A report on Neal Cassady

1944 Denver mug shot of Cassady

Major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic and counterculture movements of the 1960s.

- Neal Cassady

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Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Beat Generation

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Literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era.

Literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti
A section devoted to the beat generation at a bookstore in Stockholm, Sweden

Neal Cassady, as the driver for Ken Kesey's bus Furthur, was the primary bridge between these two generations.

Jack Kerouac by Tom Palumbo circa 1956

Jack Kerouac

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American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.

American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.

Jack Kerouac by Tom Palumbo circa 1956
Jack Kerouac's birthplace, 9 Lupine Road, 2nd floor, West Centralville, Lowell, Massachusetts
His third of several homes growing up in the West Centralville section of Lowell
Kerouac's Naval Reserve Enlistment photograph, 1943
Jack Kerouac lived with his parents for a time above a corner drug store in Ozone Park (now a flower shop), while writing some of his earliest work.
454 West 20th Street
House in College Park in Orlando, Florida where Kerouac lived and wrote The Dharma Bums
Grave in Edson Cemetery, Lowell
On the Road excerpt in the center of Jack Kerouac Alley
Jack Kerouac Alley in Chinatown, San Francisco

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.

Ken Kesey

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American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure.

American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure.

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.

Carolyn Cassady

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Carolyn Elizabeth Robinson Cassady (April 28, 1923 – September 20, 2013) was an American writer and associated with the Beat Generation through her marriage to Neal Cassady and her friendships with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other prominent Beat figures.

Allen Ginsberg

7 links

American poet and writer.

American poet and writer.

First edition cover of Ginsberg's landmark poetry collection, Howl and Other Poems(1956)
Ginsberg with his partner, poet Peter Orlovsky. Photo taken in 1978
Portrait with Bob Dylan, taken in 1975
Allen Ginsberg greeting A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at San Francisco International Airport. January 17, 1967
The Mantra-Rock Dance promotional poster featuring Allen Ginsberg along with leading rock bands.
Allen Ginsberg, 1979
Protesting at the 1972 Republican National Convention
Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and John C. Lilly in 1991

Carr also introduced Ginsberg to Neal Cassady, for whom Ginsberg had a long infatuation.

Furthur, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters' second bus

Merry Pranksters

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The Merry Pranksters were comrades and followers of American author Ken Kesey in 1964.

The Merry Pranksters were comrades and followers of American author Ken Kesey in 1964.

Furthur, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters' second bus

Notable members of the group include Kesey's best friend Ken Babbs, Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia, Lee Quarnstrom, and Neal Cassady.

On the Road

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1957 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.

The scroll, exhibited at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum in 2007

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.

Underwater atomic test "Baker", Bikini Atoll, Pacific Ocean, 1946

Counterculture of the 1960s

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Anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s.

Anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s.

Underwater atomic test "Baker", Bikini Atoll, Pacific Ocean, 1946
Free Speech activist Mario Savio on the steps of Sproul Hall, University of California, Berkeley, 1966
King's "I Have a Dream" speech, given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington
A family watches television, c. 1958
Anti-war protesters
Carnaby Street, London, 1966
Oz number 31 cover
Three radical icons of the sixties. Encounter between Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre and Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Cuba, in 1960
Yellow Power activist Richard Aoki at a Black Panther Party rally.
Herbert Marcuse, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory, was an influential libertarian socialist thinker on the radical student movements of the era and philosopher of the New Left
Eugene McCarthy, anti-war candidate for the Democratic nomination for the US presidency in 1968
A sign pointing to an old fallout shelter in New York City
The cover of an early Whole Earth Catalog shows the Earth as seen by astronauts traveling back from the Moon
Frisbee and alternative 1960s disc sports icon Ken Westerfield
A small part of the crowd of 400,000, after the rain, Woodstock, United States, August 1969
The Jimi Hendrix Experience performs for the Dutch television show Fenklup in March 1967
The Doors performing for Danish television in 1968
Recording "Give Peace a Chance". Left to right: Rosemary Leary (face not visible), Tommy Smothers (with back to camera), John Lennon, Timothy Leary, Yoko Ono, Judy Marcioni and Paul Williams, June 1, 1969.
The plaque honoring the victims of the August 1970 Sterling Hall bombing, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
A small segment of the "Wall" at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial listing the names of the nearly 60,000 American war dead
Jerry Rubin, University at Buffalo, March 10, 1970

The 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.

Ken Kesey's original Furthur in 1964

Furthur (bus)

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1939 International Harvester school bus purchased by author Ken Kesey in 1964 to carry his "Merry Band of Pranksters" cross-country, filming their counterculture adventures as they went.

1939 International Harvester school bus purchased by author Ken Kesey in 1964 to carry his "Merry Band of Pranksters" cross-country, filming their counterculture adventures as they went.

Ken Kesey's original Furthur in 1964
Inside Furthur, psychedelic paintings
Furthur in disrepair, March, 2010
Front view of the second bus, acquired in 1990
Right rear view of second bus

Neal Cassady showed up at the last minute and displaced Roy Sebern as driver, as far as New York state.

Justin W. Brierly

1 links

American educator and lawyer.

American educator and lawyer.

He is also remembered for his association with Beat Generation icons Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac.