Consciously non-conformist writing that embraced bohemian lifestyles, rejected so-called "bourgeois middle-class standards" and often celebrated alcoholism and recreational drug use. Began in late 1940s with group of New York writers centered around Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and William Corso. Cross-fertilized by writers of the San Francisco Renaissance such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Kenneth Rexroth and Bob Kaufman. Associated with non-conformist music and visual arts, from folk music revivalists to more radical expermentation. Gradually supplanted by the hippie counter-culture of the 1960s.