Kerouac, Ginsberg, Orlovsky (back row), Corso and Orlovsky's brother Lafcadio (front row) while traveling in Mexico

The Beat Generation is a term used to describe both a group of American writers who came to prominence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the cultural phenomena that they wrote about and inspired (later sometimes called beatniks though this is considered by many to be a pejorative term). Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 394 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1009 × 1536 pixel, file size: 434 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and Gregory Corso travelling in Mexico. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 394 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1009 × 1536 pixel, file size: 434 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and Gregory Corso travelling in Mexico. ... Though anyone who creates a written work may be called a writer, the term is usually reserved for those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... The 1950s decade refers to the years 1950 to 1959 inclusive. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969. ... Beats redirects here. ...

The major works of Beat writing are Allen Ginsberg's Howl (1956), William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch (1959) and Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957)^[1]. Both Howl and Naked Lunch were the focus of obscenity trials that ultimately helped to liberalize what could be published in the United States. On the Road transformed Kerouac's friend Neal Cassady into a youth-culture hero. The members of the Beat Generation quickly developed a reputation as new bohemian hedonists, who celebrated non-conformity and spontaneous creativity. Irwin Allen Ginsberg (IPA: ) (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet. ... Howl and Other Poems was published in the fall of 1956 as number four in the Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books This article is about the poem by Allen Ginsberg. ... William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914) - August 2, 1997; pronounced ), more commonly known as William S. Burroughs, was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer. ... Naked Lunch is a novel by William S. Burroughs. ... Jack Kerouac (pronounced ) (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist, writer, poet, and artist. ... This article is about the novel On the Road. ... Obscenity in Latin obscenus, meaning foul, repulsive, detestable, (possibly derived from ob caenum, literally from filth). The term is most often used in a legal context to describe expressions (words, images, actions) that offend the prevalent sexual morality of the time. ... Neal Cassady, left, with Jack Kerouac, photograph by Carolyn Cassady. ... For other uses, see Bohemian (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any sources. ...

The adjective beat had the connotations of "tired" or "down and out," but as used by Kerouac it included the paradoxical connotations of "upbeat", "beatific", and the musical association of being "on the beat." The Beat writers emphasized a visceral engagement in worldly experiences combined with a quest for deeper spiritual understanding (e.g. many of them developed a strong interest in Buddhism).

Echoes of the Beat Generation can be seen throughout many other modern subcultures (e.g. "hippies," "punks," etc). See the "Influences on Western Culture" section below. In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a set of people with a set of behaviors and beliefs, culture, which could be distinct or hidden, that differentiate them from the larger culture to which they belong. ... Hippies (singular hippie or sometimes hippy) were members of the 1960s counterculture movement who adopted a communal or nomadic lifestyle, renounced corporate nationalism and the Vietnam War, embraced aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, and/or Native American religious culture, and were otherwise at odds with traditional middle class Western values. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Beats redirects here. ...

Background of the name

William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Alan Ansen, and Gregory Corso in Tangier

Author Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948, generalizing from his social circle to characterize the underground, anti-conformist youth gathering in New York at that time; the name came up in conversation with the novelist John Clellon Holmes (who published an early novel about the beat generation, titled Go, in 1952, along with a manifesto of sorts in the New York Times Magazine: "This is the beat generation"). The adjective "beat" was introduced to the group by Herbert Huncke, though Kerouac expanded the meaning of the term. Other adjectives discussed by Holmes and Kerouac were "found" and "furtive". Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Jack Kerouac (pronounced ) (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist, writer, poet, and artist. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... John Clellon Holmes (March 12th, 1926 - March 2nd, 1988) is best known for his 1952 book Go, which described characters such as Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, and Allen Ginsberg and is considered the first Beat novel. ... Go is the semi-auto-biographical novel by John Clellon Holmes. ... Look up manifesto in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Huncke on the cover of his anthology. ...

Kerouac's claim that he had identified (and embodied) a new trend analogous to the influential Lost Generation might have seemed grandiose at the time, but in retrospect it's clear that he was correct -- though possibly largely because the prophecy was self-fulfilling.^[2][3] For other uses, see Lost Generation (disambiguation). ...

As a small group of friends

The press often used the term "Beat Generation" in reference to a small group of writers, the friends of Ginsberg, Kerouac, or Burroughs. A joke among Beat writers (attributed to both Gregory Corso and Gary Snyder) persisted in various forms: "Three friends does not make a generation." A narrow definition of the Beat Generation would include only those who consistently defined themselves as "Beat" writers: Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky, etc. Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, though they both rejected the label at times, are considered core, defining members of the Beat Generation. If "Beat Generation" is defined broadly, the smaller group is called "The New York Beats." In this sense, movements like the San Francisco Renaissance and the Black Mountain poets would be separate movements. Gregory Corso (illustration) Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet, the fourth member of the canon of Beat Generation writers (with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs). ... Young Gary Snyder, on one of his early book covers Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet (originally, often associated with the Beat Generation), essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. ... Gregory Corso (illustration) Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet, the fourth member of the canon of Beat Generation writers (with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs). ... Peter Orlovsky (born July 8, 1933) is an American poet best known for being the lover of Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg. ... The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centred around that city and which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetic avant-garde. ... The Black Mountain poets, sometimes called the Projectivist poets, were a group of mid 20th century American avant-garde or postmodern poets centered around Black Mountain College. ...

As a large group of writers

Corso, Ginsberg, and Burroughs -- The "inner circle" of the Beats

Defined broadly, (the way William Blake is defined as a Romantic poet), other writers who reached prominence in the late 1950s, early 1960s, who shared many of the same themes, ideas, intentions, etc. (for example, dedication to spontaneity, open-form composition, subjectivity, and so on), would also be included. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 690 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2085 × 1811 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 690 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2085 × 1811 pixel, file size: 2. ... William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827) was an English poet, visionary, painter, and printmaker. ... Romantic poetry was part of the Romantic movement of European literature during the 18th-mid-19th centuries. ...

There has often been confusion about who actually should be included in the so-called "Beat Generation." Writers who qualify as part of the "Beat Generation" might deny they were ever a part of it, based on this limiting definition the press gave it. For example, they may say that they were friends of Ginsberg and Kerouac, not followers. Friendship, or at least a brief association, with Ginsberg or Kerouac would be an indication that a writer belongs in this broadly defined list of "Beat" writers. This list would include:

• certain poets the core Beats encountered in San Francisco who were often associated with the San Francisco Renaissance such as Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Lew Welch, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Harold Norse, Kirby Doyle, Michael McClure;
• poets associated with the Black Mountain College such as Robert Creeley, Denise Levertov, Robert Duncan (though Duncan was one of the most vocal early critics of the "Beat Generation" label);
• New York School poets such as Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch;
• surrealist poets Philip Lamantia and Ted Joans;
• poets who are occasionally called the "second wave" of the Beat Generation such as LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, Diane DiPrima, Anne Waldman;
• many others, including: Bob Kaufman, Tuli Kupferberg, Ed Sanders, John Wieners, Jack Micheline, A. D. Winans, Ray Bremser and Bonnie Bremser/Brenda Frazer, Ed Dorn, Jack Spicer, David Meltzer, Richard Brautigan, Lenore Kandel;
• many previously underappreciated female writers who are now receiving more attention such as Joanne Kyger, Kaye McDonough, Harriet Sohmers Zwerling, Janine Pommy Vega, Elise Cowen.
• A few younger writers who were acquaintances of the aforementioned writers (such as Bob Dylan, Ken Kesey, Jim Carroll, Ron Padgett) are occasionally included in this list.
• Charles Bukowski has a tenuous place on this list since his association is slight.
• Several older writers were very closely associated with members of the "Beat Generation", though their reputations were solidified so much earlier that it is difficult to call them part of the same "generation." They include Kenneth Rexroth, the principal figure involved in the San Francisco Renaissance, and Charles Olson, the mentor to the Black Mountain poets and author of the highly influential essay "Projective Verse". Also, so many of these writers either studied personally with William Carlos Williams or looked up to Williams as an idol, that Beat writers are often seen as being the children of Williams.

Young Gary Snyder, on one of his early book covers Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet (originally, often associated with the Beat Generation), essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. ... Philip Whalen (October 20, 1923 – June 26, 2002) was a poet and a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance and the Beat generation. ... Lewis Barrett Welch, Jr. ... Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born Lawrence Ferling[1] on March 24, 1919) is an American poet who is known as the co-owner of the City Lights Bookstore and publishing house, which published early literary works of the Beats, including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. ... Harold Norse (born July 6, 1916 in New York City) is a American poet, two-time NEA grant recipient, and National Poetry Association award winner. ... Kirby Doyle (November 27, 1932 - April 14, 2003) was a poet in the New American Poetry movement, the so-called third generation of American modernist poets. ... Michael McClure, an American poet, playwright, songwriter and novelist, was born in Marysville, Kansas on (October 20, 1932) before moving to San Francisco as a young man. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Portrait taken in 1972 Robert Creeley (May 21, 1926 - March 30, 2005) was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. ... Denise Levertov Denise Levertov (October 24, 1923–December 20, 1997) was a British-born American poet. ... Robert Duncan (January 7, 1919 – February 3, 1988), was an American poet associated with the Black Mountain poets and the beat generation. ... The New York School (synonymous with abstract expressionist painting) was an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers, and musicians active in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s in New York City. ... Francis Russell OHara (June 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American poet who, along with John Ashbery, James Schuyler and Kenneth Koch, was a key member of what was known as the New York School of poetry. ... Kenneth Koch (27 February 1925 – 6 July 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77. ... Surrealism is an artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious. ... Philip Lamantia (October 23, 1927-March 7, 2005) was a United States poet and lecturer. ... Ted Joans (July 4, 1928 - April 25, 2003), born Theodore Jones, was an American painter, trumpeter and a jazz poet. ... Amiri Baraka Amiri Baraka (born October 7, 1934) is a U.S. writer. ... Amiri Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones on October 7, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. ... Diane di Prima (born August 6, 1934) is an American poet and one of the most active of women poets associated with the Beats. ... Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. ... Bob Kaufman (April 18, 1925 – January 12, 1986), born Robert Garnell Kaufman in New Orleans, Louisiana, was an American Beat poet and surrealist inspired by jazz music. ... Tuli Kupferberg (born September 28, 1923) is an American counterculture poet, author, cartoonist, and publisher and co-founder of the band The Fugs. ... Ed Sanders born August 17, 1939 in Kansas City,Missouri is a poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, novelist and publisher. ... John Wieners (born 6 January 1934 in Milton, Massachusetts, and died 1 March 2002 in Boston) was a United States lyric poet. ... Jack Micheline (born December 6, 1929 in The Bronx, New York; died February 27, 1998 in San Francisco, California) was a Bay Area painter and poet. ... Allan Davis Winans (born 12 January 1936, San Francisco, California), known as A. D. Winans is a poet, essayist, and short story writer. ... Ray Bremser (born February 22, 1934; died 1988) was an American poet. ... Edward Dorn (1929-1999) was a United States poet who was associated with the Black Mountain poets. ... This page is about the poet. ... David Meltzer (born 1937) is a poet and musician of the Beat Generation and San Francisco Renaissance. ... Richard Gary Brautigan (January 30, 1935 – September 14 (?),[1] 1984) was an American writer, best known for the novel Trout Fishing in America. ... Lenore Kandel (born 1932) is a poet who was briefly notorious as the author of a short book of poetry, The Love Book, a small pamphlet of 8 pages with 4 poems, including To Fuck with Love which was prosecuted for obscenity in 1967 in San Francisco during the hippie... Joanne Kyger (born November 19, 1934) is an American poet associated with the San Francisco Renaissance and the Beats. ... Harriet Sohmers is an American writer and artists model. ... Janine Pommy Vega (born February 5, 1942) is an American poet associated with the Beats. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... This article is about the recording artist. ... Kenneth Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American author, best known for his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and as a counter-cultural figure who, some consider, was a link between the beat generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. ... Jim Carroll in 2007. ... Ron Padgett, born in 1942 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a poet and member of the New York School. ... Bukowski redirects here. ... Kenneth Rexroth (December 22, 1905 – June 6, 1982) was an American poet, translator and critical essayist. ... Charles Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was an important 2nd generation American modernist poet who was a crucial link between earlier figures like Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, a rubric which includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, the Beat... William Carlos Williams Dr. William Carlos Williams (sometimes known as WCW) (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963), was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. ...

Characterization

The Beat Generation works highlighted the primacy of such Beat Generation essentials as spontaneity, open emotion, visceral engagement in often gritty worldly experiences; in a seeming paradox, the Beats often emphasized a spiritual yearning, using concepts and imagery from Buddhism, Judaism, Catholicism, and so on. Thus members of the Beat Generation sought a synthesis of the "beaten down" and the "beatific", as Kerouac described it.

One of the most well publicized aspects of Beat writing is the continual challenge to the limits of free expression; the Beat writers produced a body of written work controversial both for its advocacy of non-conformity and for its non-conforming style. The language and topics (drug use, sexuality, aberrant behavior) pushed the boundaries of acceptability in the conformist 1950's. The first "Beat" work to gain nationwide attention was Ginsberg's "Howl" based partly on its graphic sexual language; an obscenity-trial helped fuel its fame. One of the most enduringly famous "Beat" works, Kerouac's On the Road (written in 1951), which had much of its objectionable material edited out, was not published until 1957, in a sense capitalizing on the fame brought by the "Howl" obscenity-trial; Kerouac was subsequently accused of encouraging delinquency. Burroughs' magnum opus, Naked Lunch, which was much more graphic than "Howl", likewise went to trial for obscenity after its 1962 American publication. These trials helped to establish that, if anything was deemed to have literary value, it was no longer considered obscene.^[4] Howl and Other Poems was published in the fall of 1956 as number four in the Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books This article is about the poem by Allen Ginsberg. ... This article is about the novel On the Road. ... Naked Lunch is a novel by William S. Burroughs. ...

History

The original "Beat Generation" writers met in New York: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, (in 1948) and later (in 1950) Gregory Corso (they are sometimes called the "New York Beats" though only Corso was from New York). New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Jack Kerouac (pronounced ) (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist, writer, poet, and artist. ... Irwin Allen Ginsberg (IPA: ) (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet. ... William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914) - August 2, 1997; pronounced ), more commonly known as William S. Burroughs, was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer. ... Gregory Corso (illustration) Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet, the fourth member of the canon of Beat Generation writers (with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs). ...

Perhaps equally important were the less obviously creative members of the scene, who contributed to the writers intellectual environment and provided them with subject matter: There was Herbert Huncke, a drug-addict and petty thief who met Burroughs in 1946 and introduced the core members of the New York Beats to the junky life style and junky lingo, including the word “beat”; Lucien Carr, who was key to introducing many of the central figures to one another; and Hal Chase, an anthropology student from Denver, who, in 1947, introduced into the group Neal Cassady, the focus of many beat works (notably Kerouac's On the Road). Huncke on the cover of his anthology. ... Lucien Carr (March 1, 1925 – January 28, 2005) was a key figure in the Beat generation, and later an editor for UPI. Carr was a roommate of Allen Ginsberg at Columbia University in the 1940s and met Jack Kerouac through Jacks then-girlfriend Edie Parker. ... Nickname: Location of Denver in Colorado Location of Colorado in the United States Coordinates: , Country State Founded [1] November 22, 1858 Incorporated November 7, 1861 Government  - Type Strong Mayor/Weak Council  - Mayor John Hickenlooper (D) Area [1]  - City & County  154. ... Neal Cassady, left, with Jack Kerouac, photograph by Carolyn Cassady. ... This article is about the novel On the Road. ...

Joan Vollmer Adams Burroughs in New York City.

Also important were the oft-neglected women in the original circle, including Joan Vollmer and Edie Parker. Their apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan often functioned as a salon (or as Ted Morgan puts it, a "pre-sixties commune"^[5]), and Joan Vollmer, in particular, was a serious participant in the marathon discussion-sessions. This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 50 years. ... This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 50 years. ... Joan Vollmer Adams Burroughs in New York City. ... Edie Parker was an author from the Beatnik generation and the first wife of Jack Kerouac. ...

Later, the central figures (with the exception of Burroughs) ended up together in San Francisco in the mid-1950s where they met and became friends with figures associated with the San Francisco Renaissance such as Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Harold Norse, Lew Welch, and Kirby Doyle. There they met many other poets who had migrated to San Francisco because it had a reputation as an important new center of creativity. This included Bob Kaufman who was, according to legend, the first to actually be called a "beatnik." Also of significance were Philip Lamantia, Tuli Kupferberg, and members of the recently dissolved Black Mountain College looking for a new center of communal creativity, poets such as Robert Creeley, Edward Dorn, and Robert Duncan. The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centred around that city and which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetic avant-garde. ... Kenneth Rexroth (December 22, 1905 – June 6, 1982) was an American poet, translator and critical essayist. ... Young Gary Snyder, on one of his early book covers Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet (originally, often associated with the Beat Generation), essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. ... Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born Lawrence Ferling[1] on March 24, 1919) is an American poet who is known as the co-owner of the City Lights Bookstore and publishing house, which published early literary works of the Beats, including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. ... Michael McClure, an American poet, playwright, songwriter and novelist, was born in Marysville, Kansas on (October 20, 1932) before moving to San Francisco as a young man. ... Philip Whalen (October 20, 1923 – June 26, 2002) was a poet and a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance and the Beat generation. ... Harold Norse (born July 6, 1916 in New York City) is a American poet, two-time NEA grant recipient, and National Poetry Association award winner. ... Lewis Barrett Welch, Jr. ... Kirby Doyle (November 27, 1932 - April 14, 2003) was a poet in the New American Poetry movement, the so-called third generation of American modernist poets. ... Bob Kaufman (April 18, 1925 – January 12, 1986), born Robert Garnell Kaufman in New Orleans, Louisiana, was an American Beat poet and surrealist inspired by jazz music. ... Philip Lamantia (October 23, 1927-March 7, 2005) was a United States poet and lecturer. ... Tuli Kupferberg (born September 28, 1923) is an American counterculture poet, author, cartoonist, and publisher and co-founder of the band The Fugs. ... Portrait taken in 1972 Robert Creeley (May 21, 1926 - March 30, 2005) was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. ... Ed Dorn & Jennifer Dunbar Dorn Edward Dorn (April 2, 1929 — December 10, 1999) was an American poet and teacher often associated with the Black Mountain poets. ... Robert Duncan may refer to: Robert Duncan (1919-1988), U.S. poet Robert Duncan, U.S. physicist Robert Duncan, British TV comedy actor Robert Duncan McNeill, U.S. actor, director and producer Robert Duncan, Episcopal bishop of Pittsburgh This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other...

Many writers were inspired by the publication of "Howl" and On the Road and decided to join the group. The Beats met most of these writers when they returned to New York: John Wieners, LeRoi Jones, Diane DiPrima, Anne Waldman. The New York School of poets (including Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch, John Ashbery, and James Schuyler, though Ashbery and Schuyler weren’t quite as closely associated with the Beats), had already been established as a movement in New York; they found much in common with this ever-widening circle and consistently promoted one another's work. John Wieners (born 6 January 1934 in Milton, Massachusetts, and died 1 March 2002 in Boston) was a United States lyric poet. ... Amiri Baraka Amiri Baraka (born October 7, 1934) is a U.S. writer. ... Diane di Prima (born August 6, 1934) is an American poet and one of the most active of women poets associated with the Beats. ... Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. ... The New York School (synonymous with abstract expressionist painting) was an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers, and musicians active in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s in New York City. ... Francis Russell OHara (June 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American poet who, along with John Ashbery, James Schuyler and Kenneth Koch, was a key member of what was known as the New York School of poetry. ... Kenneth Koch (27 February 1925 – 6 July 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77. ... John Ashbery John Ashbery (born July 28, 1927) is an American poet. ... James Schuyler(9 November 1923 – 12 April 1991) was a major American poet in the late 20th century. ...

Columbia University and The Kammerer Stabbing

The beginning of the Beat Generation is often traced back to Columbia University to the meeting of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Lucien Carr, Hal Chase, and others in the original circle. Although they were later considered anti-academic artists, the seed for the Beat Generation was planted in a highly academic environment. Many of their early ideas were formed during arguments with professors such as Lionel Trilling and Mark Van Doren. This was the same environment in which some of their classmates, such as Louis Simpson and Donald Hall, became champions of formalism. This is where Carr and Ginsberg discussed the need for a "New Vision" (a term borrowed from Arthur Rimbaud) to move away from Columbia University's conservative notions of literature. Lucien Carr (March 1, 1925 – January 28, 2005) was a key figure in the Beat generation, and later an editor for UPI. Carr was a roommate of Allen Ginsberg at Columbia University in the 1940s and met Jack Kerouac through Jacks then-girlfriend Edie Parker. ... Lionel Trilling (July 4, 1905 – November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, author, and teacher. ... Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and critic. ... Louis Simpson (born March 27, 1923 in Jamaica) is a United States poet. ... Donald Hall (born September 20, 1928) is an American poet and the U.S. Poet Laureate. ... Rimbaud redirects here. ...

They soon met people outside of Columbia University such as Burroughs, Hunke, and Cassady and the new focus became real life experiences in contrast to the academic environment of Columbia. Perhaps the most important early experience that drew most of the members of the Beat Generation together was Lucien Carr's stabbing of David Kammerer. This was one reason why Burroughs maintained his close-but-distant relationship with the rest of the Beats. The stabbing was an incident that Kerouac tried to capture twice, once in his first novel The Town and the City and then again in one of his last, The Vanity of Duluoz. The Town and the City is a novel by Jack Kerouac, published by Harcourt Brace in 1950 (ISBN 0-15-690790-9). ...

Burroughs was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1914; making him roughly ten years older than most of the other original beats. While still living in St. Louis, Burroughs met David Kammerer, and thus began an association presumably based on their shared homosexual orientation and intellectual tendencies. Nickname: Location in the state of Missouri Coordinates: , Country State County Independent City Government  - Mayor Francis G. Slay (D) Area  - City  66. ... Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ...

As a boys' youth-group-leader in the mid-1930s, David Kammerer had become infatuated with the young Lucien Carr (with what encouragement, if any, it is difficult to say). Kammerer formed a pattern of following Carr around the country as Carr attended (and was expelled from) different colleges. In the fall of 1942, at the University of Chicago, Kammerer introduced 17-year-old Lucien Carr to William S. Burroughs. Lucien Carr (March 1, 1925 – January 28, 2005) was a key figure in the Beat generation, and later an editor for UPI. Carr was a roommate of Allen Ginsberg at Columbia University in the 1940s and met Jack Kerouac through Jacks then-girlfriend Edie Parker. ... For other uses, see University of Chicago (disambiguation). ...

Burroughs was a Harvard-graduate who lived off a stipend from his relatively wealthy family. His grandfather had invented the Burroughs Adding Machine, though the amount of wealth in the family is often exaggerated (Kerouac remarked on "the Burroughs Millions", which didn't actually exist^[6]).

The three became good friends, whose sprees got Burroughs kicked out of his rooming-house and culminated with Carr confined in a mental ward after an apparent attempted suicide with a gas oven (one version of the story holds that this was a way of avoiding military service).

In the spring of 1943, Carr's family moved him to Columbia University in New York, where Kammerer, and then Burroughs shortly followed. Alma Mater Columbia University is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. ...

At Columbia, Carr met the freshman Allen Ginsberg, whom he introduced to Burroughs and Kammerer. Edie Parker, another member of the crowd, introduced Carr to her boyfriend Jack Kerouac when he came back from his stint as a merchant marine. In 1944, Carr introduced Kerouac and Burroughs.

Kammerer's fixation was obvious to everyone in the circle, and he became jealous as Carr developed a relationship with a young woman (Celine Young). In mid-August, 1944, Lucien Carr killed him with a boy scout knife in what may have been self-defense after an altercation in a park on the Hudson River. The Hudson River, called Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk in Mahican or as the Lenape Native Americans called it in Unami, Muhheakantuck, is a river that runs through the eastern portion of New York State and, along its southern terminus, demarcates the border between the states of New York and...

Carr disposed of the body in the river. He then sought advice from Burroughs, who recommended that he get a lawyer and turn himself in with a claim of self-defense. Instead, Carr went to Kerouac, who helped him dispose of the weapon.

On the following morning, Carr turned himself in, and Kerouac and Burroughs were both charged as accessories to the crime. Burroughs quickly got the money for bail, but Kerouac's parents refused to post it for him. Edie Parker and her family came through, with the condition that she and Kerouac be married immediately.

The Times Square Underworld

Burroughs had an interest in experimenting with criminal behavior and gradually made contacts in the criminal underground of New York, becoming involved with dealing in stolen goods and narcotics and developing a decades-long addiction to opiates. Burroughs met Herbert Huncke, a small-time criminal and drug-addict who often hung around the Times Square area. This article is about the drug. ... Huncke on the cover of his anthology. ... For other uses, see Times Square (disambiguation). ...

The beats found Huncke a fascinating character. As Ginsberg put it, they were on a quest for "supreme reality", and felt that Huncke, as a member of the underclass, had learned things that were sheltered from them in their middle-class lives.

In 1949 Ginsberg got in trouble with the law because of this association. Ginsberg let Huncke stay with him for a brief time (as referenced in the line from Howl, "who walked all night with their shoes full of blood on the showbank docks waiting for a door in the East River to open to a room full of steamheat and opium"); Ginsberg's apartment was subsequently packed with stolen goods. He rode with Huncke to transport these stolen goods which led to a car chase with the police. Ginsberg pleaded insanity and was briefly committed to Bellevue Hospital, where he met Carl Solomon. When committed, Carl Solomon was more eccentric than psychotic. A fan of Antonin Artaud, he indulged in some self-consciously "crazy" behavior, e.g. throwing potato salad at a lecturer on Dadaism. Ted Morgan also mentions an incident when he stole a peanut-butter sandwich in a cafeteria and showed it to a security-guard. If not crazy when he was admitted, Solomon was arguably driven mad by the shock treatments applied at Bellevue, and this is one of the things referred to many times by Ginsberg in "Howl" (which was dedicated to Carl Solomon). After his release, Solomon became the publishing contact who agreed to publish Burroughs' first novel Junky (1953), shortly before another episode resulted in his being committed again.^[7] Howl and Other Poems was published in the fall of 1956 as number four in the Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books This article is about the poem by Allen Ginsberg. ... Bellevue Hospital is a famous hospital located in New York City, New York, United States. ... Carl Solomon was a friend of Allen Ginsberg, who met him in a mental institution. ... Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (born September 4, 1896, in Marseille; died March 4, 1948 in Paris) was a French playwright, poet, actor and director. ... DaDa is a concept album by Alice Cooper, released in 1983. ... This article is about the 1981 musical comedy film. ... Howl and Other Poems was published in the fall of 1956 as number four in the Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books This article is about the poem by Allen Ginsberg. ... See Junk (novel) for the book of similar title by Melvin Burgess. ...

Neal Cassady

The introduction of Neal Cassady into the scene in 1947 had a number of effects. A number of the beats were enthralled with Cassady — Ginsberg had an affair with him and became his personal writing-tutor; and Kerouac's road-trips with him in the late 40s became a focus of his second novel, On the Road. Cassady is one of the sources of "rapping" - the loose spontaneous babble that later became associated with "beatniks" (see below). He was not much of a writer himself, though the core writers of the group were impressed with the free-flowing style of some of his letters, and Kerouac cited this as a key influence on his invention of the spontaneous prose style/technique that he used in his key works (the other obvious influence being the improvised solos of jazz music). On the Road is the book where Kerouac began to write in this manner, and it transformed Cassady (under the name "Dean Moriarty") into a cultural icon: a hyper wildman, frequently broke, going from woman to woman, car to car, town to town; largely amoral, but frantically engaged with life. Neal Cassady, left, with Jack Kerouac, photograph by Carolyn Cassady. ... This article is about the novel On the Road. ... Improvisation is the practice of acting and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of ones immediate environment. ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ...

The delays involved in the publication of Kerouac's On the Road often create confusion: The novel was written in 1951 — shortly after John Clellon Holmes published Go, and the article "This is the Beat Generation" — and it covered events that had taken place much earlier, beginning in the late '40s. Since the book was not published until 1957, many people received the impression that it was describing the late '50s era, though it was actually a document of a time ten years earlier.

The legend of how On the Road was written was as influential as the book itself: High on speed, Kerouac typed rapidly on a continuous scroll of telegraph-paper to avoid having to break his chain of thought at the end of each sheet of paper. Kerouac's dictum was that "the first thought is best thought", and insisted that you should never revise a text after it is written — though there remains some question about how carefully Kerouac observed this rule, at least in the case of On the Road which is sometimes regarded as his "transitional" work. Although Kerouac maintained that he wrote this particular book in one mad three-week burst, it is clear from manuscript evidence that he had previously written several drafts and had been contemplating the novel for years. Also, the text went through many changes between the final "scroll" manuscript and the published version.

Gregory Corso

In 1950 Gregory Corso met Ginsberg, who was impressed by the poetry that Corso had written while incarcerated for burglary. Gregory Corso was the young d'Artagnan (to use Ted Morgan's phrase ^[8]) added to the original three of the core beat writers, and for decades the four were often spoken of together, though later critical attention for Corso (the least prolific of the four) waned. Corso was the first of the beats to publish a book: The Vestal Lady on Brattle and Other Poems appeared in 1955. He gained some notoriety for his tragicomic poetry, such as "Bomb" and "Marriage". Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Gregory Corso (illustration) Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet, the fourth member of the canon of Beat Generation writers (with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs). ... The statue of dArtagnan in Auch Statue of dArtagnan in Maastricht Charles de Batz-Castelmore, Comte dArtagnan (c. ... For other uses, see Bomb (disambiguation). ... Matrimony redirects here. ...

San Francisco

See also: San Francisco Renaissance

Some time later there was much cross-pollination with San Francisco-area writers (Ginsberg, Corso, Cassady, and Kerouac each moved there for a time). Lawrence Ferlinghetti (one of the partners who ran the City Lights Bookstore and press) became a focus of the scene as well as the older poet Kenneth Rexroth, whose apartment became a Friday night literary salon. Ginsberg was introduced to Rexroth by an introductory letter from his mentor William Carlos Williams, an old friend of Rexroth's. When Ginsberg was asked by Wally Hedrick ^[9] to organize the famous Six Gallery reading in October 1955, Ginsberg had Rexroth serve as master of ceremonies. In a sense, Rexroth was bridging two generations. This reading included the first public performance of Ginsberg's poem Howl and thus it is considered one of the most important events in the history of the Beat Generation. It brought East Coast and West Coast poets together in public performance for the first time, and the reading quickly sparked a legend and led to many more readings around California by the now locally famous Six Gallery poets. Soon after the Six Gallery reading, Ferlinghetti wrote Ginsberg a letter, saying, "I greet you at the beginning of a brilliant career. When do I get the manuscript?" This was an adaptation of Emerson's comment about Whitman's poetry, a prophecy of sorts that Howl would bring as much energy to this new movement as Whitman brought to 19th-century poetry. This is also a marker of the beginning of the Beat movement, since the publication of Howl and the subsequent obscenity-trial brought nationwide attention to many of the other members of this group.^[10][11] The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centred around that city and which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetic avant-garde. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born Lawrence Ferling[1] on March 24, 1919) is an American poet who is known as the co-owner of the City Lights Bookstore and publishing house, which published early literary works of the Beats, including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. ... City Lights Bookstore, 2007 Co-founded in 1953 by Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, City Lights Bookstore and City Lights Publishers is a landmark independent bookstore and a small press publisher that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. ... Kenneth Rexroth (December 22, 1905 – June 6, 1982) was an American poet, translator and critical essayist. ... William Carlos Williams Dr. William Carlos Williams (sometimes known as WCW) (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963), was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. ... Wally Hedrick at his home in Bodega, CA, c. ... The Six Gallery reading (also known as Gallery Six reading or Six Angels on the Same Performance) was a poetry jamming, which occured in the Six Gallery of San Francisco on October 13, 1955. ... Howl and Other Poems was published in the fall of 1956 as number four in the Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books This article is about the poem by Allen Ginsberg. ...

An account of the Six Gallery reading forms the second chapter of Jack Kerouac's 1958 novel The Dharma Bums, a novel whose chief protagonist is a character based on one of the poets who had read at the event, Gary Snyder (called "Japhy Ryder" in Kerouac's roman à clef). Most of the people in the Beat movement had urban backgrounds and they found Snyder to be an almost exotic individual, with his rural and back-country experience, and his education in cultural anthropology and Oriental languages. Lawrence Ferlinghetti has referred to him as "the Thoreau of the Beat Generation". One of the primary subjects of The Dharma Bums is Buddhism, and the different attitudes that Kerouac and Snyder have towards it. The Dharma Bums undoubtedly helped to popularize Buddhism in the West. The Six Gallery reading (also known as Gallery Six reading or Six Angels on the Same Performance) was a poetry jamming, which occured in the Six Gallery of San Francisco on October 13, 1955. ... Jack Kerouac (pronounced ) (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist, writer, poet, and artist. ... The Dharma Bums cover This is an article about the novel by Jack Kerouac. ... Young Gary Snyder, on one of his early book covers Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet (originally, often associated with the Beat Generation), essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. ... A roman à clef or roman à clé (French for novel with a key) is a novel describing real-life events behind a façade of fiction. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862; born David Henry Thoreau[1]) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, and philosopher who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance... A statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha in Tawang Gompa, India. ... Occident redirects here. ...

Women of the Beat Generation

There is typically very little mention of women in a history of the early Beat Generation, and a strong argument can be made that this omission is largely a reflection of the sexism of the time, rather than a reflection of the actual state of affairs. Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Gay bashing Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial...

Joan Vollmer (later, Joan Vollmer Adams Burroughs) was clearly there at the beginning of the Beat Generation, and all accounts describe her as a very intelligent and interesting woman. But she did not herself write and publish, and unlike the case of Neal Cassady, no one chose to write a book about her (though she appears as a minor figure in multiple authors' works.^[12]). She has gone down in history as the wife of William S. Burroughs, who was killed by him in a shooting-incident (often called "accidental") that resulted in Burroughs' conviction in Mexico of homicide, but with sentence suspended.^[13] Joan Vollmer Adams Burroughs in New York City. ... Neal Cassady, left, with Jack Kerouac, photograph by Carolyn Cassady. ...

Gregory Corso insisted that there were many female beats. In particular, he claimed that a young woman he met in mid-1955 (Hope Savage, also called "Sura") introduced Kerouac and Ginsberg to subjects such as Li Po and was in fact their original teacher regarding eastern religion ^[14] (this claim must be an exaggeration, however: a letter from Kerouac to Ginsberg in 1954 recommended a number of works about Buddhism ^[15]). Gregory Corso (illustration) Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet, the fourth member of the canon of Beat Generation writers (with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs). ... Li Po (701-762) was a Chinese poet, considered the greatest romantic poet of the Tang dynasty. ...

Corso insisted that it was hard for women to get away with a Bohemian existence in that era: they were regarded as crazy, and removed from the scene by force (e.g. by being subjected to electroshock)^[16]. This is confirmed by Diane DiPrima (in a 1978 interview ^[17]): Electroconvulsive therapy, also known as electroshock or ECT, is a controversial type of psychiatric shock therapy involving the induction of an artificial seizure in a patient by passing electricity through the brain. ... Diane di Prima (born August 6, 1934) is an American poet and one of the most active of women poets associated with the Beats. ...

Potentially great women writers wound up dead or crazy. I think of the women on the Beat-scene with me in the early '50s, where are they now? I know Barbara Moraff is a potter and does some writing in Vermont, and that's about all I know. I know some of them ODed and some of them got nuts, and one woman that I was running around the Village with in '53 was killed by her parents putting her in a shock-treatment-place in Pennsylvania ... Barbara Moraff is a poet. ...

However, a number of female beats have persevered, notably Joyce Johnson (author of Minor Characters); Carolyn Cassady (author of Off the Road); Hettie Jones (author of How I Became Hettie Jones); Joanne Kyger (author of As Ever; Going On; Just Space); Harriet Sohmers Zwerling (author of Notes of a Nude Model & Other Pieces); and the aforementioned Diane DiPrima (author of This Kind of Bird Flies Backward, Memoirs of a Beatnik, Loba, and many others). Later, other women writers emerged who were strongly influenced by the beats, such as Janine Pommy Vega (published by City Lights) in the 1960s, and Patti Smith in the early 1970s. Joyce Johnson Joyce Johnson (b. ... Carolyn Cassady, American writer and Beat Generation personality, was born Carolyn Robinson in Lansing, Michigan on April, 28 1923 and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. ... Hettie Jones (born 1934 as Hettie Cohen) is most well-known as the former wife of Amiri Baraka, known as LeRoi Jones at the time of their marriage, but is also a writer herself. ... Joanne Kyger (born November 19, 1934) is an American poet associated with the San Francisco Renaissance and the Beats. ... Harriet Sohmers is an American writer and artists model. ... Janine Pommy Vega (born February 5, 1942) is an American poet associated with the Beats. ... City Lights Bookstore, 2007 Co-founded in 1953 by Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, City Lights Bookstore and City Lights Publishers is a landmark independent bookstore and a small press publisher that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. ... Patricia Lee (Patti) Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American musician, singer, and poet. ...

Drug usage

The original members of the Beat Generation group — in Allen Ginsberg's phrase, "the libertine circle" — used a number of different drugs.

In addition to the alcohol common in American life, they were also interested in marijuana, benzedrine and, in some cases, opiates such as morphine. As time went on, many of them began using psychedelic drugs, such as peyote, yage (also known as Ayahuasca), and LSD. Cannabis, also known as marijuana[1] or ganja,[2] is a psychoactive product of the plant Cannabis sativa L. subsp. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the drug. ... Psychedelic drugs are psychoactive drugs whose primary action is to alter the thought processes of the brain. ... Binomial name (Lem. ... Ayahuasca is an entheogenic drink prepared from segments of the vine Banisteriopsis caapi. ... Ayahuasca (Quechua, pronounced ) is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. ... Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly called LSD, LSD-25, or acid. ...

Much of this usage can fairly be termed "experimental", in that they were generally unfamiliar with the effects of these drugs, and there were intellectual aspects to their interest in them as well as a simple pursuit of hedonistic intoxication.

Benzedrine at that time was available in the form of plastic inhalers, containing a piece of folded paper soaked in the drug. They would typically crack open the inhalers and drop the paper in coffee, or just wad it up and swallow it whole.

Opiates could be obtained in the form of morphine "syrettes": a squeeze tube with a hypodermic needle tip.

As the Beat phenomenon spread (transforming from Beat to "beatnik" to "hippie"), usage of some of these drugs also became more widespread. According to stereotype, the "hippies" commonly used the psychedelic drugs (marijuana, LSD), though the use of other drugs such as amphetamines was also widespread.

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).^[18] This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Collaborations, Inspirations, and References

Lifelong friends, Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg

Collaboration and mutual inspiration are essential aspects of movements; this is certainly true for the Beat Generation. Here are a few examples of collaborations, mutual promotion and inspiration, and references in works by Beat associates to other writers of the broadly defined Beat Generation. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 470 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1204 × 1536 pixel, file size: 668 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Lifelong friends, Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 470 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1204 × 1536 pixel, file size: 668 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Lifelong friends, Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg. ...

• Allen Ginsberg was a tireless promoter of the works of other members of the Beat Generation. He considered himself a pro bono literary agent for all of his friends and for those with similar ideas. For example, he was instrumental in getting William S. Burroughs's first book, (Junkie), published. Ginsberg had encouraged Burroughs to write in the first place. He did extensive editing on Naked Lunch, with some help from Kerouac and others. Burroughs and Ginsberg also collaborated on the book The Yage Letters.^[19]

• Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs and Corso collaborated early on a parody of hardboiled detective fiction called And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks.

• Gregory Corso, Brion Gysin and William Burroughs collaborated in a book of cut-up poems "Minutes to Go" while living in Paris.

• William Burrough's "Naked Lunch" was edited by Allen Ginsberg, Brion Gysin and Gregory Corso, while they lived in Paris Hotel in 1956. Early in 1956 Jack Kerouac, in Tangiers, had assisted Burroughs in putting his prose "fragments" into novel form.

• Jack Kerouac incorporates many important Beat figures as characters in his novels. Two of his most important novels, On the Road and The Dharma Bums, feature characters based on Neal Cassady and Gary Snyder, respectively, as their chief protagonists.

• The Beats often provided titles for one another's work. The naming of two important works is the subject of Beat legend. Ginsberg gives Kerouac credit for the name "Howl", even though the original manuscript Ginsberg sent to Kerouac had already been given the title "Howl for Carl Solomon." It's uncertain why Ginsberg would give Kerouac credit, but it's not surprising, considering the nature of their relationship. Kerouac also provided Burroughs with the title Naked Lunch, and, according to legend, when Ginsberg asked what it meant, Kerouac said he didn't know but they'd figure it out. Ginsberg gives some suggestions in a later poem: "On Burroughs' Work." He says, "A naked lunch is natural to us,/we eat reality sandwiches". Ginsberg also supposedly coined the term "the subterraneans" (an early attempt at a name for the Beat Generation), which became the title of an early Kerouac novel that was later made into a movie. Ginsberg suggested "Gasoline" to Corso, as the title for his second volume of poetry.

• Members of the Beat Generation provided subject-matter for much of Allen Ginsberg's poetry. Neal Cassady in particular was a favorite subject of Ginsberg. Ginsberg dedicates his most famous poem, Howl, to Carl Solomon; Cassady and Solomon are specifically referenced throughout the poem. Other Beat Generation figures referenced in Howl include: Kerouac, Burroughs, Herbert Huncke, Tuli Kupferberg, and many more. He dedicated his first collection of poems, Howl and Other Poems, to Kerouac, Burroughs, Cassady, and originally Lucien Carr, though his name was taken off later at Carr's request. The dedication included all of their accomplishments including then unpublished On the Road, Naked Lunch, and Cassady's The First Third. Carr requested his name be taken off because he didn't want the attention. He dedicated many of his other poetry collections and some individual to poems to other Beat figures, including: Huncke, Cassady, Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Frank O'Hara. Many of them were also subjects of specific poems with in these collections.^[20]

• Kerouac in his roman a clef style, thinly disguised Beat characters and encounters. Allen Ginsberg appears in five novels as Irwin Garden, and under other names in four more books. William Burroughs is Bull or Will Hubbard, or Old Bull in four books. Corso is Raphael Urso in two books. Corso's letters indicate that Kerouac (as Leo Percepied) originally wrote the ending of The Subterraneans with Percepied killing Yuri Gilgoric (Corso) for sleeping with his African American girlfriend Mardou. Corso warned Kerouac that he would go "down in history as a murderer", and Kerouac rewrote the ending to spare Gilgoric's life by not hitting him with a raised cafe table.

Peter Orlovsky, Gregory Corso, and Allen Ginsberg on the set of "Pull My Daisy"

• Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Cassady collaborated on a poem called "Pull My Daisy." A section from "Pull My Daisy" was one of the first poems Ginsberg published. When Kerouac and Ginsberg later collaborated on a film with photographer Robert Frank based on a script by Kerouac for a play called The Beat Generation, they found that the title had already been copyrighted. They called the film Pull My Daisy instead. The actors included Ginsberg, Orlovsky, Corso, and Larry Rivers (a painter associated with the New York School), and Kerouac did the narration.^[21]

• Gary Snyder dedicated several poems to Lew Welch and has mentioned other Beat figures, such as Kerouac and Philip Whalen, in his poetry.

• Frank O'Hara in his conversational poems often talks about eating lunch with "LeRoi" (LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka) and often alludes to other Beat writers, such as Ginsberg and John Wieners.

• LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka occasionally refers to other Beats in his writing (Snyder and Kerouac, for example). For a time in New York, Baraka and Diane DiPrima edited a magazine called Yugen, which published many of the Beat writers.^[22]

Irwin Allen Ginsberg (IPA: ) (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet. ... William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914) - August 2, 1997; pronounced ), more commonly known as William S. Burroughs, was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer. ... 50th anniversary edition, with Burroughs intended title spelling. ... Mid-1990s City Lights Books edition. ... Jack Kerouac (pronounced ) (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist, writer, poet, and artist. ... And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks is an unpublished manuscript written in 1945 by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, several years before the two Beat Generation founders achieved notoriety with On the Road and Junkie, respectively. ... Gregory Corso (illustration) Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet, the fourth member of the canon of Beat Generation writers (with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs). ... Brion Gysin (January 19, 1916 - July 13, 1986) was a painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist born outside of London, Taplow, Buckinghamshire. ... William S. Burroughs. ... William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914) - August 2, 1997; pronounced ), more commonly known as William S. Burroughs, was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer. ... Naked Lunch is a novel by William S. Burroughs. ... Irw