Beatnik
Beatnik was a media stereotype prevalent throughout the 1950s to mid-1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s. Elements of the beatnik trope included drug use, pseudo-intellectualism, and a cartoonish depiction of real-life people along with the spiritual quest of Jack Kerouac's autobiographical fiction.
History
Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948, generalizing from his social circle to characterize the underground, anticonformist youth gathering in New York at that time. The name came up in conversation with the novelist John Clellon Holmes, who published an early Beat Generation novel, Go (1952), along with a manifesto in The New York Times Magazine: "This Is the Beat Generation" In 1954, Nolan Miller published his third novel, Why I Am So Beat (Putnam), detailing the weekend parties of four students.
The adjective "beat" was introduced to the group by Herbert Huncke, though Kerouac expanded the meaning of the term. "Beat" came from underworld slang—the world of hustlers, drug addicts, and petty thieves, where Allen Ginsberg and Kerouac sought inspiration. "Beat" was slang for "beaten down" or downtrodden, but to Kerouac and Ginsberg, it also had a spiritual connotation as in "beatitude". Other adjectives discussed by Holmes and Kerouac were "found" and "furtive". Kerouac felt he had identified (and was the embodiment of) a new trend analogous to the influential Lost Generation.
Beatniks (novel)
Beatniks: An English Road Movie (1997) is a novel by British author Toby Litt set in Bedford in The United Kingdom in 1995, and concerns the adventures of a group of young people who admire the Beat Writers and Musicians of the 1950s and 1960s America. Initially published by Secker & Warburg in 1997.
Plot summary
Mary (a recent graduate from University) meets Jack, Maggie and Neal at a party and learns that despite it being The UK of 1995, they yearn for the life of a Beatnik in 1960s America. Fascinated by the group (especially the handsome, if difficult Jack) she embarks on an adventure with them, finding both love and tragedy on the way.
Characters
Podcasts:
Beatniks
ALBUMS
- Música de los 60, Volume 1 released: 1996
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by Trophy Scars
Botanicas
by: Trophy ScarsI swear to god I've only been to three botanicas
A holy sermon and two bars under candlelight
And I was cleansed at all but the only problem was
I can't remember anything or what the problem was
I howled in the moonlight
I drank my cupboards dry
I shined my soul to all
I sang with all my friends that night
And they sang with me too, yeah...
These are the demigods
These are the statuettes
These are the candles you put on shelf and you sell as a spell, well
That morning I woke I got to my feet
I cooked up some coffee then went back to sleep
It's just these days
These days yeah
All the money I spend is worth the trouble I find
I still miss you too much but pretend that it's fine
And all I can say
And all I can say is, yeah
These are the demigods
These are the statuettes
I scream in my sleep
I moan and I yell
I long for a potion
I ache for a spell
To rid me of this terror
These endless nights of horror
I wish I remembered
That night when I fell
You condemned the whole city
You plagued us to hell
I thought you were just joking
I swore "She must be joking,"
How could I forget
You in sunsets
Your soft silhouette
The spell that you said
Big sunglasses
Vanilla milkshake
Cherry lipstick
The look that you gave
You summoned the ghosts
Well now you've got 'em
Your heart's cold revenge
For your head's little problems
I hope they let you sleep
So I can get some sleep
The spell books and candles
The potions in bottles
You spoke yourself ill
Despite what's in common
With your rational behavior
Sarcastic tone and nature
I wonder how I
Get so tired
When I set my
Latest News for: beatniks
Old beatniks can still be found among San Francisco’s tech bros and robocars
The Irish Times 04 Mar 2025- 1