The Beat Generation

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Recommended: Effect of the Cold War on American culture and domestic policies

The "Beat Movement" in modern literature has become an important period in the history of literature and society in America. Incorporating influences such as jazz, art, literature, philosophy and religion, the beat writers created a new vision of modern life and changed the way a generation of people seen the world. The generation is now aging and its representative voices are becoming lost, but the message is alive and well. The Beats have forever changed the nature of American literature. They offered a method of escape from the unimaginative world we live in. There are many different writers who's work contributed to the literature of the beat movement; however; Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsburg were the most famous authors.

During the peak of the beat generation, there were many events that affected the world. Fear was a common emotion due to the cold war and the ensuing red scare. The United States and the USSR were involved in a nuclear build up, causing tensions at home to rise. Senator Joe McCarthy began accusing fellow Americans of practicing communism and being Russian spies. His actions only caused peoples fears to escalate. Another contribution to the every day tension of American life at this time was the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. The actions of Dr. King and his supporters culminated in the Supreme Court decision Brown vs. the Board of Education, which banned segregation in public schools.

The beat generation is known as a post war generation due to its close proximity to the end of WWII. Many members of the post war generations suffer from the lack of a fixed identity, questioning who they are, what they want out of life, and what are their limits. M...

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...The beat generation defined what it meant to be a counter culture. This was their greatest influence on ensuing generations. 200 years from now when we are no longer interested in that day's culture, the generations will still turn to many of the experiences pioneered by the beat generation.

Works Cited

Encyclopedia. 28 April 2004. http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/k/kerouac.asp

Foster, Edward Halsey. Understanding the Beats. South Carolina: University of South Carolina Second Printing, 1992

Ginsburg, Allen. Howl and Other Poems. San Francisco: City Light Books, 1959

Holmes, John Clellon. "This is the Beat Generation." New York Times 16 November 1952.

Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1955.

Watson, Steven. The Birth of the Beat Generation. New York: Random, 1995

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