A report on Beat Generation, Six Gallery reading, Allen Ginsberg and The Dharma Bums
The Dharma Bums is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac.
- The Dharma BumsConceived by Wally Hedrick, this event was the first important public manifestation of the Beat Generation and helped to herald the West Coast literary revolution that continued the San Francisco Renaissance.
- Six Gallery readingAs a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Generation.
- Allen GinsbergAllen Ginsberg's Howl (1956), William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch (1959), and Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957) are among the best known examples of Beat literature.
- Beat GenerationAt the reading, five talented young poets—Allen Ginsberg, Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, and Philip Whalen—who until then were known mainly within a close company of friends and other writers (such as Lionel Trilling and William Carlos Williams), presented some of their latest works.
- Six Gallery readingStill, Kerouac was able to recall much of what occurred at the reading, and wrote an account that he included in his novel The Dharma Bums.
- Six Gallery readingChapter 2 of the novel gives an account of the legendary 1955 Six Gallery reading, where Allen Ginsberg ('Alvah Goldbrook' in the book) gave a debut presentation of his poem "Howl" (changed to "Wail" in the book).
- The Dharma BumsWhen asked by Wally Hedrick to organize the Six Gallery reading, Ginsberg wanted Rexroth to serve as master of ceremonies, in a sense to bridge generations.
- Beat GenerationThe Six Gallery reading informs the second chapter of Kerouac's 1958 novel The Dharma Bums, whose chief protagonist is "Japhy Ryder", a character who is actually based on Gary Snyder.
- Beat GenerationWally Hedrick—a painter and co-founder of the Six Gallery—approached Ginsberg in mid-1955 and asked him to organize a poetry reading at the Six Gallery.
- Allen GinsbergAn account of that night can be found in Kerouac's novel The Dharma Bums, describing how change was collected from audience members to buy jugs of wine, and Ginsberg reading passionately, drunken, with arms outstretched.
- Allen Ginsberg2 related topics with Alpha
Gary Snyder
1 linksAmerican man of letters.
American man of letters.
Snyder met Allen Ginsberg when the latter sought Snyder out on the recommendation of Kenneth Rexroth.
This period provided the materials for Kerouac's novel The Dharma Bums, and Snyder was the inspiration for the novel's main character, Japhy Ryder, in the same way Neal Cassady had inspired Dean Moriarty in On the Road.
Snyder read his poem "A Berry Feast" at the poetry reading at the Six Gallery in San Francisco (October 7, 1955) that heralded what was to become known as the San Francisco Renaissance.
In the 1950s, Snyder took part in the rise of a strand of Buddhist anarchism emerging from the Beat movement.
Kenneth Rexroth
1 linksAmerican poet, translator, and critical essayist.
American poet, translator, and critical essayist.
Although he did not consider himself to be a Beat poet, and disliked the association, he was dubbed the "Father of the Beats" by Time magazine.
With Rexroth acting as master of ceremonies, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, and Philip Whalen performed at the famous Six Gallery reading on October 7, 1955.
Years after the Six Gallery reading, Time referred to him as "Father of the Beats. Rexroth ostensibly appears in Jack Kerouac's novel The Dharma Bums as Reinhold Cacoethes.