by Jack Kerouac
road and rediscover your lost American freedom.
The phrase "beat generation" came out of a spe-
cific conversation between Jack Kerouac and John
Clellon Holmes in 1948 in which Kerouac distinguished
his generation from the glamorous Lost Generation.
Kerouac most likely picked up the word "beat" from his friend Herbert Huncke, who was familiar with the street
lingo of the time. "Beat" connoted broke, homeless, exhausted, emptied out. But Kerouac also used the word
to imply "beatific." Holmes wrote an article for The New York Times Magazine in 1952 which was headlined,
"This Is the Beat Generation," and when Kerouac later published an excerpt from On the Road called "Jazz of the Beat Generation," the term took hold.
The main figures in the movement were situated
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ORPHEUS EMERGED 269
in New York and California. New York writers associated
with the Beats include Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady,
Holmes, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Huncke, LeRoi
Jones, Diane DiPrima, and William Burroughs; in San
Francisco were Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
Kenneth Rexroth, Philip Whalen, Robert Creeley and
Michael McClure. A number of these writers (including
Kerouac, Whalen, Snyder, and Ginsberg) became
involved in meditation and Buddhism. City Lights
Books, established in San Francisco by Ferlinghetti, was
a key factor, both as bookshop and publisher, in making
the work of the Beats known. The quintessential texts of
the movement are Ginsberg’s Howl, Kerouac’s On the Road, and Burroughs’ Naked Lunch.
But the Beat Movement was more than the output
of these poets and writers. The Beat sensibility was
shared by painters (Larry Rivers), filmmakers and pho-
tographers (Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie), musicians
(David Amram), and others who considered themselves
connected to the long tradition of bohemianism in
America.
As is often the case with counter-cultural, anti-
establishment, outsider movements, the mainstream
culture eventually found ways to categorize, caricature,
de-value, and ultimately co-opt the Beats. They were
depicted in the media as crazy beret-wearing and bongo-
beating weirdos, conspiratorial commies, amoral homos,
filthy drug-addicted hipsters, or just no-talent losers and
hangers-on. The media frenzy actually turned the Beat
Movement into a fad, and inevitably the established lit-
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ORPHEUS EMERGED 270
erary and art-criticism world did not take the work seri-
ously.
Over time, however, the works generated by the
Beats have emerged as lasting, valuable contributions to
the culture, and the ideas informing those works have
endured. In an article published in 1982, Ginsberg char-
acterized some of the effects of the Beat ethos in these
terms:
Spiritual liberation, sexual "revolution" or "liberation,"
i.e., gay liberation, somewhat catalyzing women’s libera-
tion, black liberation, Gray Panther activism.
Liberation of the word from censorship.
Demystificaiton and/or decriminalization of some laws
against marijuana and other drugs.
The evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as
a high art form, as evidenced by the Beatles, Bob Dylan,
and other popular musicians influenced in the late fifties
and sixties by Beat generation poets’ and writers’ works.
The spread of ecological consciousness, emphasized
early on by Gary Snyder and Michael McClure’s notion of
a "Fresh Planet."
Opposition to the military-industrial machine civiliza-
tion, as emphasized in the writings of Burroughs,
Huncke, Ginsberg, and Kerouac.
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ORPHEUS EMERGED 271
Attention to what Kerouac called (after Spengler) a "second religiousness" developing within an advanced civi-
lization.
Return to an appreciation of idiosyncrasy as against state
regimentation.
Respect for land and indigenous peoples and creatures,
as proclaimed by Kerouac in his slogan from On the
Road: "The Earth is an Indian thing."
The Beats are now generally regarded as the ven-
erable upholders of a great American tradition that orig-
inated with Thoreau and Whitman. Their attitude, style,
and approach to life first resonated in the youth of the
postwar period. But their spirit and their ideas -- paci-
fism, reverence for nature and naturalness, conscious-
ness-enhancement/expansion, faith in the divinity of the
self – and the art they created will continue to influence
and inspire young people of all generations.
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ORPHEUS EMERGED 272
The World of
Jack Kerouac
There are dozens of websites about
Jack Kerouac and/or the Beat
Movement. Most of these sites offer
links to related sites. These are some
of the best sites.
SITES:
Literary Kicks
Beat Poetry
Jack Kerouac Page
The Kerouac Connection
Kerouac Speaks
The Beat Page
Jack Kerouac’s San Francisco Blue
Neon Alley
DHARMA beat
Beat Cafe
DISCUSSION GROUPS:
Subterraneans
alt.books.beatgeneration
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ORPHEUS EMERGED 273
Selected Bibliography
of Books About
Jack Kerouac
(click on titles to purchase)
Amburn, Ellis. Subterranean
Johnson, Joyce. Minor Characters:
Kerouac: The Hidden Life of Jack
A Young Woman’s Coming of Age in
Kerouac. New York: St. Martin’s
the Beat Orbit of Jack Kerouac. New
Press, 1998.
York: Penguin, 1999.
Cassady, Carolyn. Heart Beat: My
Johnson, Joyce and Jack
Life with Jack and Neal. Berkeley:
Kerouac. Door Wide Open: A
Creative Arts Book Company, 1976.*
Beat Love Affair in Letters, 1957-
1958. New York: Viking Press,
Cassady, Carolyn. Off the Road: My
2000.
Years with Cassady, Kerouac, and
Ginsberg. New York: Penguin,
Jones, James T. Jack Kerouac’s
1991.
Duluoz Legend: The Mythic
Form of an Autobiographical
Charters, Ann. Kerouac: A
Fiction. Southern Illinois Press,
Biography. San Francisco:
1999.
Straight Arrow, 1973.*
Kazin, Alfred. Contemporaries.
Charters, Ann. Kerouac: A
Boston: Little Brown, 1962.*
Biography. New York: St. Martin’s
Press, 1994.
McDarrah, Fred. Kerouac and
Friends: A Beat Generation
Clark, Tom. Jack Kerouac. New
Album. New York: Morrow,
York: Paragon House, 1984.
1984.*
Giamo, Ben. Kerouac, the Word and
McNally, Dennis. Desolation
the W
ay. Southern Illinois University
Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beats
Press, 2000.
and America. New York:
Random House, 1979.*
Gifford, Barry and Lawrence Lee.
Jack’s Book: An Oral Biography of
Miles, Barry. Jack Kerouac King
Jack Kerouac. New York: St.
of the Beats: A Portrait. New
Martin’s Press, 1978.
York: Henry Holt, 1998.
Jarvis, Charles E. Visions of
Sandison, David and Carolyn
Kerouac. Lowell, MA: Ithaca Press,
Cassady. Jack Kerouac: An
1974.*
Illustrated Biography. Chicago:
Chicago Review Press, 1999.
* currently not available online.
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ORPHEUS EMERGED 275
Selected Bibliography
of Books About
the Beats
(click on titles to purchase)
Ash, Mel. Beat Spirit: The Way of
McClure, Michael. Scratching
the Beat Writers as Living
the Beat Surface. North Point,
Experience. New York: Putnam,
1992.*
1997.
McDarrah, Fred and Gloria.
Carr, R. B. Case and F. Dellar. The
The Beat Generation: Glory
Hip: Hipsters, Jazz and the Beat
Days in Greenwich Village.
Generation. Faber and Faber,
Schirmer Books, 1996.*
1986.*
Miles, Barry. The Beat Hotel:
Charters, Anne, editor. The
Ginsberg, Burroughs, and Corso
Portable Beat Reader. New York:
in Paris, 1958-1963. New York:
Viking Press, 1992.
Grove Press, 2000.
Cook, Bruce. The Beat Generation.
Morgan, Bill. The Beat
New York: Scribner, 1971.*
Generation in New York: A
Walking Tour of Jack Kerouac’s
Duberman, Martin. Black
City. San Fransisco: City
Mountain: An Exploration in
Lights, 1997.
Community. New York: Dutton
Press, 1972.
Tytell, John. Naked Angels: The
Life and Literature of the Beat
George-Warren, Holly, editor. The
Generation. New York:
Rolling Stone Book of the Beats: The
McGraw-Hill, 1976.
Beat Generation and American
Culture. New York: Hyperion, 1999.
Tytell, John, photographs by
Mellon. Paradise Outlaws:
Gold, Herbert. Bohemia: Digging
Remembering the Beats. New
the Roots of Cool. New York: Simon
York: William Morrow, 1999.
& Schuster/Touchstone, 1994.*
Waldman, Anne, editor. The
Gruen, John, photographs by Fred
Beat Book: Writings from the
McDarrah. The New Bohemia.
Beat Generation. Boston;
Chicago: A Cappella, 1990.*
Shambhala, 1999.
Halberstam, David. The Fifties.
* currently not available online.
New York: Villard Books, 1993.
Mailer, Norman. The White Negro.
San Francisco: City Lights, 1957.
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Multimedia
Elements
A
Listen to a short reading of ORPHEUS EMERGED
streamed by Salon.com. Sit back and enjoy this
merging of the media. CLICK HERE TO START THE
AUDIO.
You will need the RealPlayer to experience this. If
you do not have the RealPlayer, CLICK HERE.
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ORPHEUS EMERGED 278
Multimedia
Elements
View a segment from the documentary feature
V
about the Beats, The Source.
The Source is notable for its wealth of vital source information, including interviews with virtually all
the key participants in the Beat Movement, and
clips of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal
Cassady, and William Burroughs, among others.
There are also performance segments featuring
Johnny Depp, John Turturro, and Dennis Hopper.
The video you will see here focuses on Jack
Kerouac right around the time he first met
Ginsberg and Burroughs – and wrote Orpheus
Emerged. CLICK HERE TO START THE VIDEO.
(This clip is from The Source, a film by Chuck
Workman, presented by Hiro Yamagata, distrib-
uted by Winstar Film and Video.) (Video streamed
through Apple’s QuickTime. You will need
QuickTime to play the video. CLICK HERE IF YOU
NEED THE QUICKTIME PLAYER.)
TO BUY THE SOURCE FROM BN.COM (CLICK HERE)
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ORPHEUS EMERGED 279
CAPTIONS
Captions for pictures in text:
Cover: Jack Kerouac circa 1945, when he completed
Orpheus Emerged.
p. 5:
Kerouac, mid-1940s
p. 6:
Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William
Burroughs at Columbia University.
p. 8:
Kerouac, mid-1940s.
p. 35
Kerouac and sister, Caroline, early 1940’s.
p. 48
Kerouac’s wallet ID photo, 1960s.
p. 52
Kerouac self portrait, mid-1940’s.
p. 66:
“Two Drinkers,” painting by Jack Kerouac.
p. 69: Kerouac, mid-1960s.
p. 75:
“Stella by Jack,” drawing by Jack Kerouac.
p. 83:
“God,” painting by Jack Kerouac.
Timeline captions:
1922:
Leo and Garielle Kerouac, date unknown.
1923:
(top) Leo Kerouac as a young man; (bottom) Jack
and Nin Kerouac, early 1920s.
1926:
(top) Kerouac as a boy, circa 1932; (middle) Jack
with sister Nin and Boopsie the cat, circa 1930; (bot-
tom) Kerouac and friend Mike Fournier at Salisbury
Beach, 1931.
1935:
(top) Claire and Sebastien Sampas, circa 1939; (bot-
tom) Jack with his dog, Beauty, mid-1930s.
1939:
(top) Kerouac as a high school senior, Lowell,
Massachusetts, 1938; (bottom) Kerouac and his
mother with unidentified woman, 1930s.
1939-1940:
(top) A page from the Lowell High School yearbook,
1938; (bottom) Kerouac’s childhood friends Stella
and Sebastien Sampas, on banks of Merrimack River,
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ORPHEUS EMERGED 280
circa 1939.
1940-1941:
Kerouac with Columbia College football team.
1942-1943:
“The Blood of the Poet,” November 10, 1944. (Card
reads: “Blood-stained string used as a tourniquet for
finger, November 10, 1944.”)
1944:
(top) Jack, sister Caroline, Gabrielle, and Leo Kerouac,
early 1940s; (bottom) Kerouac’s discharge from his job
as “scullion” on freighter, 1942.
1946:
Jack and Caroline at Rockaway Beach, 1945.
1947:
Kerouac, 1940s.
1948:
(top) Kerouac’s handwritten map of his cross-country
trip, July-October, 1947; (bottom) Kerouac (third fro
m
right) and unidentified friends, mid-1940s.
1949:
One of Kerouac’s rucksacks.
1950:
San Francisco Examiner review of The Dharma Bums,
Sunday, October 8, 1959.
1951:
(top) “Two Drinkers,” painting by Kerouac; (bottom)
Kerouac’s paintbox.
1953: Passport, signed “John-Louis Kerouac.”
1954:
Kerouac’s copy of the issue of New World Writing con-
taining “Jazz of the Beat Generation,” by “Jean-Louis.”
1955:
Keoruac’s sister Caroline, nephew Paul Blake, Jr., moth-
er Gabrielle, and Kerouac in North Carolina, mid-1950s.
1959: Kerouac’s wallet ID photo, 1960s.
1962:
Kerouac, early 1960s
1964:
(top) Jack in 1966; (bottom) Jack, mid-1960s.
1965:
Jack’s mother, 1966.
1966:
Kerouac, mid-1960s.
1967:
Jack and Stella, late 1960s.
1969:
Kerouac with cat, late 1960s.
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ORPHEUS EMERGED 281
About LiveREADS
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Credits
GRAND DHARMA BUM HIMSELF – Jack Kerouac
GUARDIAN OF THE TRUST – John Sampas
CONSUMMATE GENTLEMAN – Sterling Lord
KEEPER OF THE FLAME – David Stanford
MAGICIAN OF DESIGN – Roger Gorman
EBOOKSMITHS - Danielle Lee and Tim Cooper
MARKETING GURUS – Mark Jupiter and Amara Ingber
SPREADERS OF THE WORD – Scott Manning and Meryl Zegarek
TRUE BELIEVER – Ben Schafer