Kerouac & the Beats Class Review

Although I was a little confused at the beginning of the semester because Beat writers have the tendency to write obscurely, I was able to make connections to their messages with their behavior thanks to the class lectures. This is my review of the beats generation:

  

Kerouac is innovative in that he can write endlessly without pausing which some view his book ON THE ROAD as a masterpiece because of the never-ending expressions of run on sentences and no paragraph breaks (try saying supercalafragalisticexpialadocious for several lines in a reading). If I remember clearly, he used a scroll to avoid having to pause his thoughts. How is this even writing? This is more typing and no writing! Regardless, I think its brilliant! The fact that it cut time in half to produce makes it less appealing but more genius. Kerouac, like many other beat writers use a lot of recursion in their work to add emphasis to sex, drugs, and music with a whole lot of madness and not enough time to do them. Music was the Beat Generation’s inspiration that gave them conviction to stand out and stand tall against the censorship of artistic expression.

The Beat Generation were an alienated artistic group of writers that were shunned by mainstream society due to thinking outside the box. Their writings reflect exemption from a world they did not connect with. Their behavior was self-destructive; they lived to satisfy their desires and were viewed as outlaws. Jazz music gave them a temporary mental escape. They were controversial in their lifestyles and their art was rejected. Their view of America was tainted because they understood it to be superficial and more self-destructive than their own lifestyle.

The readings demonstrate a recycling of life through renewal. This was made through connecting with nature and how vulnerable they were to their desires. They traveled extensively celebrating their momentary satisfactions. Their behavior was experimental and exploitative which I viewed as egotistical and selfish. They were reckless and rebellious believing that life is meant to be lived unrestrictedly. 

I learned that the Beat Generation is a movement that screams freedom. It is a movement that depicts an oppressed minority group that wanted to express their art without censorship. They struggled for independence wanting to write freely without having to be criticized or judged. They viewed conformity as a way to control society and tried to find a means of escape through people, drugs, and music.

They felt a strong connection to Jazz music and viewed it as an expression of love reaching their souls profoundly. I am currently taking a class on Jazz & Politics and understand Jazz to be an expression of emotion; a cry (happy or sad) for social change. Because prejudice and cruel disparagement were acceptable at the time, so was status and category. The fact that there has been racial and gender inequality for centuries provides evidence of social oppression and it is through music that has proven effective in social change.

The music during that time was a result of the environment. Jazz bands were used and created as a form of expression that went beyond race as the World War I changed the economy, tyranny, and segregation. Social movement transformed Jazz because it no longer served as a hopeful resolution bringing us to other forms of musical expression. Jazz and the Beat Generation have similar experiences because it is through their art of expression that they try to expound their messages. It was a movement that transformed both music and literature becoming the backbone of influential expression of art. Jazz and the Beat Generation both serve as precursors to a movement that has shaped society creating a landmark of creative expression. I would like to learn more about the entire trials and tribulations that existed outside of the Beat Generation writings to understand more about society at that time and their perception of the Beat Generation in raw text; there is always two sides to every story!

Female Beat Writer

Wow, finally a female “beat” writer and she represents herself as a successful poet who has gone through many ups and downs and yet has left an impression on American society as an exemplar. She is not only a “revolutionary activist” but she’s a female too! 

Her work has been translated into more than 20 languages and she has received the National Endowment for the Arts grant, Lifetime Achievement in Poetry for the Arts award from the NPA . . . Master Artist/Poet, awarded an honorary Doctor of Literature degree, a finalist for the Poet Laureate of California but was named Poet Laureate of San Francisco, among many other notable titles she earned for her hard work, and dedication. I can go on and on about Di Prima’s founding and co-founding success, however, I only want to write about works that have been introduced to me in class. So here it goes:

“what I ate where”

di drima has an interesting approach because her writing contains no capital letters at the introduction of her paragraphs nor does she use them when referencing names. this section of my blog will illustrate her work in order to capture some of the elements in this particular reading. using this technique gives the appearance of a diary, which is exactly how I used to write mine when I was around eight years old. another noticeable element is how conversational and informal it is making the reading easier to follow, until I hit the third line where she describes a food she remembers eating; it’s called “menstrual pudding,” which immediately caught my attention.

THANKSGIVING, 1955

She begins this poem with the list of items in lowercase and the shopping list in all caps. As she begins to write her GUEST LIST she is more formal in her writing as she capitalizes appropriately, which she find necessary for the occasion. However, after a huge gap she mixes both informal and formal writing style which gives emphasis to what she capitalizes.

As she progresses into her story, she no longer eats “menstrual pudding,” which by the way happens to be mashed potatoes and tomato sauce; she gradually goes from eating that to going on an Oreos bing which she says is fattening...REALLY? She gradually adds to her menu French bread, peanut butter, Lipton soup, and then she finally enjoys the finer things in life like blue cheese, caviar, Swedish bread, smoked ham, and sour cream. She uses descriptive imagery with lots of humor which I find to be one of the elements that lacked in other beat writers.

Her poetry in prose is much like the other beat writers. Like Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs, she provides her own prospective of what life was like for the many struggling artists that came and went having to share everything with the exception that she is more optimistic and much less gloomier. Her reading seems to be more grounded and less mediocre because her poems are heartfelt. Her reflective moments were recounted as food which I believe comforted her.

She desired to have a baby without being in a relationship but regardless, makes the best out of the circumstances and is compelled to write odes to her child which is beautifully written. Unlike her beat counterparts previously mentioned, Di Prima is nurturing, selfless, and although she imitates Kerouac’s style of writing, she is innovative in her own way.