JACK KEROUAC, THE BEAT GENERATION AND ON THE ROAD

Abstract

The mid-twentieth century in American literature is connected to the Beat Generation which managed and changed traditional social values, materialism and conformity. “Never in the history of literature and literary movements has so much been owed to so few. Three men - Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs – became the core of the literature and social phenomenon that (to borrow Burroughs’ comments about Kerouac’s most famous novel) ‘sold a trillion pairs of Levis and a million espresso coffee machines, and also sent countless kids on the road’ “(Russell, 2002:7).

The Beat phenomenon transformed the way of life of American society. It gave the way for the hippies, punks, ravers. It also appeared to be the first movement in Western culture connected to literature, music and films. The freedom the Beats brought to America was totally different from existing world of work, responsibility and money. The Beats began to bring a new lifestyle which as quite different from the mainstream. “As with most literary movements, there is not a birth date for the Beat Generation. No one ever issued a manifesto or printed  off a pamphlet announcing the arrival of the Beats, it simply happened. Ginsberg, Kerouac and Burroughs met in New York in 1944. They were introduced through a series of mutual friends, liked one another and began to hang out together. The three of them grew a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, the Beat Generation itself” (Russell, 2002:10).

Key Words: American literature, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, the Beat Generation, the 1950s in America.