“TO FATHOM HELL OR SOAR ANGELIC...” ONTRADICTIONS AND DILEMMAS OF THE BEAT GENERATION
“TO FATHOM HELL OR SOAR ANGELIC...” ONTRADICTIONS AND DILEMMAS OF THE BEAT GENERATION
Author(s): Andrzej DorobekSubject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Editura Universităţii de Vest din Timişoara / Diacritic Timisoara
Keywords: alternative; beat; consumerism; in; out; psychedelia
Summary/Abstract: Osmond’s statement of the psychedelic ambivalence opens the discussion of the contradictions of American Beat literature: spiritual illumination vs. bohemian lusts, freedom vs. political oppression, artistic integrity vs. “selling out.” Examples come from Ginsberg’s, Kerouac’s, Burroughs’s and Broyard’s works, with references to Hawthorne, Thoreau or Sukenick. Finally, a brief assessment of the historical importance of Beat contradictions is attempted.
Journal: B.A.S. British and American Studies
- Issue Year: 2011
- Issue No: 17
- Page Range: 41-49
- Page Count: 9
- Language: English