The Cambridge Companion to the Beats
Author | : Steven Belletto |
Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | : 333 |
Release | : 2017-02-06 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781316885628 |
ISBN-13 | : 1316885623 |
Rating | : 4/5 (28 Downloads) |
Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to the Beats written by Steven Belletto and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-06 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cambridge Companion to the Beats offers an in-depth overview of one of the most innovative and popular literary periods in America, the Beat era. The Beats were a literary and cultural phenomenon originating in New York City in the 1940s that reached worldwide significance. Although its most well-known figures are Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, the Beat movement radiates out to encompass a rich diversity of figures and texts that merit further study. Consummate innovators, the Beats had a profound effect not only on the direction of American literature, but also on models of socio-political critique that would become more widespread in the 1960s and beyond. Bringing together the most influential Beat scholars writing today, this Companion provides a comprehensive exploration of the Beat movement, asking critical questions about its associated figures and arguing for their importance to postwar American letters.