A report on Beat Generation, Neal Cassady and Counterculture of the 1960s
Neal Leon Cassady (February 8, 1926 – February 4, 1968) was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic and counterculture movements of the 1960s.
- Neal CassadyIn the 1960s, elements of the expanding Beat movement were incorporated into the hippie and larger counterculture movements.
- Beat GenerationNeal Cassady, as the driver for Ken Kesey's bus Furthur, was the primary bridge between these two generations.
- Beat GenerationThe Pranksters created a direct link between the 1950s Beat Generation and the 1960s psychedelic scene; the bus was driven by Beat icon Neal Cassady, Beat poet Allen Ginsberg was on board for a time, and they dropped in on Cassady's friend, Beat author Jack Kerouac—though Kerouac declined to participate in the Prankster scene.
- Counterculture of the 1960s3 related topics with Alpha
Allen Ginsberg
2 linksAmerican poet and writer.
American poet and writer.
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.
Carr also introduced Ginsberg to Neal Cassady, for whom Ginsberg had a long infatuation.
Along with other counterculture ideologists like Timothy Leary, Gary Snyder, and Alan Watts, Ginsberg hoped to incorporate Bhaktivedanta Swami and his chanting into the hippie movement, and agreed to take part in the Mantra-Rock Dance concert and to introduce the swami to the Haight-Ashbury hippie community.
Ken Kesey
1 linksKen Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure.
He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s.
Following the publication of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, he moved to nearby La Honda, California, and began hosting happenings with former colleagues from Stanford, miscellaneous bohemian and literary figures (most notably Neal Cassady) and other friends collectively known as the Merry Pranksters; these parties, known as Acid Tests, integrated the consumption of LSD with multimedia performances.
Jack Kerouac
1 linksJean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.
It was during this time that he first met the Beat Generation figures who shaped his legacy and became characters in many of his novels, such as Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, John Clellon Holmes, Herbert Huncke, Lucien Carr, and William S. Burroughs.
Seemingly intoxicated he affirmed his Catholicism and talked about the counterculture of the 1960s.