The Beat Generation in Mid 20th Century North America: Conception of a New Social and Artistic Identity

Abstract

The Beat Generation, being a social and literary movement led by young male artists in mid 20th C North America, has often been synonymous with rebellion and non-conformity. Those principal traits, while they could be construed as a manifest desire to breach the fixed postwar social and literary code, may be interpreted differently. The present research will endeavor to offer this opportunity by approaching the Beats from a new angle, based on an analysis of the inner motifs behind their rejection of mainstream American society and literature. The first chapter will expose the post-war climate as well as the many events that have historically given birth to the Beat movement. The second chapter will enquire about whether the Beats' new social identity -reflected through each of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Allen Ginsberg's Howl and William S. Burroughs' Junky- is a sign of Americanism or antiAmericanism. The third and last chapter will attempt to disclose how the Beat writers intended to convey their supposedly moral concerns through authentic yet very unconventional modes of writing.