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.
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Subcategories 12
Related categories 1
Sites 70
Journal of Ongrowing Natures, edited by Hammond Guthrie, author of AsEverWas: Memoirs of a Beat Survivor.
Malcolm McNeill and William Burroughs - art work for unpublished image novel (aka, Ah Pook Is Here) created in early 1970s in London.
1960; Wichita, KS, poet Charles Plymell, printer. Very little poetry is available by Russo, considered one of the best by his beat peers.
By Andras Gyorgy; World Socialist take on the conditions that the Beats wrote in versus current realites.
about City Lights bookstore and the counterculture: 1961 - 1974, on its 50th anniversary, from S.F. Gate, 2003
Why the Beats Still Matter by actor J.C. Shakespeare
artist and writer, creator of pot-shots cartoons, famous for their 17-word limit.
Author Chuck Woww visits Tangiers and writes to Beat William Burroughs about it, with photographs of Cafe Centrale and the Tangier beach, 2008.
A collection of interviews, memories and articles by the late Aronowitz, the infamous Black Listed Journalist, who was actually there; close friend of Ginsberg and introduced Bob Dylan to the Beatles.
Quotes by or pertaining to a beat author.
An online discussion forum devoted to the study of the lives and works of the writers of the Beat Generation, especially Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs.
A guide to the social contexts of the Fifties so to be able to understand why the Beats’ work was considered to be so significant, by Jed Skinner
On-line history of the Beat Generation started at Un. of Kansas because of the odd fact that 80 percent of living beats were from Kansas. Interview by Michalis Limnios, Blue@Greece
Collection of links and original articles. Many Beats were from Kansas. Original photos of William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Charles Plymell.
By James Campbell, author of This is the Beat Generation, 1999. Excellent background to the naming of the beats by Herb Caen - post Sputnik.
James Grauerholz on William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac 1946 book, "And the Hippos Were Boiled in their Tanks," the first writing by later Beat literature giants, finally published in 2008.
Study in 1960s Folklore, by Pat O'Connor. The 1960s hippie scene in Wichita, KS. Includes photographs, and covers the first large LSD bust in Kansas.
Bibliography and information about the writer told in text, images, and other resources. Maintained by John F. Barber.
by Barry Miles. A vivid new biography of the beat wild man William Burroughs recasts him as a vitriolic vaudeville performer haunted by the killing of his wife.
Beat poets McDaris and Plymell on the 1960s San Francisco scene.
by Paul Hawkins, Reality Studio, photographs; Early beat writer & poet Plymell became well known after the 1971 publication of his novel, Last of The Moccasins. Included are comments from Roxie Powell, Hammond Guthrie, Laki Vazakas, Ginger Killian Eades, and Mike Watt.
biographical writing from Plymell, early beat generation poet, author.
On the Wichita Vortex, from outlaw poet and early beat generation author Plymell, friend of Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady.
Beat artist LePell writes on art in a letter to student Sylvia Smith Kleindinst, 1955
Documentary film following Beat co-founder Gregory Corso, "on the road" in Europe retracing the early days of "The Beats".
Annotated list of beat publication dates and events, by Larry Smith (Firelands College of BGSU)
A selection from the lifework in poetry, theater and art of Moore, whose first book of poems, Dawn Visions, was published by City Lights Books in 1964, and the second, Burnt Heart /An Ode to the War Dead in 1972.
Gay Today magazine article by Jesse Monteagudo, written following the deaths of gay Beat writers William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Herbert Huncke, on their impact on modern culture.
Author, painter. 1915-1948. Major literary influence on William Burroughs.
A directory on writer Jack Kerouac, and his friends, including Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and Neal Cassady.
81 year old Tsongas (1929-2010) was of the Beats but not part of any movement.
Lost Beat poets
by Ashleigh Brilliant, 1967, San Francisco's "Songs of love and haight." Beat Generation to hippie transition.
Norse (1916- 2009 ) was among the American expatriates in Europe during the 1950's and early 1960's. He was an occupant of the Beat Hotel, Paris, where he first caught up with the Beat generation writers in 1960. Poet William Carlos Williams was his mentor. Obituary from The Guardian newspaper.
Reality Studio's: the influence of Henry Miller on Burroughs at Harvard in September 1935, his senior year, when the Harvard Advocate printed Miller, his first publication in America.
by Johnny Strike, 1982, at Naropa Institute, Boulder, CO. Huncke was the original Beat; major influence on William Burroughs. Reality Studio.
Caprice magazine and Bowery Poetry Club founder; interviewed on his 80th birthday in 2003 by poet Denise Low, original photographs.
Ghosts of Venice Beach; late poets and leaders of Los Angeles beat literature
Spring 1960 edition, edited by Charles Olson and Le Roi Jones [Amiri Baraka] ; includes William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Diane Di Prima, Paul Bowles and Donald Phelps.
Featuring Keenan's famed fine art photographs of the Beat Generation and Hippies and counterculture, from 1964 to now. Includes a biography and exhibitions, publications. No photographer was closer to the Beats.
A free-form study of Beat Literature, literary community and underground culture.
Emmy award winning artist McNeill worked with Burroughs in London during early 1970s, on comic series, The Unspeakable Mr. Hart, and graphic novel, Ah Puch Is Here (aka, Ah Pook is Here), from Beats In Kansas, 2007
Selected by the author for the "Margins" symposium series in 1975. McClure is one of the five poets (including Allen Ginsberg) who read at the famous San Francisco Six Gallery reading in 1955.
In Wichita, Kansas, Moody Connell believed in a mix of hoboes and Beats and served them simple fare in a place to congregate, by Pat O'Connor.
Massive oral collection from Buddhist university; includes Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William S. Burroughs, Philip Whalen, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, Diane DiPrima, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Excerpts from new book by artist Malcolm McNeill on the 1970s, London, and working with Burroughs on a graphic novel.
Dr. Harris, a leading Beat scholar on "William Burroughs and the Composite Text," presented at the 4th Annual Symposium on Textual Studies, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK; 25 May 2007.
by Charley Plymell, Zap's first printer
By Jordi Pujol Nadal. Greenwich Village native and the Beat Queen of Venice, CA, poet Long and her late husband, poet John Thomas, helped create the Los Angeles poetry scene.
San Francisco State University; artist biographies and MP3 audio files; founded in 1954 on the basis of a gift by W.H. Auden.
Photograph of Beat writers and poets Plymell and Powell, Cherry Valley, NY, 2009; photograph by videographer Laki Vazakas.
New American Bohemian Literature, George Wallace, editor. Fiction, photographs, Beat events
Personal observations by poet Jim McCrary, a longtime friend of Burroughs, and his office manager for ten years.
Dennis Formento interviews Robert Cass, New Orleans' oldest living beatnik, 1999. Cass published "Climax: A Creative Review in the Jazz Spirit" in 1955 and 1956 from the bar, A Quarterite Place, 733 Bourbon St. It was among the earliest of the Beat literature.
Robert Peters said of Powell’s first chapbook, "anyone anxious for an original experience in poetry will love Dreams of Straw." Allen Ginsberg paid for a second printing of the book. From Kansas, friend of Charley Plymell and Dave Haselwood.
Poems by Beat related poet published in 1978 by CV Editions, Cherry Valley, NY, edited by poet Charley Plymell. Powell grew up in western Kansas, and started writing in the 1940s. He was part of the San Francisco scene in the early 1960s.
Kerouac and company were David Gates' first literary loves -- but he had to get off their road.
6 Poets at 6 Gallery by Al Aronowitz., the late godfather of rock journalism
by Grant L. Allen. Transition from beat idea to beatnik myth distorted the original almost beyond recognition.
by Bruce Harris; on Beat artist Robert LaVigne's Cyberliths, drawings inspired by the Rosette Stone. LaVigne introduced Allen Ginsberg to Peter Orlovsky.
A central figure in the Venice Beat scene, poet Perkoff died at age 44 on June 24, 1974. Beat Poet Long was his lover.
YouTube - Filmed December 22, 2006, at the Bowery Poetry Club, NYC, where Beat poet and artist Mead performed until his death May 8, 2013.
interview, Pataphysics, October 17, 1989. On beats in Algiers, Tangiers, cut-ups, and the "Dream Machine." From INTO-GAL, 2006
by Michael Haywood. 1991 paper on the history of the Beat writers in print, from their early stirrings in the underground press, through to their publication by mainstream publishers.
by James Johnson; on the Wichita Vortex, including Michael McClure, Bruce Conner, and David Haselwood
Detailed article lists principal writers in New York, San Francisco and elsewhere, and explains links to music, visual arts, and drug and alcohol use. With section on anti-Beats such as Norman Podhoretz.
Colin Pringle's articles and directory on wild cats and chicks, Hippies, the Beat Generation, Bohemian bands, outlaw bikers.
Morning in Burroughs' house, with Beat founders in old fashion cotton pajamas. 1984, by Pat Elliott, Lawrence, KS
by George Laughead. Events of August 1997 following Beat writer Burroughs death at age 83. Photographs.
1961 free-form discussion by three of the Beat Generation literary leaders.
A guide to the social contexts of the Fifties so to be able to understand why the Beats’ work was considered to be so significant, by Jed Skinner
San Francisco State University; artist biographies and MP3 audio files; founded in 1954 on the basis of a gift by W.H. Auden.
New American Bohemian Literature, George Wallace, editor. Fiction, photographs, Beat events
By Andras Gyorgy; World Socialist take on the conditions that the Beats wrote in versus current realites.
A selection from the lifework in poetry, theater and art of Moore, whose first book of poems, Dawn Visions, was published by City Lights Books in 1964, and the second, Burnt Heart /An Ode to the War Dead in 1972.
by Michael Haywood. 1991 paper on the history of the Beat writers in print, from their early stirrings in the underground press, through to their publication by mainstream publishers.
Malcolm McNeill and William Burroughs - art work for unpublished image novel (aka, Ah Pook Is Here) created in early 1970s in London.
Kerouac and company were David Gates' first literary loves -- but he had to get off their road.
by George Laughead. Events of August 1997 following Beat writer Burroughs death at age 83. Photographs.
by Johnny Strike, 1982, at Naropa Institute, Boulder, CO. Huncke was the original Beat; major influence on William Burroughs. Reality Studio.
A free-form study of Beat Literature, literary community and underground culture.
about City Lights bookstore and the counterculture: 1961 - 1974, on its 50th anniversary, from S.F. Gate, 2003
by Barry Miles. A vivid new biography of the beat wild man William Burroughs recasts him as a vitriolic vaudeville performer haunted by the killing of his wife.
YouTube - Filmed December 22, 2006, at the Bowery Poetry Club, NYC, where Beat poet and artist Mead performed until his death May 8, 2013.
Norse (1916- 2009 ) was among the American expatriates in Europe during the 1950's and early 1960's. He was an occupant of the Beat Hotel, Paris, where he first caught up with the Beat generation writers in 1960. Poet William Carlos Williams was his mentor. Obituary from The Guardian newspaper.
Poems by Beat related poet published in 1978 by CV Editions, Cherry Valley, NY, edited by poet Charley Plymell. Powell grew up in western Kansas, and started writing in the 1940s. He was part of the San Francisco scene in the early 1960s.
A directory on writer Jack Kerouac, and his friends, including Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and Neal Cassady.
On-line history of the Beat Generation started at Un. of Kansas because of the odd fact that 80 percent of living beats were from Kansas. Interview by Michalis Limnios, Blue@Greece
Excerpts from new book by artist Malcolm McNeill on the 1970s, London, and working with Burroughs on a graphic novel.
By James Campbell, author of This is the Beat Generation, 1999. Excellent background to the naming of the beats by Herb Caen - post Sputnik.
Author, painter. 1915-1948. Major literary influence on William Burroughs.
by Charley Plymell, Zap's first printer
Spring 1960 edition, edited by Charles Olson and Le Roi Jones [Amiri Baraka] ; includes William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Diane Di Prima, Paul Bowles and Donald Phelps.
1960; Wichita, KS, poet Charles Plymell, printer. Very little poetry is available by Russo, considered one of the best by his beat peers.
by James Johnson; on the Wichita Vortex, including Michael McClure, Bruce Conner, and David Haselwood
6 Poets at 6 Gallery by Al Aronowitz., the late godfather of rock journalism
A collection of interviews, memories and articles by the late Aronowitz, the infamous Black Listed Journalist, who was actually there; close friend of Ginsberg and introduced Bob Dylan to the Beatles.
1961 free-form discussion by three of the Beat Generation literary leaders.
by Paul Hawkins, Reality Studio, photographs; Early beat writer & poet Plymell became well known after the 1971 publication of his novel, Last of The Moccasins. Included are comments from Roxie Powell, Hammond Guthrie, Laki Vazakas, Ginger Killian Eades, and Mike Watt.
by Bruce Harris; on Beat artist Robert LaVigne's Cyberliths, drawings inspired by the Rosette Stone. LaVigne introduced Allen Ginsberg to Peter Orlovsky.
Beat poets McDaris and Plymell on the 1960s San Francisco scene.
Journal of Ongrowing Natures, edited by Hammond Guthrie, author of AsEverWas: Memoirs of a Beat Survivor.
81 year old Tsongas (1929-2010) was of the Beats but not part of any movement.
Ghosts of Venice Beach; late poets and leaders of Los Angeles beat literature
Documentary film following Beat co-founder Gregory Corso, "on the road" in Europe retracing the early days of "The Beats".
Photograph of Beat writers and poets Plymell and Powell, Cherry Valley, NY, 2009; photograph by videographer Laki Vazakas.
Robert Peters said of Powell’s first chapbook, "anyone anxious for an original experience in poetry will love Dreams of Straw." Allen Ginsberg paid for a second printing of the book. From Kansas, friend of Charley Plymell and Dave Haselwood.
On the Wichita Vortex, from outlaw poet and early beat generation author Plymell, friend of Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady.
Caprice magazine and Bowery Poetry Club founder; interviewed on his 80th birthday in 2003 by poet Denise Low, original photographs.
Collection of links and original articles. Many Beats were from Kansas. Original photos of William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Charles Plymell.
biographical writing from Plymell, early beat generation poet, author.
Selected by the author for the "Margins" symposium series in 1975. McClure is one of the five poets (including Allen Ginsberg) who read at the famous San Francisco Six Gallery reading in 1955.
interview, Pataphysics, October 17, 1989. On beats in Algiers, Tangiers, cut-ups, and the "Dream Machine." From INTO-GAL, 2006
James Grauerholz on William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac 1946 book, "And the Hippos Were Boiled in their Tanks," the first writing by later Beat literature giants, finally published in 2008.
Author Chuck Woww visits Tangiers and writes to Beat William Burroughs about it, with photographs of Cafe Centrale and the Tangier beach, 2008.
Beat artist LePell writes on art in a letter to student Sylvia Smith Kleindinst, 1955
Quotes by or pertaining to a beat author.
artist and writer, creator of pot-shots cartoons, famous for their 17-word limit.
Featuring Keenan's famed fine art photographs of the Beat Generation and Hippies and counterculture, from 1964 to now. Includes a biography and exhibitions, publications. No photographer was closer to the Beats.
An online discussion forum devoted to the study of the lives and works of the writers of the Beat Generation, especially Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs.
Bibliography and information about the writer told in text, images, and other resources. Maintained by John F. Barber.
Dennis Formento interviews Robert Cass, New Orleans' oldest living beatnik, 1999. Cass published "Climax: A Creative Review in the Jazz Spirit" in 1955 and 1956 from the bar, A Quarterite Place, 733 Bourbon St. It was among the earliest of the Beat literature.
Emmy award winning artist McNeill worked with Burroughs in London during early 1970s, on comic series, The Unspeakable Mr. Hart, and graphic novel, Ah Puch Is Here (aka, Ah Pook is Here), from Beats In Kansas, 2007
Dr. Harris, a leading Beat scholar on "William Burroughs and the Composite Text," presented at the 4th Annual Symposium on Textual Studies, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK; 25 May 2007.
Reality Studio's: the influence of Henry Miller on Burroughs at Harvard in September 1935, his senior year, when the Harvard Advocate printed Miller, his first publication in America.
Detailed article lists principal writers in New York, San Francisco and elsewhere, and explains links to music, visual arts, and drug and alcohol use. With section on anti-Beats such as Norman Podhoretz.
Morning in Burroughs' house, with Beat founders in old fashion cotton pajamas. 1984, by Pat Elliott, Lawrence, KS
Massive oral collection from Buddhist university; includes Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William S. Burroughs, Philip Whalen, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, Diane DiPrima, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
A central figure in the Venice Beat scene, poet Perkoff died at age 44 on June 24, 1974. Beat Poet Long was his lover.
Colin Pringle's articles and directory on wild cats and chicks, Hippies, the Beat Generation, Bohemian bands, outlaw bikers.
Why the Beats Still Matter by actor J.C. Shakespeare
Gay Today magazine article by Jesse Monteagudo, written following the deaths of gay Beat writers William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Herbert Huncke, on their impact on modern culture.
Study in 1960s Folklore, by Pat O'Connor. The 1960s hippie scene in Wichita, KS. Includes photographs, and covers the first large LSD bust in Kansas.
by Grant L. Allen. Transition from beat idea to beatnik myth distorted the original almost beyond recognition.
by Ashleigh Brilliant, 1967, San Francisco's "Songs of love and haight." Beat Generation to hippie transition.
In Wichita, Kansas, Moody Connell believed in a mix of hoboes and Beats and served them simple fare in a place to congregate, by Pat O'Connor.
Annotated list of beat publication dates and events, by Larry Smith (Firelands College of BGSU)
By Jordi Pujol Nadal. Greenwich Village native and the Beat Queen of Venice, CA, poet Long and her late husband, poet John Thomas, helped create the Los Angeles poetry scene.
Personal observations by poet Jim McCrary, a longtime friend of Burroughs, and his office manager for ten years.
Lost Beat poets
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