Ecstasy of the Beats: On the Road to UnderstandingDundurn, 2007 M09 30 - 320 pages Who were the beats? Not the sandle-clad "beatniks" of popular lore but dedicated writers, experimenters, skit improvisers, theorizers, hedonists, close friends, bisexual free lovers, shapers of the future. The beats hung out at Columbia university and cheap Times Square cafeterias, devouring ideas. David Creighton shows how the world has taken up their message. In Ecstasy of the Beats he gives a fresh portrait of Carolyn Cassady, "Queen of the Beats," and of the four major Beat writers. Jack Kerouac’s On the Road gave a pattern of adventure to restless youth, Allen Ginsberg donned a prophet’s robe by writing Howl, William Burroughs warned against control mechanisms in Naked Lunch, and Neal Cassady’s high-energy life made him an icon of freedom. Travelling widely to see where they lived, Creighton enriches the meaning of On the Road and other Beat classics. He invites the reader on the Beats’ journey toward ever-deeper levels of understanding and provides interesting insight into Kerouacs French-Canadian roots. |
Contents
9 | |
11 | |
15 | |
29 | |
RAGGED AND ECSTATIC JOY Denver 1940s | 53 |
A PLANK WHERE ALL THE ANGELS DOVE OFF San Francisco 1940s1960s | 71 |
ROUGH AND HARD AND EXTREME Mexico 1950s1960s | 101 |
NOT AKIN TO LUSTFUL THOUGHTS Europe and Africa 1950s1960s | 117 |
CANADA WAS MY BOSOM OF GOD Quebec 1950s1960s and Early Years | 211 |
DOWN INTO THE DARKS Southern United States 1940s1960s | 227 |
EVERYTHING IS ECSTASY Central United States 1940s1990s | 241 |
FIVE MILLION OF STARS Quebec and Toronto | 265 |
Chronology | 275 |
Family Trees | 281 |
Maps | 285 |
293 | |