beach and China Town. There still exists a cafe cum watering hole called "Vesuvio's" that is right next to City Lights. Vesuvio's was a hangout for the Beats as well. The term "Beat" has obscure origins, although it meant "tired" or "beaten down" in the Black community. But Kerouac appropriated it and used it to describe his generation (referring to the "beatitudes" as "beatific" and, musically, to be "on the beat,") or so the story goes. The term "Beatnik" was coined by Herb Caen, of the San Francisco Chronicle, to describe members of the Beat Generation after Sputnik, the Soviet satellite, was launched into orbit. The Beats basically were non-conformists in a post-World War II America that valued conformity. After all, many of the GIs who returned from the war wanted to go to college on the GI Bill, start families, buy a home, and settle into a profession. Completely understandable. Yet, in my opinion, it is equally understandable that the Beat Generation wanted to reject that conformity, experiment with literary forms, be "on the road," discuss philosophy, and live life on the edge. Some went over the edge. William S. Burroughs was a life-long drug addict. He and his wife Joan lived in Mexico for several years. One night in a bar, after both had been drinking heavily, Burroughs told Joan they should play "William Tell." Joan place a highball glass on her head, Burroughs took out a revolver, shot low, and killed her instantly. Not pretty. For my part, I enjoyed reading Beat literary works and admired their unconventionality, but I never got completely into it. It was great fun going to coffee houses in the early '60s and listening to folk music and poetry readings. Looking back on that era, though, I have to say that there were a lot of Beat "wannabes" who wrote and read excruciatingly bad poetry. I can still hear some fools pontificating about philosophical concepts that I later determined they knew absolutely nothing about. Around the mid-'60s the Beat Generation more or less faded out and the "Hippies" came into focus (or maybe I should say "out of focus"). In my opinion, the true Beats (not the "wannabes") at least had some talent. The Hippies, on the other hand, lacked the talent, and in their pursuit of non-conformity and unconventionality, became, within the framework of their own social mores, just as conformist and conventional as those they supposedly were rebelling against. I still make it a point to go to City Lights book store whenever I find myself in San Francisco. They have a great selection of fiction and non-fiction works. I was last in City Lights in December 2014, overnighting in San Francisco after returning from a consulting gig in Samoa. I was told that Lawrence Ferlinghetti, now 96 years old, still occasionally comes to his office above the book store. Bill
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