Paris - History, 20th Century American Literature - General & Miscellaneous - Literary Criticism, 20th Century American Literature - Post WWII - Literary Criticism, Gay & Lesbian Literary Studies, Gay Men Biographies, New York City - History, U.S. Authors
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Overview
Beginning in New York in 1944, James Campbell finds the leading members of what was to become the Beat Generation in the shadows of madness and criminality. Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs had each seen the insides of a mental hospital and a prison by the age of thirty. A few months after they met, another member of their circle committed a murder that involved Kerouac and Burroughs as material witnesses.This book charts the transformation of these experiences into literature, and a literary movement that spread across the globe. From "The First Cut-Up"--the murder in New York in 1944--we end up in Paris in 1960 with William Burroughs at the Beat Hotel, experimenting with the technique that made him notorious, what Campbell calls "The Final Cut-Up."
In between, we move to San Francisco, where Ginsberg gave the first public reading of Howl. We discover Burroughs in Mexico City and Tangiers; the French background to the Beats; the Buddhist influence on Kerouac, Gary Snyder, and others; the "Muses" Herbert Huncke and Neal Cassady; the tortuous history of On the Road; and the black ancestry of the white hipster.
Editorials
Dennis Overbye
James Campbell's new book This Is the Beat Generation brings Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs and a cast of minor characters back to life.— New York Times
David Hughes
The effect of reading this admirable account of the Beats is like looking down the wrong end of a kaleidoscope: the colourful flutter of fun all seems a long way off but, if you narrow your eyes, still vivid and vital.Flaunt
Literary biography serves the delightful function of providing its reader with a little lurid gossip,if not a critical history. Thankfully,James Campbell dishes out plenty of both in This Is the Beat Generation,wherein he chronicles one of the most (infamous literary movements of the twentieth century. This book nicely illustrates,in a tone neither worshipful nor deploring,how resolutely the Beat movement was borne out of friendship,and is often less tiresome than reading actual beat writing.Guardian
What is it that imbues the Beats with such a mystical aura of glamour, and causes their lives, as much as their books, to be regarded as the sacred texts of a particular school of non-conformism? These are the questions that James Campbell has addressed in this brilliantly sympathetic and compelling analysis of the Beat phenomenon.Mick Brown
A hugely entertaining history...a simply terrific book. Racy, perceptive and beautifully written. It is an indispensable addition to the library of books already written about the Beat Generation, and the perfect starting point for anyone who has ever wondered what the fuss was all about.New York Times Book Review
Campbell tells us much about the Beats in their time, and how they thought about themselves.Phil Baker
William S. Burroughs once wrote that the word 'hip' defies definition 'because, if you don't dig what it means, no one can ever tell you.' He is probably right, but you would certainly have a better idea after reading James Campbell's sharp, dark and often funny book... Probably the best single book on the subject so far, this really is the Beat Generation.Book Details
Published
May 20, 1999
Publisher
London : Secker & Warburg, 1999.
Pages
320
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780436204982