beat generation definition of beat generation in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

beat generation, term applied to certain American artists and writers who were popular during the 1950s. Essentially anarchic, members of the beat generation rejected traditional social and artistic forms. The beats sought immediate expression in multiple, intense experiences and beatific illumination like that of some Eastern religions (e.g., Zen Buddhism Zen Buddhism, Buddhist sect of China and Japan. The name of the sect (Chin. Ch'an, Jap. Zen) derives from the Sanskrit dhyana [meditation].
..... Click the link for more information. ). In literature they adopted rhythms of simple American speech and of bop and progressive jazz. Among those associated with the movement were the novelists Jack Kerouac Kerouac, Jack (John Kerouac) (kĕr`əwăk'), 1922–69, American novelist, b. Lowell, Mass., studied at Columbia Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. and Chandler Brossard, numerous poets (e.g., Kenneth Rexroth Rexroth, Kenneth, 1905–82, American poet, critic, and translator, b. South Bend, Ind. A resident of San Francisco, he was briefly associated with the beat generation, although he disdained their lack of discipline.
..... Click the link for more information. , Allen Ginsberg Ginsberg, Allen (gĭnz`bûrg), 1926–97, American poet, b. Paterson, N.J., grad. Columbia, 1949.
..... Click the link for more information. , Lawrence Ferlinghetti Ferlinghetti, Lawrence (fûr`lĭng-gĕt`ē), 1919–, American author and publisher, b. Yonkers, N.Y.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Gregory Corso), and others, many of whom worked in and around San Francisco. Perhaps the only true nihilist of the group was William S. Burroughs Burroughs, William Seward, 1914–97, American novelist, b. St. Louis, grad. Harvard, 1936. He was an elder member of the beat generation . Junkie (1953), originally published under the pseudonym William Lee, and Queer (written 1953, pub.
..... Click the link for more information. . During the 1960s "beat" ideas and attitudes were absorbed by other cultural movements, and those who practiced something akin to the "beat" lifestyle were called "hippies."

Bibliography

See B. Cook, The Beat Generation (1971, repr. 1982), J. Tytell, Naked Angels (1976, repr. 1991), E. H. Foster, Understanding the Beats (1992), D. Sterritt, Mad to Be Saved: The Beats, the 50s, and Film (1998), and J. Campbell, This Is the Beat Generation (2001); film documentary, The Source (1999).