Beat it

The Beat Generation have been described as the most influential writers of all time. Gareth Mogg finds out why.

Something happened in the late 1950s that just seemed to come alive without any warning, no precedent and seemingly without a direction. I am talking about the controversial ‘Beat Generation’ movement that sparked a cultural phenomenon and a whole new way of life.

As students, by nature we possess the carefree attitude and longing to live and see things that the writers of the ‘Beat Generation’ set out to achieve all those years ago.

The phrase was coined by Jack Kerouac to describe his anti-conformist friends in the underground parts of New York. There were only a few people involved, namely Kerouac, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, all aspiring writers, who by the time they had met, had a large quantity of unpublished work hidden away. They were all struggling writers, students and, more notably drug addicts (especially Burroughs).

Burroughs had long been interested in experimenting with opiates, in order to find new inspiration. Burroughs said, “There is no line between the ‘real world’ and ‘world of myth and symbol’. Objects, sensations, hit with the impact of hallucination.” This is only a sample of the controversy caused by the Beat writers. Burroughs other fascination was with criminal behaviour, making many contacts with the criminal underground of New York. Aside from their behaviour was the controversy caused through the unique writing style these men created. Bounding with never-ending energy, relentless emotion and a spontaneous take on life, this non-conformist way of expression seeped through every page they wrote.

The semi-autobiographical novel, On the Road, penned by Kerouac is now legendary. In a three-week writing flurry of inspiration, sat at his typewriter, Kerouac completed the novel that would define a generation and in the words of Burroughs, send countless numbers of kids on the road. The story is that of Kerouac’s own experiences with the infamous Neal Cassidy and their travels across the United States. The action is pure chaos, but necessary; jumping from one point to the next, you hold your breath. It is this energy and spontaneity that makes these novels unique. They thrive for emotion with every sentence and every word.

Despite the public curiosity with this movement, it brought about numerous critics, one being Truman Capote, author of Breakfast at Tiffanies. Capote condemned On the Road for its slack attitude and brandished it as not a way to write. He stated that a novel should take three years to write, and not three weeks!

One of the romanticised images that come with the Beats is the endless travelling around the country, normally ending up on the west coast, in San Francisco. The travelling was the inspiration, the search for different experiences.

It was rumoured that the writers even contributed to each other’s works. William Burroughs novel, Naked Lunch, was said to have been titled by Kerouac and that Howl by Ginsberg was written in reference to his friends, this was also seen in On the Road, where the character Dean Morriarty is in fact Neal Cassidy.

The ‘Beat Generation’ was different and unorthodox in almost every way, and it only really gathered a large following after it had disappeared. Yet its influence still thrives in music, novels and the lives of those who appreciate and understand its importance, for anyone seeking out the road. In the words of Dean Morriarty, “What’s your road, man? -holyboy road, madman road, rainbow road, guppy road, any road. It’s an anywhere road for anybody anyhow.”