Beat Generation (Oneworld Classics) - Softcover

Kerouac, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847490077 ISBN 13: 9781847490070

Publisher: Alma Classics, 2007

Synopsis

"Beat Generation" is a play about tension, about friendship, and about karma - what it is and how you get it. It begins one fine morning with a few friends, honest laborers some of them, some close to being down-and-out, passing around a bottle of wine. It ends with a kind of satori-like reaffirmation of the power of friendship, of doing good through not doing, and the intrinsic worth of the throw-away little exchanges that make up our lives. Written in 1957, the same year that "On the Road" was first published, and set in 1953, "Beat Generation" portrays an authentic and alternate 1950s America. Kerouac's characters are working-class men and women - a step away from vagrants, but not a big step. Their dialogue positively sings, suggesting jazz riffs in their rhythm and content, and Kerouac, like a master composer, arranges it to magical effect. Here is the heart and soul of the beat mentality, the zeitgeist that blossomed over the decades and eventually culminated in the counter-culture of 1960s America. It's a spirit that still lives.

About this title

Review

"Beat Generation is a treat, a sweet found under a sofa cushion. For those of us who never had enough Kerouac, now there is more" -- A.M. Home

From the Publisher

A lost work and original play by Jack Kerouac available to the British public for the first time. Enriched with photographs and additional material.

Edition details

• Publisher: Alma Classics
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1847490077
• ISBN 13: 9781847490070
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 150