The Beat Generation was a group of American post-World War II writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired. Central elements of "Beat" culture included experimentation with drugs, alternative forms of sexuality, an interest in Eastern religion, a rejection of materialism, and the idealizing of exuberant, unexpurgated means of expression and being.

Allen Ginsberg's Howl (1956), William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch (1959) and Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957) are among the best known examples of Beat literature.^[1] Both Howl and Naked Lunch were the focus of obscenity trials that ultimately helped to liberalize publishing in the United States.^[2][3] The members of the Beat Generation developed a reputation as new bohemian hedonists, who celebrated non-conformity and spontaneous creativity.

The original "Beat Generation" writers met in New York. Later, in the mid-1950s, the central figures (with the exception of Burroughs) ended up together in San Francisco where they met and became friends with figures associated with the San Francisco Renaissance.

In the 1960s, elements of the expanding Beat movement were incorporated into the Hippie counterculture.

Significant figures, events, and elements[link]

Origin of name[link]

Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948 to characterize a perceived underground, anti-conformist youth movement in New York. The name arose in a conversation with writer John Clellon Holmes. The adjective "beat" could colloquially mean "tired" or "beaten down",^[4][5] but Kerouac expanded the meaning to include the connotations "upbeat," "beatific," and the musical association of being "on the beat".^[6]

Columbia University[link]

The origins of the Beat Generation can be traced to Columbia University and the meeting of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Lucien Carr, Hal Chase and others. Though the beats are usually regarded as anti-academic,^[7][8][9] many of their ideas were formed in response to professors like Lionel Trilling and Mark Van Doren. Classmates Carr and Ginsberg discussed the need for a "New Vision" (a term borrowed from Arthur Rimbaud), to counteract what they perceived as their teachers' conservative, formalistic literary ideals.

Burroughs was introduced to the group by an old friend, David Kammerer, who was enamored of Lucien Carr. Carr had befriended freshman Allen Ginsberg and introduced him to Kammerer and Burroughs. Carr also knew Kerouac's girlfriend Edie Parker, through whom Burroughs met Kerouac in 1944.

On August 13, 1944, Carr killed Kammerer with a Boy Scout knife in Riverside Park in what he claimed later was self-defense.^[10] He waited,^{[citation needed]} then dumped the body in the Hudson River, later seeking advice from Burroughs, who suggested he turn himself in. He then went to Kerouac, who helped him dispose of the weapon. Carr turned himself in the following morning and later pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Kerouac was charged as an accessory, and Burroughs as a material witness, but neither was prosecuted. Kerouac wrote about this incident twice in his own works: once in his first novel, The Town and the City, and again in one of his last, Vanity of Duluoz. He wrote a collaboration novel with Burroughs, "And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks", concerning the murder.

The Times Square "Underworld"[link]

Burroughs had an interest in criminal behavior and got involved in dealing stolen goods and narcotics. He was soon addicted to opiates. Burroughs' guide to the criminal underworld (centered in particular around Times Square) was small-time criminal and drug-addict Herbert Huncke. The Beats were drawn to Huncke, who later started to write himself, perceiving he possessed a vital worldly knowledge unavailable to them from their largely middle-class upbringings.

Ginsberg was arrested in 1949. The police attempted to pull over Ginsberg while he was driving with Huncke, his car filled with stolen items Huncke planned to fence. Ginsberg crashed the car while trying to flee. He escaped on foot, but left incriminating notebooks behind. Ginsberg was given the option to plead insanity to avoid a jail term, and was committed for 90 days to Bellevue Hospital, where he met Carl Solomon.^[11]

Carl Solomon was arguably more eccentric than psychotic. A fan of Antonin Artaud, he indulged in self-consciously "crazy" behavior, like throwing potato salad at a college lecturer on Dadaism. Solomon was given shock treatments at Bellevue; this became one of the main themes of Ginsberg's "Howl", which was dedicated to Solomon. Solomon later became the publishing contact who agreed to publish Burroughs' first novel Junky in 1953.^[12]

Neal Cassady[link]

Neal Cassady was introduced to the group in 1947, and had a number of significant effects. Cassady became something of a muse to Ginsberg; they had a romantic affair, and Ginsberg became Cassady's personal writing-tutor. Kerouac's road-trips with Cassady in the late 1940s became the focus of his second novel, On the Road. Cassady's verbal style is one of the sources of the spontaneous, jazz-inspired rapping that later became associated with "beatniks". Cassady impressed the group with the free-flowing style of his letters, and Kerouac cited them as a key influence on his spontaneous prose style.

San Francisco and the Six Gallery reading[link]

Allen Ginsberg had visited Neal and Carolyn Cassady in San Jose, California in 1954 and moved on to San Francisco in August. He fell in love with Peter Orlovsky at the end of 1954 and began writing Howl. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, of the new City Lights Bookstore started to publish the City Lights Pocket Poets Series in 1955.

Kenneth Rexroth's apartment became a Friday night literary salon (Ginsberg's mentor William Carlos Williams, an old friend of Rexroth's, had given him an introductory letter). When asked by Wally Hedrick^[13] to organize the Six Gallery reading, Ginsberg wanted Rexroth to serve as master of ceremonies, in a sense to bridge generations.

Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder read on October 7, 1955, before 100 people (including Kerouac, up from Mexico City). Lamantia read poems of his late friend John Hoffman. At his first public reading Ginsberg performed the just finished first part of Howl. It was a success and the evening led to many more readings by the now locally famous Six Gallery poets.

It was also a marker of the beginning of the Beat movement, since the 1956 publication of Howl (City Lights Pocket Poets, no. 4) and its obscenity-trial in 1957 brought it to nationwide attention.^[14][15]

The Six Gallery reading informs the second chapter of Kerouac's 1958 novel The Dharma Bums, whose chief protagonist is "Japhy Ryder", Kerouac's roman à clef for Gary Snyder. Kerouac was impressed with Snyder and they were close for a number of years. In the spring of 1955 they lived together in Snyder's Mill Valley cabin. Most Beats were urbanites and they found Snyder almost exotic, with his rural background and wilderness experience, as well as his education in cultural anthropology and Oriental languages. Lawrence Ferlinghetti called him "the Thoreau of the Beat Generation."

As documented in the conclusion of the The Dharma Bums, Snyder moved to Japan in 1955, in large measure in order to intensively practice and study Zen Buddhism. He would spend most of the next 10 years there. Buddhism is one of the primary subjects of The Dharma Bums, and the book undoubtedly helped to popularize Buddhism in the West and remains one of Kerouac's most widely read books.^[16]

Women of the Beat Generation[link]

The female contemporaries of Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs were intimately involved in the creation of Beat philosophy and literature, and yet remain markedly absent from the mainstream interpretation of the most important aspects and figures of the movement. Further, the Beat writings of Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs often portray female characters in flat, traditional gender roles most typical of an ideal 1950s American housewife. Rather than offering liberation from social norms, Beat culture actually often marginalized and further culturally repressed American women and, more specifically, many of the female writers of the time period.^[17] Although women are less acknowledged in histories of the first Beat Generation, the omission may be due more to the period's sexism than the reality.^[18] Joan Vollmer for instance did not write, although she appears as a minor figure in multiple authors' works.^[19] She has become legendary as the wife of William S. Burroughs, documented in Kerouac's novels, and killed by Burroughs in a drunken game of William Tell.^[20] Corso and Diane Di Prima, among others, insist that there were female Beats, but that it was more difficult for women to get away with a Bohemian existence in that era.^[21][22]

Notable Beat Generation women who have been published include Joyce Johnson; Carolyn Cassady; Hettie Jones; Joanne Kyger; Harriet Sohmers Zwerling; Bonnie Bremser; Diane DiPrima; and Ruth Weiss, who also made films. Poet Elise Cowen took her life in 1963. Later, women emerged who claimed to be strongly influenced by the Beats, including Janine Pommy Vega in the 1960s, Patti Smith in the 1970s, and Hedwig Gorski in the 1980s.^[23]

Drug use[link]

The original members of the Beat Generation used a number of different drugs, including alcohol, marijuana, benzedrine, morphine, and later psychedelic drugs including peyote, yage, and LSD. Much of this usage was "experimental," in that they were often initially unfamiliar with the effects of these drugs. They were inspired by intellectual interest, as well as simple hedonism.

The actual results of this "experimentation" can be difficult to determine. Claims that some of these drugs can enhance creativity, insight or productivity were quite common, as is the belief that the drugs in use were a key influence on the social events of the time (see recreational drug use).^[24]

Sexuality[link]

Many of the key Beat Generation figures were homosexual or bisexual, some of them quite openly, including two of the most prominent writers (Ginsberg and Burroughs). Many of them met each other through homosexual social connections, specifically David Kammerer's interest in Lucien Carr.

One of the contentious features of Ginsberg's poem Howl for authorities were lines about homosexual sex. William Burroughs' Naked Lunch focuses on drug use, but also contains sexual content. In addition to references to homosexuality, it included explicit descriptions of alternative sexual practices. Both works were prosecuted for obscenity. Victory by the publishers in both cases in effect marked the end of literary censorship in the United States.^[2][3]

In comparison, though considered racy at the time, Kerouac's writings were relatively mild. On the Road mentions Neal Cassady's bisexuality without comment, while Visions of Cody confronts it. However, the first novel does show Cassady as frankly promiscuous. Kerouac's novels feature an interracial love affair (The Subterraneans), and group sex (The Dharma Bums).

Influences[link]

Romanticism[link]

Gregory Corso worshiped Percy Bysshe Shelley as a hero and was buried at the foot of Shelley's Grave in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome. Ginsberg mentions Shelley's Adonais at the beginning of Kaddish, and cites it as a major influence on the composition of one of his most important poems. Michael McClure compared Ginsberg's Howl to Shelley's breakthrough poem Queen Mab.^[25]

Ginsberg's most important Romantic influence was William Blake.^[26] Blake was the subject of Ginsberg's self-defining auditory hallucination and revelation in 1948.^[27] Ginsberg would study Blake all his life. The first time Michael McClure met Ginsberg, they talked about Blake: McClure saw him as a revolutionary; Ginsberg saw him as a prophet.^{[citation needed]}John Keats was also cited as an influence.

Early American sources[link]

Important American inspirations for the Beats included Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville and especially Walt Whitman, who is addressed as the subject of one of Ginsberg's most famous poems ("A Supermarket in California"). Edgar Allan Poe is occasionally acknowledged, and Ginsberg claimed Emily Dickinson was an influence on Beat poetry. The novel You Can't Win by Jack Black had a strong influence on Burroughs.^[28]

French Surrealism[link]

Surrealism was still in many ways a vital movement in the 1950s. Carl Solomon introduced the work of Antonin Artaud to Ginsberg, and the poetry of André Breton had direct influence on the poem Kaddish.^{[citation needed]} Rexroth, Ferlinghetti, John Ashbery and Ron Padgett translated French poetry. Second-generation Beat Ted Joans was named "the only Afro-American Surrealist" by Breton.^[29]

Philip Lamantia introduced surrealist poetry to the original Beats.^[30] The poetry of Gregory Corso and Bob Kaufman shows the influence of Surrealist poetry with its dream-like images and its random juxtaposition of dissociated images,^{[citation needed]} and this influence can also be seen in more subtle ways in Ginsberg's poetry.^{[citation needed]} As the legend goes, when meeting Marcel Duchamp Ginsberg kissed his shoe and Corso cut off his tie.^{[31][page needed]} Other shared Beat interests were Guillaume Apollinaire, Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire.^{[citation needed]}

Modernism[link]

Though the Beat aesthetic posited itself against T. S. Eliot's creed of strict objectivity and literary modernism's new classicism, certain modernist poets were major influences on the Beats, including Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and H.D.. Pound was specifically important to Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg.

William Carlos Williams was an influence on many of the Beats, with his encouragement to speak with an American voice instead of imitating the European poetic voice and European forms. When Williams came to Reed College to give a lecture, then students Snyder, Whalen, and Welch were deeply impressed. Williams was a personal mentor to Ginsberg, both being from Paterson, New Jersey.

Williams published several of Ginsberg's letters to him in his epic poem Paterson and wrote an introduction to two of Ginsberg's books. And many of the Beats (Ginsberg specifically) helped promote Williams' writing. Ferlinghetti's City Lights published a volume of his poetry.

Gertrude Stein was subject of a book-length study by Lew Welch. Admitted influences for Kerouac include Marcel Proust, Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe.^[32]

Influences on Western culture[link]

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

While many authors claim to be directly influenced by the Beats, the Beat Generation phenomenon itself has had a pervasive influence on Western culture more broadly.^{[citation needed]}

In 1982, Ginsberg published a summary of "the essential effects" of the Beat Generation:^[33]

• Spiritual liberation, sexual "revolution" or "liberation," i.e., gay liberation, somewhat catalyzing women's liberation, black liberation, Gray Panther activism.
• Liberation of the world from censorship.
• Demystification and/or decriminalization of cannabis and other drugs.
• The evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as a high art form, as evidenced by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and other popular musicians influenced in the later fifties and sixties by Beat generation poets' and writers' works.
• The spread of ecological consciousness, emphasized early on by Gary Snyder and Michael McClure, the notion of a "Fresh Planet."
• Opposition to the military-industrial machine civilization, as emphasized in writings of Burroughs, Huncke, Ginsberg, and Kerouac.
• Attention to what Kerouac called (after Spengler) a "second religiousness" developing within an advanced civilization.
• Return to an appreciation of idiosyncrasy as against state regimentation.
• Respect for land and indigenous peoples and creatures, as proclaimed by Kerouac in his slogan from On the Road: "The Earth is an Indian thing."

Counterculture effects[link]

"Beatniks"[link]

The term "Beatnik" was coined by Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle on 2 April 1958, a portmanteau on the name of the recent Russian satellite Sputnik and Beat Generation. This suggested that beatniks were (1) "far out of the mainstream of society" and (2) "possibly pro-Communist".^[34] Caen's term stuck and became the popular label associated with a new stereotype — the man with a goatee and beret reciting nonsensical poetry and playing bongo drums, while free-spirited women wearing black leotards dance.

An early example of the "beatnik stereotype" occurred in Vesuvio's (a bar in North Beach) which employed the artist Wally Hedrick to sit in the window dressed in full beard, turtleneck, and sandals, creating improvisational drawings and paintings. By 1958 tourists to San Francisco could take bus tours to view the North Beach Beat scene, prophetically anticipating similar tours of the Haight-Ashbury district ten years later.^[35] A variety of other small businesses also sprang up exploiting (and/or satirizing) the new craze. In 1959, Fred McDarrah started a "Rent-a-Beatnik" service in New York, taking out ads in The Village Voice and sending Ted Joans and friends out on calls to read poetry.^[36] "Beatniks" appeared in many cartoons, movies, and TV shows of the time, perhaps the most famous being the character Maynard G. Krebs in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. (1959–1963)

While some of the original Beats embraced the beatniks, or at least found the parodies humorous (Ginsberg, for example, appreciated the parody in Pogo^[37]) others criticized the beatniks as inauthentic posers. Kerouac feared that the spiritual aspect of his message had been lost and that many were using the Beat Generation as an excuse to be senselessly wild.^[38]

"Hippies"[link]

During the 1950s, aspects of the Beat movement metamorphosed into the counterculture of the 1960s, accompanied by a shift in terminology from "beatnik" to "hippie".^[39] Many of the original Beats remained active participants, notably Allen Ginsberg, who became a fixture of the anti-war movement. Notably, however, Jack Kerouac broke with Ginsberg and criticized the 1960s politically radical protest movements as an excuse to be "spiteful".^[40]

There were stylistic differences between beatniks and hippies — somber colors, dark sunglasses, and goatees gave way to colorful psychedelic clothing and long hair. The beats were known for "playing it cool" (keeping a low profile),^[41] but the hippies became known for "being cool" (displaying their individuality).^{[citation needed]}

Beyond style, there were changes in substance: The Beats tended to be essentially apolitical, but the hippies became actively engaged with the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement.^[42]

Literary legacy[link]

Among the emerging novelists of the 1960s and 1970s, a few were closely connected with Beat writers, most notably Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). Though they had no direct connection, other writers considered the Beats to be a major influence, including Thomas Pynchon (Gravity's Rainbow)^[43] and Tom Robbins (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues).

William Burroughs is considered a forefather of postmodern literature; he also inspired the cyberpunk genre.^[44][45][46]

One-time Beat writer LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka helped initiate the Black Arts movement.^[47]

Since there was focus on live performance among the Beats, many Slam poets have claimed to be influenced by the Beats. Saul Williams, for example, cites Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, and Bob Kaufman as major influences.^[48]

Carl Solomon, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs at the Gotham Book Mart, New York City, 1977

The Postbeat Poets are direct descendants of the Beat Generation. Their association with or tutelage under Ginsberg at The Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics^[49] and later at Brooklyn College stressed the social-activist legacy of the Beats and created its own body of literature. Known authors are Anne Waldman, Antler (poet), Andy Clausen, David Cope, Eileen Myles, Eliot Katz, Paul Beatty, Sapphire (author), Lesléa Newman, Jim Cohn, Thomas R. Peters, Jr.(poet and owner of beat book shop), Sharon Mesmer, Randy Roark, Josh Smith, David Evans.^{[citation needed]}

Rock and pop music[link]

The Beats had a pervasive influence on rock and roll and popular music, including the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison: the Beatles spelled their name with an "a" partly as a Beat Generation reference,^[50] and Lennon was a fan of Jack Kerouac.^[51] Ginsberg later met and became friends with members of the Beatles. Paul McCartney played guitar on Ginsberg's album Ballad of the Skeletons.

Ginsberg was close friends with Bob Dylan^[52] and toured with him on the Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975. Dylan cites Ginsberg and Kerouac as major influences.

Jim Morrison cites Kerouac as one of his biggest influences, and fellow Doors member Ray Manzarek has said "We wanted to be beatniks".^[53] In his book "Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors", Manzarek also writes "I suppose if Jack Kerouac had never written On the Road, The Doors would never have existed." Michael McClure was also friends with members of The Doors, at one point touring with keyboardist Ray Manzarek.

Ginsberg was friends with Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, a group of which Cassady was a member, which also included members of the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, Burroughs was friends with Mick Jagger, Lou Reed, and Patti Smith.

British progressive rock band Soft Machine is named after Burroughs' novel The Soft Machine.

Singer-songwriter Tom Waits, a Beat fan, wrote "Jack and Neal" about Kerouac and Cassady, and recorded "On the Road" (a song written by Kerouac after finishing the novel) with Primus. He later collaborated with Burroughs on the theatrical work The Black Rider.

There was a resurgence of interest in the beats among bands in the 1980s. Ginsberg worked with the Clash. Burroughs worked with Sonic Youth, R.E.M., Kurt Cobain, and Ministry, amongst others. Bono of U2 cites Burroughs as a major influence,^[54][55] and Burroughs appeared briefly in a U2 video in 1997.^[56] Laurie Anderson featured Burroughs on her 1984 album Mister Heartbreak and in her 1986 concert film, Home of the Brave. King Crimson produced the album Beat inspired by the Beat Generation.

Criticism[link]

Norman Podhoretz, a student at Columbia with Kerouac and Ginsberg, later became a critic of the Beats. His 1958 Partisan Review article "The Know-Nothing Bohemians," was a vehement critique primarily of Kerouac's On the Road and The Subterraneans, as well as Ginsberg's Howl.^[57] His central criticism is that the Beat embrace of spontaneity is bound up in an anti-intellectual worship of the "primitive" that can easily turn toward mindlessness and violence. Podhoretz asserted that there was a link between the Beats and criminal delinquents.

Ginsberg responded in a 1958 interview with The Village Voice,^[58] specifically addressing the charge that the Beats destroyed "the distinction between life and literature." "The bit about anti-intellectualism is a piece of vanity, we had the same education, went to the same school, you know there are 'Intellectuals' and there are intellectuals. Podhoretz is just out of touch with twentieth-century literature, he's writing for the eighteenth-century mind. We have a personal literature now—Proust, Wolfe, Faulkner, Joyce."^[59]

Internal criticism[link]

In a 1974 interview,^[60] Gary Snyder comments on the subject of "casualties" of the Beat Generation:^[61]

Kerouac was a casualty too. And there were many other casualties that most people have never heard of, but were genuine casualties. Just as, in the 60s, when Allen and I for a period there were almost publicly recommending people to take acid. When I look back on that now I realize there were many casualties, responsibilities to bear.

The Beats comment on the Beat Generation[link]

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"The so-called Beat Generation was a whole bunch of people, of all different nationalities, who came to the conclusion that society sucked."

- Amiri Baraka^{[citation needed]}

Three writers do not a generation make.

- Gregory Corso^[62] (sometimes also attributed to Gary Snyder).

“Beat means to have all the blather knocked out of you by experience, suddenly seeing things as they are. Beat doesn’t mean a broken spirit, on the contrary, it’s scourged of external blather!”

- Gregory Corso^{[citation needed]}

"Nobody knows whether we were catalysts or invented something, or just the froth riding on a wave of its own. We were all three, I suppose."

- Allen Ginsberg^[63]

"John Clellon Holmes... and I were sitting around trying to think up the meaning of the Lost Generation and the subsequent existentialism and I said 'You know John, this is really a beat generation'; and he leapt up and said, 'That's it, that's right!'"

- Jack Kerouac^[64]

"But yet, but yet, woe, woe unto those who think that the Beat Generation means crime, delinquency, immorality, amorality ... woe unto those who attack it on the grounds that they simply don’t understand history and the yearning of human souls ... woe in fact unto those who make evil movies about the Beat Generation where innocent housewives are raped by beatniks! ... woe unto those who spit on the Beat Generation, the wind’ll blow it back."

- Jack Kerouac^{[citation needed]}

Films about the Beat Generation[link]

• Jack Kerouac (wrote), Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie (directed) Pull My Daisy (1958)
• The Beat Generation* (1959)
• A Bucket of Blood* (1959) Roger Corman Production
• The Subterraneans* (1960)
• Greenwich Village Story* (1961)
• Next Stop Greenwich Village* (1976)
• Heart Beat (1980)
• Whatever Happened To Kerouac? (1986) Documentary.
• Naked Lunch (1991)
• Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg (1993)
• Allen Ginsberg Live in London (1995)
• The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997)
• The Source (1999)
• Beat (2000)
• Words of Advice: William S. Burroughs on the Road (2007)
• Neal Cassady* (2007)
• Howl (2010)
• Magic Trip (2011)
• Big Sur (2012)
• Corso: The Last Beat (2012)
• On the Road (2012)

See also[link]

• Greenwich Village
• Literary Kicks
• San Francisco Oracle
• Beat Scene

Further reading[link]

This section includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2008)

• Campbell, James. This Is the Beat Generation: New York–San Francisco-Paris. LA: University of California Press, 2001. ISBN 0-520-23033-7
• Cook, Bruce The Beat Generation: The tumultuous '50s movement and its impact on today. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971. ISBN 0-684-12371-1.
• Gifford, Barry and Lawrence Lee Jack's Book An Oral Biography Of Jack Kerouac, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1978. ISBN 0-312-43942-3
• Gorski, Hedwig. * [3] Robert Creeley 1982 TV Interview with Hedwig Gorski transcript included in special Robert Creeley Issue, Journal of American Studies of Turkey (JAST), No. 27, Spring 2008.
• Grace, Nancy Jack Kerouac and the Literary Imagination, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. ISBN 1-4039-6850-0
• Hemmer, Kurt ed. Encyclopedia of Beat Literature. Facts on File, 2006. ISBN 0-8160-4297-7
• Hrebeniak, Michael. Action Writing: Jack Kerouac's Wild Form, Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 2006.
• Johnson, Ronna C. and Nancy Grace. Girls Who Wore Black: Women Writing the Beat Generation. Rutgers, 2003. ISBN 081353065
• Knight, Brenda. Women of the Beat Generation; The Writers, Artists, and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution. General Books LLC, 2010. ISBN-10: 1153571900 ISBN-13: 978-1153571906
• McDarrah, Fred W. and Gloria S. McDarrah. Beat Generation: Glory Days in Greenwich Village Schirmer Books (September 1996) ISBN 0-8256-7160-4
• McNally, Dennis. Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation, and America. NY: DeCapo, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81222-3
• Miles, Barry. The Beat Hotel: Ginsberg, Burroughs & Corso in Paris, 1957–1963. NY: Grove Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8021-3817-9\
• Peabody, Richard. A Different Beat: Writing by Women of the Beat Generation. Serpent's Tail, 1997. ISBN-10: 1852424311

ISBN-13: 978-1852424312

• Sargeant, Jack. "Naked Lens: Beat Cinema". NY: Soft Skull, 2009 (third edition)
• Sanders, Ed Tales of Beatnik Glory (second edition, 1990) ISBN 0-8065-1172-9
• Theado, Matt (ed.). The Beats: A Literary Reference. NY: Carrol & Graff, 2002. ISBN 0-7867-1099-3
• Watson, Steven. The Birth of the Beat Generation: Visionaries, Rebels, and Hipsters, 1944–1960. NY: Pantheon, 1998. ISBN 0-375-70153-2

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Charters, Ann (ed.) (1992) The Portable Beat Reader. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-670-83885-3 (hc); ISBN 0-14-015102-8 (pbk). The table of contents is online.
• Charters, Ann (ed.) (2001) Beat Down to Your Soul: What Was the Beat Generation? NY: Penguin, 2001. ISBN 0-14-100151-8
• Knight, Arthur Winfield. Ed. The Beat Vision (1987) Paragon House. ISBN 0-913729-40-X; ISBN 0-913729-41-8 (pbk)
• Knight, Brenda. Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution. ISBN 1-57324-138-5
• McClure, Michael. Scratching the Beat Surface: Essays on New Vision from Blake to Kerouac. Penguin, 1994. ISBN 0-14-023252-4
• Miles, Barry. (2001) Ginsberg: A Biography. London: Virgin Publishing Ltd., paperback, 628 pages, ISBN 0-7535-0486-3
• Morgan, Ted (1983) Literary Outlaw The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs. ISBN 0-380-70882-5, first printing, trade paperback edition Avon, NY, NY
• Phillips, Lisa. Beat Culture and the New America 1950–1965 published by the Whitney Museum of American Art in accordance with an exhibition in 1995/1996. ISBN 0-87427-098-7 softcover. ISBN 2-08-013613-5 hardcover (Flammarion)
• Raskin, Jonah. American Scream: Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" and the Making of the Beat Generation. University of California Press, 2004. ISBN 0-520-24015-4
• Starer, Jacqueline. Les écrivains de la Beat Generation éditions d'écarts Dol de Bretagne France. 1SBN 978-2-919121-02-1

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (June 2011)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Beat Generation

General Beat Generation pages[link]

• Beat Literature at the Open Directory Project
• Biographies of Beat Generation writers, artists, & poets
• Beat Generation and Bohemian Culture – the movement at digihitch
• Kerouac Alley – Beat Generation directory
• Beat Generation biographies and historical information
• How Beat Happened by Steve Silberman (the Beat Generation in San Francisco)
• Invisible Empires of Beatitude

Beat tourism pages[link]

• Denver Beat Photo Tour
• Beats In Kansas: The Beat Generation in the Heartland
• From Beatnik to Anarchist, in the town where William S. Burroughs died
• Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!

Photographs[link]

• Beat Generation photographs (starting in 1965) by Larry Keenan
• Photos, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, Patti Smith
• 421 W 118th Street Building where Joan Vollmer Adams & Edie Parker lived
• 419 W 115th Street – "The Cragsmoor" another building where Joan Vollmer Adams lived.
• Photos, Neal Cassady Sr. Gravesite
• Photos, Jack Kerouac's Last House, St. Petersburg, FL
• Photos of the Kerouac Gas Station in Longmont, CO
• A Photographic Essay of Beat Generation Landmarks in New York City
• Beat Memories - slideshow by The New York Times

Tim Minchin
Birth name	Timothy David Minchin
Born	(1975-10-07) 7 October 1975 (age 36) Northampton, England, UK[1]
Nationality	Australian, British
Years active	2002–present
Genres	Comedy music
Spouse	Sarah Minchin 2001–present (2 children)
Website	timminchin.com

Timothy David "Tim" Minchin^[2] (born 7 October 1975 in Northampton, England)^[1] is an Australian-British comedian, actor, and musician.

Tim Minchin is best known for his musical comedy, which has featured in six CDs, three DVDs and a number of live comedy shows which he has performed internationally. He has also appeared on television in Australia, Britain and the United States. After growing up in Perth, Western Australia, he attended the University of Western Australia and WAAPA before moving to Melbourne in 2002. His breakout show, "Dark Side", launched him into the public eye, achieving critical success at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.^[3]

Minchin has a background in theatre and has appeared in various stage productions, in addition to some small acting roles on Australian TV. A documentary film about Minchin, Rock N Roll Nerd (directed by Rhian Skirving), was released theatrically in 2008 ^[4] and broadcast by ABC1 in 2009.^[5] He is the co-writer of the Olivier Award winning hit musical Matilda the Musical, based on the Roald Dahl book Matilda.

Personal life[link]

Minchin was born in Northampton, UK, to Australian parents^[1] and raised in Perth, Western Australia.^[6] He was educated at the private Christ Church Grammar School and started learning piano at the age of eight, but gave it up after three years because he did not enjoy the discipline. He redeveloped an interest in the instrument after he started writing music with his brother Dan Minchin, a guitarist, but still describes himself as a "hack pianist... a 'more you practise, the better you get' kind of guy".^[7] Minchin graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Theatre, and in 1998 completed an Advanced Diploma in Contemporary Music at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.^[8]

He currently lives in London with his wife, Sarah.^[9] They have two children: a daughter, Violet, and a son, Caspar.^[10] Minchin often refers to his relationships in his songs and stand-up routines.

Musical comedy[link]

Minchin playing the piano on stage

Minchin describes his act as a "funny cabaret show" and sees himself primarily as a musician and songwriter as opposed to a comedian; his songs, he says, "just happen to be funny."^[11] His reasoning for combining the disciplines of music and comedy was revealed in one interview when he said "I'm a good musician for a comedian and I'm a good comedian for a musician but if I had to do any of them in isolation I dunno."^[12]

He draws on his background in theatre for his distinctive onstage appearance and persona.^[6] In his performances, he typically goes barefoot with wild hair and heavy eye makeup, which is juxtaposed with a crisp suit and tails, and a grand piano. According to Minchin, he likes going barefoot in his shows because it makes him feel more comfortable. He considers the eye makeup important because while he is playing the piano he is not able to use his arms and relies on his face for expressions and gestures; the eyeliner makes his features more distinguishable for the audience.^[7] Much of his look and persona, he says, are about "treading that line between mocking yourself and wanting to be an iconic figure. Mocking the ridiculousness and completely unrealistic dream of being an iconic figure."^[13] The eccentric appearance removes Minchin from reality somewhat, allowing him to make outrageous statements onstage "without annoying (most) people." ^[14]

The shows consist largely of Minchin's comedic songs and poetry, with subjects ranging from social satire to inflatable dolls, sex fetishes, and his own failed rock star ambitions. In between songs, he performs short stand-up routines.^[11] Several of his songs deal with religion, a subject with which Minchin—an atheist and a fan of Richard Dawkins—says he is "a bit obsessed."^[15] He argues that as one of the most powerful and influential forces in the world, religion should never be off-limits to satirists. He says that his favourite song to perform is "Peace Anthem for Palestine", which reflects his feelings about religious conflict.^[16] In October 2010 he was made a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association. His comedy also deals with taboos more broadly.^[17] A prime example of this is the song "Prejudice" which parodies the power awarded to something as simple as a word.

Early career (1998–2007)[link]

After completing an Advanced Diploma in Contemporary Music in 1998, Minchin started out composing music for documentaries and theatre. In 2000 he wrote and starred in the musical Pop at the Blue Room Theatre in Perth.^[18] He released a CD titled Sit with his band Timmy the Dog in 2001, but achieved little success.^[19] In 2002, after only one professional acting job, he moved from Perth to Melbourne to pursue work.^[20] Minchin struggled initially; he could not get an agent for a year and had been unable to find any acting work.^[19] While several record companies gave him positive feedback, they were not sure how his music—a mixture of satirical songs and more serious pop songs—could be marketed. He decided to compile all of his humorous songs into a single live show to "get the comedy stuff off [his] chest" before going back to more serious music.^[21]

Minchin says he entered into comedy "naively", having never even attended a live comedy gig before performing one himself.^[15] His break-out show, Darkside (co-produced by Laughing Stock Productions), achieved critical success at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, where it won the inaugural Festival Directors' Award and attracted the notice of Karen Koren, the manager of the well-known Gilded Balloon venues.^[22] Koren backed the show's run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where Minchin received the Perrier Comedy Award for Best Newcomer.^[6][23] His 2006 show, So Rock, was nominated for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's top prize, the Barry Award, and in 2007 he was given the award for Best Alternative Comedian at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival.^[11][24]

Live recordings of his 2005 and 2006 shows, Darkside and So Rock, have been released as CDs. In 2007, he released a DVD entitled So Live, featuring a live recording in the Sydney Opera House Studio with material from both of his previous shows.^[13] As this DVD was only released in Australia, he released a DVD in 2008 entitled So F**king Rock Live in the UK, containing largely the same material as So Live.

[edit] Ready for This? (2008–2010)

In August 2008 Minchin debuted his third solo show, Ready for This?, at the Edinburgh Fringe and subsequently took it on tour across the UK. During the Edinburgh run, he contributed to The Guardian newspaper's podcasts,^[25] despite his new show containing a song about a Guardian critic who once gave his show a negative review.^[26][27]

A recording of this show, recorded live at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London was released as an album for download via iTunes on 20 July 2009. An Australian recording was released on DVD, solely in Australia on 9 September 2009^[28] and a UK release in the second half of 2010.^[29]

In December 2009, the track "White Wine in the Sun" was released as a downloadable single online. Fans on Minchin's official forum launched a campaign to get this festive track into the UK Christmas charts by purchasing it from various online download retailers.^[30] A Facebook group was also launched to support the campaign^[31] as well as a drive on Twitter in which celebrities were contacted about the campaign and a succession of e-mails to radio DJs in a bid to get them to play the song. It was later announced that 50% of the December profits from the song would be donated to The National Autistic Society.^[32] The bid was ultimately unsuccessful.^[33]

It was announced at the end of 2009 that one of Minchin's beat poems, Storm, was to be made into a short animated movie to be released in 2010.^{[dated info][34]} A blog was launched to accompany the film-making process and a short trailer was released on 8 January 2010.^[35] The full movie was launched on YouTube on 7 April 2011.^[36]

He performed Ready for This? for what he envisages as the final time on 27 February 2010 in Sydney.^[37] He did however perform a set at The Big Libel Gig on 14 March 2010 in protest at Britain's libel laws, along with other performers including Dara Ó Briain, Marcus Brigstocke, Shappi Khorsandi, Robin Ince and Ed Byrne. As well as this, he performed at Camp Bestival as part of the Jestival Sessions in July 2010.^[38]

Minchin was the subject of the winning entry in the 2010 Archibald Prize, Australia's most important portraiture competition. The winning entry was painted by Sam Leach.^[39][40]

[edit] Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra (2010–2011)

Minchin embarked on a new arena tour starting with Birmingham on Wednesday 8 December 2010. A departure from the structure of his previous live shows, his act has been scaled up to be performed with the Heritage Orchestra. It contains a mixture of material: there are new songs on the subject of prayer and of rationality — themes which often appear in his previous work. Minchin has stated that the aim of incorporating the orchestra into his act is to create a comedy show that would not be ruined by being performed in arenas, as stated in the special features of the DVD and Blu-ray. The show is touring the UK and Australia. It was filmed at the Royal Albert Hall in London for a Blu-ray and DVD that was released in November 2011.^[41]

Television and radio[link]

Tim Minchin has made appearances on Australian TV shows, including the ABC's Spicks and Specks,^[42] and The Sideshow,^[43]. He has also made appearances on Network Ten's panel shows Good News Week (February 2010)^[44] and Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation (March 2010).^[45]

Minchin has also appeared on various British radio and television shows, including the BBC's Never Mind the Buzzcocks (four times, once as guest host),^[46] BBC Radio 4's Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better^[47] and two specials on BBC Radio 2. He often performs on his TV appearances, such as his spots on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in October 2009 and July 2010.^[48] He performed a specially-written song entitled "Five Poofs and Two Pianos", a parody of the show's house band, 4 Poofs and a Piano. Minchin also appeared as a special guest on the 2009 edition of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year performing a song written for the show ("It's Like 1984") in reference to a question regarding Google Street View.^[49] On Saturday 13 August 2011 Minchin hosted Prom 40: the first BBC Comedy Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. He appeared on Desert Island Discs on 6 May 2012.^[50]

A heavily cut-down version of the show released on DVD as So F**king Rock Live has aired several times on British TV channel E4, first on 23 July 2009.^[51] It aired at the turn of 2011, forming E4's New Year's coverage.^[52]

On 8 May 2010, Minchin's musical sitcom pilot Strings was broadcast on BBC Radio 2. Minchin plays the protagonist Jonny, who leaves Australia to live in the UK.^[53] Well received as it was by Radio 2, he decided against creating a full series. ^[54]

In January 2011, Minchin made his American television debut on TBS's Conan, where he performed "Inflatable You".^[55] On 12 May 2011, he performed "If I Didn't Have You" on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and on 7 June 2011 Minchin made his second appearance on Conan, singing "Prejudice".^[56] Minchin made his third appearance on Conan on 9 April 2012, singing his "3-Minute Song".

In December 2011 Minchin performed a specially written song called "Woody Allen Jesus" ^[57] on The Jonathan Ross Show. However, despite the show's producers and ITV's lawyers approving the composition for broadcast it was removed at the last minute. Responding on his blog, Minchin stated:^[58] "[...] Someone got nervous and sent the tape to ITV's director of television, Peter Fincham. And Peter Fincham demanded that I be cut from the show. He did this because he's scared of the ranty, shit-stirring, right-wing press, and of the small minority of Brits who believe they have a right to go through life protected from anything that challenges them in any way."^[59]

Acting and theatre[link]

Minchin's background is in theatre and he has appeared in various stage productions. His most recent dramatic theatrical performance was in the title role for the 2006 Perth Theatre Company production of Amadeus, a fictional play about the downfall of Mozart at the hands of the reigning court composer.^[19] His other stage acting roles have included the title role in the 2004 Perth Theatre Company / Hoopla production of Hamlet, and The Writer in the original PTC production of Reg Cribb’s The Return. He has also acted for The Australian Shakespeare Company (Twelfth Night), the Black Swan Theatre Company (Cosi, One Destiny) and in various other plays, short films and TVC’s. Roles from his days in musical theatre include Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha and Pontius Pilate (and understudying Judas twice) in Jesus Christ Superstar. He has also appeared playing small parts on the ABC telemovie Loot and on the show Comedy Inc..^[60]

Minchin also plays the role of Tom, in the contemporary family drama Two Fists, One Heart,^[61] released 19 March 2009.^[62] He also wrote the song Drowned for the film's soundtrack.^[63]

He co-wrote an Olivier Award winning musical version of Roald Dahl's novel Matilda – entitled Matilda, A Musical – with Dennis Kelly and the Royal Shakespeare Company, which is produced by the RSC. It showed at The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon running from 9 November 2010 to 30 January 2011^[64] and began its West End run at the Cambridge Theatre on 25 October 2011 to great critical acclaim.^[65][66]

Minchin has been cast to play Judas in the Summer 2012 UK tour of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.^[67]

Atheism and skepticism[link]

In an interview with IIG member John Rael, Minchin explains that what upsets him most about paranormal beliefs is "special pleading" by people who say vague things such as "there is no harm in it". Minchin states that there is very little harm in something like reiki, but asks "where do you draw the line?" when it comes to needing real evidence if a therapy works or not. He states that he is an atheist as well as a skeptic, and cannot understand how someone can call themself a skeptic and still be religious. "If you apply doubt to anything...the whole religion thing is obviously a fantasy." ^[68]

In his beat poem, Storm, which centres on Minchin having an argument with a "hippie" who believes in various New Age alternatives in lieu of pharmaceutical medicine, he states: "Science adjusts its views based on what's observed. Faith is the denial of observation, so that belief can be preserved." ^[69]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Sit (with band Timmy the Dog) (2001)
• Darkside (2005)
• So Rock (2006)
• Ready For This? (2009)
• Live at the O2 (2010)
• Tim Minchin and The Heritage Orchestra (2011)

Singles[link]

• "Drowned" (2008)
• "White Wine in the Sun" (2009)
• "The Pope Song" (2010) - As a free download from his website^[70]
• "The Fence" (2011)

Compilations[link]

• Laugh-a-poolooza (featured artist) (2005)

DVD[link]

• So Live (2007) Australian DVD
• So F**king Rock Live (also known as So Fucking Rock Live)^[71] (11 October 2008)
• So F**king Rock Live (Special Edition) (also known as So Fucking Rock Live (Special Edition)) (5 October 2009)
• Ready For This? (29 November 2010)
• Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra (14 November 2011)

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

• 2008 – Two Fists, One Heart – Tom^[72]
• 2010 – The Lost Thing – The Boy (Voice)^[73]
• 2013 - Californication - Coked-up Rock Star(Guest)^[74]

Awards[link]

• 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Directors' Choice Award for Dark Side^[75]
• 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Perrier Comedy Award, Best Newcomer^[23]
• 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, The Groggy Squirrel Critics' Award^[76]
• 2007 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, Best Alternative Act^[77]
• 2009 Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer ^[78]
• 2009 Green Room Awards, Cabaret: Best Original Songs^[79]
• 2009 Green Room Awards, Cabaret: Best Artiste^[79]
• 2010 Chortle Awards, Best Music or Variety Act ^[80]
• 2012 Olivier Awards: Best New Musical for Matilda The Musical ^[81]

References[link]