What is a Beat

When studying American history and it's pop culture there is an obvious shift in the late 1940's. America is coming out of it's worst economic time. The generation that grew up during the great depression are now at the forefront. At this point everything is censored by churches and the people who considered themselves morally righteous enough. All forms of art are inspected for morally questionable content. This society demands conformity and 'decency'. Nothing less would tolerated.

During this time our leaders of the Beat movement meet in New York City. Columbia University to be precise. Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg attend the university along with Neal Cassidy. Lucien Carr introduces William Burroughs to Kerouac and Ginsberg. They begin collaborating. In 1946 Burroughs met Herbert Huncke while trying to sell him a firearm. These men constitute the bulk of the beat writers.

In a magazine interview Kerouac refers to his generation as the beat generation. Beat has nothing to do with music. It is a carny term for someone beaten down, poor, exhausted, at the bottom of the world. Burroughs is being published but could not be published in the United States due to decency laws. Kerouac has not yet found his voice. Ginsberg grabs the attention of the world first with his brilliant poem 'Howl'.



I will cover many events in the next posts that will be the shaping of this generation. Something very important has to happen first. Burroughs is picked up by an American publisher and they decided to release Naked Lunch on an unsuspecting American audience. The book is banned and the author is charged with indecency. The trial that follows will change the art world in America forever. Burroughs ultimate win and citing freedom of speech as his reason will blow the doors off censorship for good.

Source Citations:

Louis Menand. "Drive, He Wrote." New Yorker (Vol. 83, No. 29) Oct. 1 2007: 88-93. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 05 November 2009.

Anslinger, Harry. Statement. Tuesday Apr. 27, 1937. Hearings on H.R. 6385, Taxation of Marijuana, Apr. 27-30 and May 4, 1937. US House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.