I've talked a great deal about what happened without really talking about the things that made the beat generation a revolutionary force not only in literature but in society. William S Burroughs is a trust fund baby. His great grandfather invents the burroughs adding machine. The precursor to the modern day calculator. He will never have to work a day in his life. His childhood is remembered as a blur of nannies, servants, and absent parents. Bill receives the best money can buy including a Harvard education. Yet still he is restless.
Jack Kerouac is the child of a printer and a factory worker. Raised catholic by his french-canadian parents who do not teach him english until he is five years old. Jack is pure American kitsch. He has boy next door looks. Jack goes to Columbia on a football scholarship. That is the image we have of him and the one the media portrayed. People forget that he is expelled from Columbia and joins the Navy only to be honorably discharged after six months. He proves to be middle class with a passion for adventure.(noteablebiographies)
The lower class is where Allen Ginsberg started his life. The son of jewish writers, he is raised among several progressive political perspectives. His mother is a radical communist who idolizes Stalin. She spends most of her life in and out of institutions. When he is accepted to Columbia he is aided by a grant from the YMHA. His perspective will always come form the downtrodden. (popsubculture)
As far as perspective goes they have the American audience covered. At least the white portion that bought books. Stylistically they are miles apart from the other published authors of their time. Burroughs first novel is a linear story about the trials of a heroin addict. Jack Kerouac's first novel is equally pedestrian. As Ginsberg gets attention for his epic poem the tide shifts. How they write becomes as important as the subjects they write about. Jack goes on benders for days at a time to write his novels. Bill writes bits or skits that amuse him while he is high. Ginsberg then takes the skits and arranges them into a story.
The beats, specifically Brion Gysin and Burroughs, are credited with inventing cut-up poetry. (socialfiction) The method is simple. Take a written poem and then draw geometric shapes on the page. Cut out the shapes and rearrange them. Sometimes these are brilliant but more often than not they take mediocre poems and turn them into insane ramblings. The point these artists were trying to make with this method was that words have hidden meaning and the order they are presented in makes a world of difference.
As a group they dabble in every popular religion, from Buddhism to Scientology. The world is seen as a place to explore and that everything is an experience. All things should be experienced at least once. Even if one has no intention of repeating the experience. Especially if one is terrified or disgusted by an act it should be experienced. As human beings it is our duty to go out into the world and get our hands dirty.
These men constantly overlooked class, status, race and gender. Before becoming successful they learn every street con there is. Joan Vollmer, who will be Bill's wife is infamous for her cons. She will steal or forge prescriptions for Benzedrine inhalers, just to crack them open and chew on the pad soaked with the drug. Finding herself homeless and hungry she sits in front of a cafe in New York starring into space until they commit her to Bellvue. She is an accepted part of the group. Prejudice is for the weak minded and the ignorant.
These men bring art back to literature. Artists create art as a compulsion. They do this by defying the conventions of their time. They break laws in their personal lives and with their art. As a group they cross mediums and invent new sub-genres. With their words they inspire generations to stand up and be counted. Artists will make art until they die. The beat generation inspires change even after they are all gone
Sources Cited:
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Jo-Ki/Kerouac-Jack.html
http://www.popsubculture.com/pop/bio_project/allen_ginsberg.html
http://www.socialfiction.org/?tag=cut-up
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