The Beat Generation: Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Cassidy
Origins and Influences
Musicians, painters, and writers migrated to New York, seeking new modes of expression to reflect their discontent with the limitations of postwar life.
Jack Kerouac, an aspiring writer, was studying at Columbia when he met Ginsberg. Ginsberg was struck by Kerouac's appearance, seriousness, and friendliness.
Kerouac possessed a "dark handsomeness" and "clarity of features," along with a "tender, melancholy, brooding, intelligent mind."
Kerouac and Ginsberg formed a group of poets and writers known as the Beats.
The Beats were drawn together by their shared interest in literature, poetry, and art, and their desire to define a new vision of America.
This pursuit led them to the late-night bars and cafeterias around Times Square.
The Meaning of "Beat"
Kerouac adopted the word "beat" from the vernacular of Times Square.
"Beat" in this context meant exhausted, worn out, possibly homeless, up all night, and not wanting to be hassled.
It did not refer to being beaten or drumming. It wasn't about the "hippy dippy stereotype."
Instead, it signified being emotionally and intellectually exhausted, yet open to new awareness and deeper perceptions.
Jazz Influence and Rhythmic Prose
The rhythm of jazz also profoundly influenced Kerouac.
He aspired to be like a jazz musician playing the typewriter.
Charlie Parker was Kerouac's most significant jazz influence.
Kerouac recognized that jazz cadences mirrored spoken language and could be incorporated into writing.
Kerouac integrated a new rhythmic beat into his prose and poetry, creating what became known as the "beat generation."
The term encompasses various meanings: the beat to keep, the beat of the heart, being beat down in the world, and connecting to an ancient civilization's rhythm, likening it to "the slave boatman rowing galleys to a beat."
Neil Cassidy and "On the Road"
In 1947, Neil Cassidy entered Kerouac's life.
Kerouac described him as "a young Gene Autry, a sideburn hero of the snowy West."
In Kerouac's novels, Cassidy appears as Dean or Cody.
Cassidy was a restless figure who had slept with many women and stolen over 500 cars.
He viewed sex as the most important thing in life.
Cassidy had a "lust for adventure" and a "lust for some spiritual adventure."
He possessed extraordinary energy and could drive across the country in seventy-two hours on his pure exuberance.