The Beat Generation

Beat - first used by Jack Kerouac in a

conversation with John Clellon Holmes
he used it to describe his contemporary
generation as having an attitude of
beatness or weariness with the world
Kerouac imposed a new meaning to
this word, that is beatific.
The Beat Generation

first joined forces in 1944 in New York,
at the Columbia University
captured the attention of the media with
their argot, their odd dress, their casual
pursuit of pleasure, and their professed
commitment to aesthetic values.
The Beat Generation
Characteristics:
- interest in personal relationship
- sadness
- discovering bond between the boys,
- flirting with sex and drugs
- dedication to restlessness
- impulsiveness
- no perfection of style
The Beat Generation
Representatives:

Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S.
Burroughs, Neal Cassady, Gregory Corso,
Peter Orlovsky
On the Road
interest in personal relationship:
- the friendship of Sal Paradise (Jack
Kerouac) with Dean Moriarty (Neal
Cassady)

- With the coming of Dean Moriarty began
the part of my life you could call my life on
the road. Before that Id often dreamed of
going West to see the country, always
vaguely planning and never taking off.

On the Road
experimentation with drugs and sex

- Were trying to communicate with absolute
honesty and absolute completeness
everything on our minds. Weve had to take
Benzedrine
On the Road
experimentation with drugs and sex

- We picked up two girls, a pretty young blonde
and a fat brunette. They were dumb and sullen,
but we wanted to make them. We took them to a
rickety nightclub that was already closing, and
there I spent all but two dollars on Scotches for
them and beer for us. I was getting drunk and
didnt care; everything was fine. My whole being
and purpose was pointed at the little blonde. I
wanted to go in there with all my strength. I
hugged her and wanted to tell her
On the Road
experimentation with drugs and sex


- Her breasts stuck out straight and true; her
little flanks looked delicious; her hair was long
and lustrous black; and her eyes were great
big blue things with timidities inside. I wished I
was on her bus. A pain stabbed my heart, as
it did every time I saw a girl I loved who was
going the opposite direction in this too-big
world
On the Road
Sadness
- There was a lull when we came in. Gene
and Blondey just stood there, looking at
nobody; all they wanted was cigarettes.
There were some pretty girls, too. And one
of them made eyes at Blondey and he
never saw it, and if he had he wouldnt
have cared, he was so sad and gone
- The sad ride back to Denver began
On the Road
Restlessness and impulsiveness

- represent the heart of the novel
- the triggering impulses of Sals travels
On the Road
Imperfection of style

- original scroll: 120ft scroll of teletype
paper roll of text
- no page breaks, no paragraphs, no real
grammatical or stylistic revision and is
all single spaced