Everything old can be made new again if it serves your purposes. History has been made and remade in the image of the makers. People want to match the past to their present and justify their worldview. This is what the poets and writers of the mid-50's, called The Beat Generation, did to explain and celebrate themselves.
They dug back into the history of poetry in the United States and brought Walt Whitman back to the surface as their literary forefather and mentor. Whitman's celebration of the self and the ordinary man immersed in life was just the forerunner they were looking for. Whitman's homosexuality long before its general acceptance
was also appealing to many in the group, especially Alan
Ginsberg,
who was overt about his own sexuality.
Take a look at the 19th century “Leaves of Grass” and see its point
of view and use of language. It is the long, open line, requiring much breath, as well as the vivid language and philosophy that the Beats would borrow. America is often seen as the land of capitalism, of acquisition, but the so-called Beat poets and writers went to the flip
side of this belief system, rejecting things, as such, for a way of life where they searched for deep meaning. They often chose drugs, altered states of reality through meditation, sleep deprivation and
other means for trying to get to that inner state where a deep truth about life, a kind of epiphany of understanding would come to them. They were the forerunners of the hippies, and in sharp division
with the society of post-World War 11 America which hungered
after televisions, cars, and the good life of suburban America.
Keep your mind open as you dive into these selections, which may
not be your accepted view of America.
At the same time, consider how a character like Sam Spade predates this view with his deep personal moral sense and sense of
individualism in the face of his own capitalistic culture. |
