A report on Allen Ginsberg and Beat Generation
As 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 Generation37 related topics with Alpha
Gregory Corso
4 linksAmerican poet and a key member of the Beat movement.
American poet and a key member of the Beat movement.
He was the youngest of the inner circle of Beat Generation writers (with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs).
Ken Kesey
4 linksAmerican novelist, essayist and countercultural figure.
American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure.
He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s.
These parties were described in some of Allen Ginsberg's poems and served as the basis for Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, an early exemplar of the nonfiction novel.
Diane di Prima
4 linksDiane di Prima (August 6, 1934October 25, 2020) was an American poet, known for her association with the Beat movement.
From 1974 to 1997, di Prima taught poetry at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, of the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, sharing the program with fellow Beats Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman (co-founders of the program), William Burroughs, Gregory Corso, and others.
On the Road
2 links1957 novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States.
1957 novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States.
It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use.
The novel is a roman à clef, with many key figures of the Beat movement, such as William S. Burroughs (Old Bull Lee), Allen Ginsberg (Carlo Marx), and Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty) represented by characters in the book, including Kerouac himself as the narrator Sal Paradise.
The Dharma Bums
4 linksThe Dharma Bums is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac.
Chapter 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).
John Clellon Holmes
3 linksAmerican author, poet and professor, best known for his 1952 novel Go.
American author, poet and professor, best known for his 1952 novel Go.
Considered the first "Beat" novel, Go depicted events in his life with his friends Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
3 linksAmerican poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers.
American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers.
He was arrested for publishing Allen Ginsberg's Howl, resulting in a First Amendment trial in 1957, where Ferlinghetti was charged with publishing an obscene work—and acquitted.
Ferlinghetti published many of the Beat poets and is considered by some as a Beat poet as well.
Herbert Huncke
3 linksAmerican writer and poet, and an active participant in a number of emerging cultural, social and aesthetic movements of the 20th century in America.
American writer and poet, and an active participant in a number of emerging cultural, social and aesthetic movements of the 20th century in America.
He was a member of the Beat Generation and is reputed to have coined the term.
When he first met Allen Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Burroughs, they were interested in writing and also unpublished.
Anne Waldman
2 linksAmerican poet.
American poet.
During this time, Waldman also made many connections with earlier generations of poets, including figures such as Allen Ginsberg, who once called Waldman his "spiritual wife."
Although her work is sometimes connected to the Beat Generation, Waldman has never been, strictly speaking, a "Beat" poet.
Bob Kaufman
2 linksRobert Garnell Kaufman (April 18, 1925 – January 12, 1986) was an American Beat poet and surrealist as well as a jazz performance artist and satirist.
In New York, reportedly he met William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.