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Beat Generation

By Jack Kerouac, A. M. Homes (Preface)

(4)

| Hardcover | 9781560257424

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Book Description

Beat Generation is a play about tension, about friendship, and about karma—what it is and how you get it. It begins one fine morning with a few friends, honest laborers some of them, some close to being down-and-out, passing around a bottle of wine. It ends with a kind of satori-like reContinue

Beat Generation is a play about tension, about friendship, and about karma—what it is and how you get it. It begins one fine morning with a few friends, honest laborers some of them, some close to being down-and-out, passing around a bottle of wine. It ends with a kind of satori-like reaffirmation of the power of friendship, of doing good through not doing, and the intrinsic worth of the throwaway little exchanges that make up our lives.

Written in 1957, the same year that On the Road was first published, and set in 1953, Beat Generation portrays an authentic and alternate 1950s America. Kerouac's characters are working-class men and women—a step away from vagrants, but not a big step. Their dialogue positively sings, suggesting jazz riffs in their rhythm and content, and Kerouac, like a master composer, arranges it to magical effect. Here is the heart and soul of the beat mentality, the zeitgeist that blossomed over the decades and eventually culminated in the counter-culture of 1960s America. It's a spirit that still lives.

Critics

  • Beat to the Beat

    Jack Kerouac, Beat Generation, Oneworld Classics, 2007. “After me, the deluge,” is a well known quote attributed to the late, great American author Jack Kerouac. And of course he was right, for after the man came a million backpackers, hippies, faux ... (read full critics)

    3ammagazine published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

1 Review

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  • Kerouac is one of my favourite authors of all time. But I must admit I don’t care for everything he does. This was a play he wrote that was going to become a screenplay and honestly it’s a bit Meh. Unlike in his books it’s not really obvious who the characters are supposed to be (apart from Neal). J ... (continue)

    Kerouac is one of my favourite authors of all time. But I must admit I don’t care for everything he does. This was a play he wrote that was going to become a screenplay and honestly it’s a bit Meh. Unlike in his books it’s not really obvious who the characters are supposed to be (apart from Neal). Jack only became obvious in the third act when he started drinking! In many ways I wonder if it was written as a reaction against the ideas of what the Beat Generation were. There was no drug use, no jazz, no travelling, no parties. Rather the three scenes comprised of guy’s hanging out eating breakfast after work, gambling at the race track and hanging out with a religious guy in a suburban household. The scenes are without purpose but they are also without the charm of the normal conversations within a Kerouac book. I think just having dialogue and missing the prose takes away some of the affection towards the characters, who honestly come off sounding rather stupid and lame. The introduction mentions how women were un-emancipated in Kerouac’s world, which considering Carolyn being a working mother seems a bit unfair. My favourite part was in the first chapter how the woman appeared in a very domestic role, serving breakfast and coffee to the men as they come home from work. However, when her husband does arrive he proudly announces that he should be able to get her hooked up with some H that day. Definitely not your typical American 50s housewife! I’m glad I found this book as I do want to read everything by Kerouac but I definitely wouldn’t say this was his best.

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    Robot-mel said on May 17, 2011 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

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