Foreword PART I: I CAN FEEL MYSELF DRIFTING... 1. Crazy wisdom 2. The first cut-ups Behind the beat: Hipikats 3. The muses: Huncke-junkies and Neo-Cassady Behind the beat: Naked Neal 4. The little auto Behind the beat: Neurotica 5. The place of dead roads Behind the beat: The scroll 6. Beat, in black and white Behind the beat: Broyard PART II: ...FURTHER AND FURTHER OUT 7. Sutra on the subway Behind the beat: City Lights 8. You're a Genius all the time Behind the beat: As food as Proust 9. Death to Van Gogh's Ear 10. The birth of the beatnik Behind the beat: as he leaps Updike swing 11. Terminal cut-up Notes index Illustrations
James Campbell is the author of Exiled in Paris: Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett and Others on the Left Bank(1995), Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin (1991), and Invisible Country: A Journey through Scotland (1984). He works for the Times Literary Supplement.
"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 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."
*The Guardian*
"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 seems a long way off but, if you narrow your eyes, still
vivid and vital."
*The Spectator*
"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."
*Literary Review*
"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 (in)famous
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."
*Flaunt*
"The tale is anchored in a set of ideas, rather than merely a suite
of personalities. Campbell’s breadth of reference is more deeply
historical than is common in this field. He has an agreeable style,
as well. . . . Campbell sorts out the story much more coherently,
thoughtfully and skillfully than others with the same mission. He
writes with genuine sympathy, though he’s not a Beat mythologizer.
Nor a Beat debunker, either. He’s a Beat contextualizer."
*Vancouver Sun*
"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."
*Sunday Times*
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