Damon Norko

SLM 521 – February 21, 2006

Weblink Bibliography Assignment

 

 

 

                            Larry Wessel, Midnight Café (2001)

 

 

                                                WEB BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

                           The Beat Movement

 

Few artistic movements have had more impact than the Beats.  Virtually every genre -- music, visual art, writing – in the 1950’s and 60’s was affected by the expression and experimentation of these free spirits. 

 

The roots of beat art go back further in time but the seminal works of Jack Kerouac with On the Road (1957), William Burroughs with Naked Lunch (1959) and Allen Ginsberg with Howl (1956) mark the beginnings of the popular movement. 

 

It’s hard to say whether the Beats were inspired by the social revolution of the 1950-60’s or vice-versa, but it’s clear in retrospect that both the social change and the artistic movement occurred at the same time, and thus are intertwined.

 

What is a beat?  What is a beatnik?  By researching the individuals and groups on the selected and recommended websites below, you will find the answers to these questions and more ….

 

     (ALL SITES CURRENT as of February 12, 2006!!)

 

 

Beat Movement  -- General Sites

 

There are indeed a zillion sites about the beats.  These are four of the more interesting.

 

American Museum of Beat Art

Here is a website that has an excellent compilation of the works of the writers and artists of these times.  Includes an online gallery and links.

http://www.beatmuseum.org/

                       

                        The Beat Page

A website specializing in links to other site (some are no longer valid). But there are still some fine connections and supporting information such as a gallery and other writings

            http://www.rooknet.com/beatpage/links/index.html

 

                        The Beat Generation

A truly comprehensive account of the Beats, with excellent photos.  Makes you almost want to quit your job and get in a VW bus and hit the road …

                                    http://www.lucaspickford.com/burrbeats.htm

 

                        Beatsville Pad

Another excellent site focusing on the pop culture side of the beat movement.  Lots of links, lots of artwork, including the one at the top of this page.

                                    http://www.beatsvillepad.com

 

Places

 

Although traveling and the “American Experience” was a great part of the movement, the places below – perhaps due to proximity of  Universities (Berkley, Columbia) or simply due to the location of publishers and galleries -- hosted much the artistic fervor of the Beats. 

 

Wichita Vortex

                        Wichita Vortex Homepage

The “second center” of the Beat scene, Wichita (Kansas) was the hub of much activity during the 50-60’s including visits by Ginsberg and others.  Plymell, who was born in Kansas, started his journey here.  This website compiles the happenings here.

            http://homepage.mac.com/thorntonstreiff/Menu9.html

 

Haight-Ashbury           

Music and Images

Grateful Dead, Timothy Leary, Zap Comix … this was the place, the Mecca of the Beats in the 1960’s … and for the Hippies in 1967’s “Summer of Love”.  This multimedia site has some great views of what it was like, plus concert footage, etc.  Also note that composer Phillip Glass wrote a piece called “The Wichita Vortex.”

            http://www.rockument.com/haimg.html

 

Greenwich Village

                        Greenwich Village Scene

Preceding San Franscisco by decades in bohemianism, Greenwich Village in Manhattan was the site of many important incidents and activities in the Beat Scene.  For example, it’s where Kerouac and Burroughs took up their association with small-time criminal Herbert Huncke.  Wikipedia has the best summary – pay attention to the link for “The Greenwich Village Scene”.

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Village

 

 

Individuals

 

While not a comprehensive list of the people involved, this group of influential beats is a nice summary of the people and ideas which fueled the movement.  It is interesting how their stories are intermingled.  I omitted people who, while famous, did not contribute a great body of work (Neil Cassady) or who insisted on distancing themselves from the movement (Richard Brautigan).  Many other links are available on the sites mentioned above, but I found these below to be “value added” for the student of these times.

 

William Burroughs

                        The Hard Man of Hip

This is a good site summarizing the works of the “elder statesman” of the beats.  Fully a decade older than most of his friends, his life was full of interesting hi-jinks.  (I shook hands with Burroughs at his 77th Birthday party, thinking “Where has this hand been?”  A good biography plus excerpts from his fiction.  Highly recommended!

            http://www.thei.aust.com/bill/burroughs.html

 

Personal Effects

Here is a catalog of Burroughs’ personal effects, compiled and stored at the University of Ohio library.  This collection is described as “a broad swath of artifacts from avant-garde art of the era”:             http://library.osu.edu/sites/rarebooks/finding/burroughs87.html

Allen Ginsberg

                        Allen Ginsberg  -- Shadow Changes into Bone  

Fan pages don’t get better than this compilation of photos, writings by and about Ginsberg, and event notices (such as the 50th anniversary celebration of Howl).

            http://www.ginzy.com/

 

Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac’s Heavenly Lane

Here is a fine webpage dedicated to Kerouac.  Besides a nice bio there is an excellent summary of books about him and further research materials. 

http://www.tijean.freeserve.co.uk/

                                               

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

City Lights Bookstore

Billed as “the most famous bookstore in the world”, this avant-garde bookstore (and publishing house) was founded in San Francisco by Ferlinghetti and still operates today.  Just perusing the catalog is worthwhile, but the “History” page is also informative.

http://www.citylights.com/

                        Interview

                        An excellent and fairly recent (2001) interview with Ferlinghetti

                                    http://www.sanfranciscoreader.com/interviews

/ferlinghetti%20interview.html

 

Charles Plymell

                        From Kansa, Land of the Wind People

Plymell and his wife roomed with Ginsberg and in the 60s and moved to Cherry Valley, New York near Ginsberg’s farm commune.  Plymell once told me he had “punched Kerouac in the face.”  The above link is to a short, beautifully-written autobiography.

            http://home.nycap.rr.com/charlesplymell/GALE.htm

 

Charles Plymell Cosmic Baseball

More on one of the more influential-yet-peripheral figures in the beat movement.  Among his many accomplishments, he was the first publisher of BEAT COMIX, the prototype for all underground comics!           

http://www.cosmicbaseball.com/plymell0.html  

 

Herbert Huncke

                        Unsung Beat Gets his Due

This is an article reviewing Huncke’s autobiography by Harvey Pekar.  Good summary of his life, the man who was the inspiration for Burrough’s Junkie.

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/12.04.97/books-9749.html

 

Charles Bukowski

                        American Author

A great stylist who beat to his own drum, Bukowski’s work seems to grow in stature instead of fading away.  This site has it all … bio, bibliography and even his FBI file!

            http://bukowski.net/

 

Gary Snyder     Poet

Gary Snyder was a San Francisco native who later bcame a park Ranger.  Along the way he took up with Ginsberg and drew a passion for ecology into the movement.  This site is a very lyrical biography of his life, with an extensive bibliography.

            http://www.heureka.clara.net/art/snyder.htm

 

Ken Kesey

                        Ken Kesey & The Merry Pranksters

A short biography and brief reviews of his major works, including the famous “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

                                    http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/sixties/kesey.html

                       

Tribute – Obituary

This site has pictures, poems, and a moving obituary of Kesey. 

            http://www.intrepidtrips.com/kesey/index.html

 

R. Crumb         Keep on Truckin’

This is a very small site with showing the original 1967 cartoon.  You have to see this to know who Crumb is.  Remember, Charles Plymell, above, was the first publisher of Crumb’s work.

                                    http://www.crumbmuseum.com/truckin.html

 

                        The Crumb Museum

                        A fan site, full of wonderful examples of Crumb’s art. 

                                    http://www.crumbmuseum.com/crumb1.html

 

                        Wikipedia

As Crumb is still a marketable commodity, many sites including his own are selling his work rather than telling his story.  The best summary I found is on Wikipedia.  Also note Crumb has a major documentary on him by Sony Pictures.  Links to the trailers are provided.

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Crumb

                       

Michael McClure

                        Homepage

Still active, Michael McClure’s homepage contains links to most of his work and articles about him.  A Beat Poet who reinvented himself for later generations, he has been read by “Hell’s Angels and Nuclear Scientists.”

                                    http://www.thing.net/~grist/l&d/mcclure/mcclure.htm

 

 

                                                            Last Word

 

I do hope you enjoy these sites as much as I enjoyed putting the list together.  For me, it is a bit of a trip down memory lane.  As a very young man who styled himself a poet/writer in the Beat tradition, I sought out and met several of these people.  Charles Plymell I consider a great friend and through him I was able to meet Burroughs, Huncke and Ginsberg.

 

I wish I had done this kind of research back then, as I found myself tongue-tied and staring at my sneakers for the most part, not knowing much about them except that they were famous Beats.. 

 

 I did manage to interview Huncke for a magazine.  This interview was cut short when he had to go downstairs to the basement to shoot up.  “Want to come – there’s nothing to be afraid of,” I remember him saying. 

 

But I, indeed, was afraid.