Three Beat Boys:

The Beat generation has received renewed interest as of late. This post will look at three of it's celebrated members:

Jack Kerouac in New York City.

Jack Kerouac (above), William Burroughs (bottom, left) and Allen Ginsberg (bottom, right) were the cornerstones of the Beat Generation. 

Kerouac was the poster-boy of this post-war American subculture. His seminal work On the Road, that will be reviewed above, embodied the spirit of the subculture. It is referred to as the 'Beat bible'. On the Road is heading for the big screen this summer, with Francis Ford Coppola as a producer.

 Burroughs, often referred to as the godfather of the beat generation, was the most innovative beat novelist, often experimenting with new styles and developing different genres. In his most celebrated work, Naked Lunch,  Burroughs employs the cut-up technique, something Burroughs created, improved and eventually perfected.

Allen Ginsberg was a 'jazz poet'. Some of his noticeable works are Howl, Kaddish and America. He was the most political beat, often striving for a more politically aware movement, rather than the arguably apolitical, even anti-political, position that characterized the Beat generation.