Has the Man got you down?
by Renee A.
Has the Man got you down?
Feel like you’ve been Beat
by this thing called…
Life?
Well, if you did and you were a part of the Beat Generation, you would write a poem about it.
When Jack Kerouac first used the term “beat” in his novel, On the Road in 1957, the social liberation movement that had been brewing for the past decade was finally named.
The Beat Generation, started as not more than a couple of friends who decided they were sick of society’s strict rules on who they could and could not be, and what they could and could not say. This group of friends, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, and William Bourroughs, also the four main characters in Kerouac’s On the Road, started this social liberation movement through artistic pieces, such as poems and paintings, and turned it into a culture with a following strong enough to push it through to future decades.
Representing the product of the Depression and the Second World War, it is no wonder that they were so eager to criticize their government and society. They saw everyone around them scared into conformity and decided to stand up to it.
One piece that is particularly known for doing this is “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg. He first performed it in 1955 in the heart of the Beat culture, North Beach, San Francisco where he spoke freely of hallucinations, drugs, and insanity. Because the poem was so radical, Ginsberg was arrested on charges of obscenity. The arrest drew much attention to the movement and because so many prestigious literary and academic figures showed support for Ginsberg, he was acquitted. The case breaching the First Amendment established a legal precedent for the publication of controversial work and inspired more to do so. City Lights Books located in North Beach then started to publish and sell such works and still does today. Because of all the unrest the FBI was quick to label Ginsberg "a rabble-rouser, a beatnik, and, most probably, insane." Relating to the then hated Russian “Sputnik”, the term “Beatnik” was considered to be derogatory, however now it is widely accepted. This is most likely because Beats did not play into the government’s competition with Russia or think Russians enemies.
So, you might ask where the Beat Generation is today. The nostalgia for the 1950s has kept the Beat Generation very much alive, for just last year, a Beat Museum opened up around the corner from City Lights Books. It contains documents such as Kerouac’s first manuscript of On the Road. It also displays art from those who are carrying on the Beat Generation today, like Stanley Mouse who designed album covers for the Steve Miller Band, the Beatles, and others.
As predominantly white, educated men, the Beat Movement did what women wanted to and what African Americans would soon start to do: it was the first major post World War II movement to speak out against societal norms. Without the Beat Movement, it is probable that Betty Friedan would have still revealed the Feminine Mystique and that Dr. Martin Luther King still would have lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to fight for Civil Rights, but I am not sure that as many people would have followed these controversial actions. The Beat Movement started activism in a culture that forbid it but in a time that call for it.
Sources:
The Beat Museum
http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/keenan/citylights-1.html
City Lights Books
Has the Man got you down?
Feel like you’ve been Beat
by this thing called…
Life?
Well, if you did and you were a part of the Beat Generation, you would write a poem about it.
When Jack Kerouac first used the term “beat” in his novel, On the Road in 1957, the social liberation movement that had been brewing for the past decade was finally named.
The Beat Generation, started as not more than a couple of friends who decided they were sick of society’s strict rules on who they could and could not be, and what they could and could not say. This group of friends, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, and William Bourroughs, also the four main characters in Kerouac’s On the Road, started this social liberation movement through artistic pieces, such as poems and paintings, and turned it into a culture with a following strong enough to push it through to future decades.
Representing the product of the Depression and the Second World War, it is no wonder that they were so eager to criticize their government and society. They saw everyone around them scared into conformity and decided to stand up to it.
One piece that is particularly known for doing this is “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg. He first performed it in 1955 in the heart of the Beat culture, North Beach, San Francisco where he spoke freely of hallucinations, drugs, and insanity. Because the poem was so radical, Ginsberg was arrested on charges of obscenity. The arrest drew much attention to the movement and because so many prestigious literary and academic figures showed support for Ginsberg, he was acquitted. The case breaching the First Amendment established a legal precedent for the publication of controversial work and inspired more to do so. City Lights Books located in North Beach then started to publish and sell such works and still does today. Because of all the unrest the FBI was quick to label Ginsberg "a rabble-rouser, a beatnik, and, most probably, insane." Relating to the then hated Russian “Sputnik”, the term “Beatnik” was considered to be derogatory, however now it is widely accepted. This is most likely because Beats did not play into the government’s competition with Russia or think Russians enemies.
So, you might ask where the Beat Generation is today. The nostalgia for the 1950s has kept the Beat Generation very much alive, for just last year, a Beat Museum opened up around the corner from City Lights Books. It contains documents such as Kerouac’s first manuscript of On the Road. It also displays art from those who are carrying on the Beat Generation today, like Stanley Mouse who designed album covers for the Steve Miller Band, the Beatles, and others.
As predominantly white, educated men, the Beat Movement did what women wanted to and what African Americans would soon start to do: it was the first major post World War II movement to speak out against societal norms. Without the Beat Movement, it is probable that Betty Friedan would have still revealed the Feminine Mystique and that Dr. Martin Luther King still would have lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to fight for Civil Rights, but I am not sure that as many people would have followed these controversial actions. The Beat Movement started activism in a culture that forbid it but in a time that call for it.
Sources:
The Beat Museum
http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/keenan/citylights-1.html
City Lights Books
posted by Leslie Madsen-Brooks at 12/05/2006 09:10:00 PM
5 Comments:
As the Beat movement was the start of fighting against the man, did it have a direct influence on any leaders of other movements? Did the Beats critical judging of the government have spark any direct change? And how did people of the time view the Beat people.
Ben Reynolds
I wonder about modern day times and what type of movement would start today. Has the modern day routine, become just that a simple routine that we no longer wish for anything new? And not having small culture jamming items try to change things, but big music movements, or out there events. What would those do to this age. The fifties allowed it to stand out because everyone was so the same and it was apparent they were the same. Is that how it is now?
helen
It's odd how we (at least I) almost forget about Beat culture when I think about the fifties. Maybe it's part of that pristine, suburban nostalgia we have goiong on.
I think it is interesting that Beatnik has a communistic connotation attached to it. It just shows that the government attacks that which is not easily understood. Such as the evolving generation of political activists who are no longer afraid to speak their mind and stand up to the man.
Matt B.
I mentioned in the last part of the blog that although other movements had started (civil rights, women's, etc.) I feel that maybe because the beats were predominantly white and male Americans started to rebel, it gave confidence to other groups to follow and do the same.
renee a
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