The Beat Generation and The Angry Young Men

The Beat Generation and The Angry Young Men STUDENT: KURTMULLAEVA L.N.

 Beatnik was a media stereotype of the 1950s to mid-1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the  Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s and violent film images, along with a cartoonish depiction of the real-life people and the spiritual quest in Jack Kerouac's  autobiographical fiction.

LITERARY BACKGROUND The Beat Generation was a group of American post-World War II writers  who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired. Central elements of "Beat" culture included rejection of received standards, innovations in style, experimentation with drugs, alternative sexualities, an interest in  Eastern religion, a rejection of materialism, and explicit portrayals of the human condition. Beat poetry evolved during the 1940s in both New York City and on the west coast, although San Francisco became the heart of the movement in the early 1950s. The end of World War II left poets like Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Gregory Corso questioning mainstream politics and culture. These poets would become known as the Beat generation, a group of writers interested in changing consciousness and defying conventional writing. The Beats were also closely intertwined with poets of the San Francisco Renaissance movement, such as Kenneth Rexroth and Robert Duncan.

THE TERM BEAT GENERATION  The term Beat Generation comes from a definition by Kerouac of the young artists who were unconventional both in language and life- style. Kerouac also suggested that “Beat” meant being socially marginalized and exhausted (“beaten down“) and blessed (“beatific“). He described the attitude of his friends and of himself by these words: ‘a sort of furtiveness … and weariness with all the forms, all the conventions of the world. … So I guess you might say a Beat Generation.

ALLEN GINSBERG Allen Ginsberg's first book, Howl and Other Poems, is often considered representative of the Beat poets. In 1956 Lawrence Ferlinghetti's press City Lights published Howl and Ferlinghetti was brought to trial the next year on charges of obscenity. In a hugely publicized case, the judge ruled that Howl was not obscene and brought national attention to Ginsberg and the Beat poets

JACK KEROUAC Jean-Louis "Jack" Kérouac (/ˈ kɛruːæk/ or /ˈkɛrɵæk/; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside  William S. Burroughs and  Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the  Beat Generation.[2] Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic spirituality, jazz,  promiscuity, Buddhism, drugs, poverty, and travel. He became an underground celebrity and, with other beats, a progenitor of the  hippie movement, although he remained antagonistic toward some of its politically radical elements.[3][4]

THE "ANGRY YOUNG MEN"  The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working  and middle class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. The group's leading members included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis. The phrase was originally coined by the Royal Court Theatre's press officer to promote John Osborne's 1956 play  Look Back in Anger. It is thought to be derived from the  autobiography of Leslie Paul, founder of the  Woodcraft Folk, whose Angry Young Man was published in 1951. Following the success of the Osborne play, the label was later applied by British media to describe young British writers who were characterised by a disillusionment with traditional English society.

THE LABEL “ANGRY YOUNG MEN”  The label “angry young men” is assumed to have borrowed from Leslie Paul’s autobiographical book Angry Young Man(1951). After critical acclamation of Osborn’s play Look Back in Anger, the British Newspapers employed the label to encapsulate the mode and temperament of this group of writes.

CHARACTERISTICS  The major characteristics of the Angry Young Men Movement are as follows: Revolt against Social Inequality: A major concern in Angry Young Men Movement writings is the dissatisfaction of the lower-class towards the established socio-political system which inequitably valued the middle and the upper classes.  Criticism of Mannerism: Literature of this age fiercely criticises the hypocrisy of the middle and the upper classes.  Portrayal of Social Status of Youth: Another frequent subject in this age is the depiction of abject position of the youth in society. The writers often portrayed the central hero being disillusioned with the life and dissatisfied with their job and a society where he is unfit and deprived of normal rights.  Revolt against conventionality: Angry Young Men literature strongly revolted against all the accepted norms and ideals.  Unconventional Hero: Typically the hero is a rootless, lower-middle or working- class male psyche with a university degree. He expresses his dissatisfaction towards social ills with excessive anger and sardonic humour. He often indulges into adultery and inebriation to escape from complexities of life. In fine, he is the very epitome of a frustrated post-World War II generation.

CHIEF REPRESENTATIVES John Wain (1925–1994) Kingsley Amis (1922–1995) John Osborne (1929–1994) John Braine (1922–1986)Bernard Kops (1926– )Alan Sillitoe (1928–2010)

THE ANGRY YOUNG MEN & BEATNIKS  There is a strong difference between them: the former were writers of denouncement and struggled to impose the aesthetical program started at the turn of the 20th century while the latter, born in a world already denounced, looked for something to believe in and struggled for a moral program aiming at the rebuilding of a society through the spiritual rebirth of human personality. The Beatniks are also different from the Angry YoungMen. Even if the Angry Men Movement may have paved the way to the Beat phenomenon, they only shared the dissatisfaction against the established society. The Angry Men were politically committed and struggled against class distinction, social injustice, unequal distribution of wealth and labour. They were more similar to the artists of the Rebel Generation (the American Rebel Poets of the 1950s who expressed their political anxiety imposed by McCarthyism) or of the Lost Generation because they, too, struggled to fulfil their programs. The Beatniks instead have no programs; they only want to find a reason to live.

THANCK YOU FOR ATTENTION