Beat Generation Impact

What was the impact of the Beat Generation after the Second World War?

The Beat Generation was a time of liberation headed up by a small group of erratic men. The period immediately after the Second World War was deemed as the Era of Conformity. The vast majority of Americans were living in suburban areas called “Levittown” whilst the threat of communism was emerging. The conservative tradition dictated that men go to work and women become domesticated. This changed as people began to feel “beaten” down by this traditional and monotonous lifestyle. In 1948 a new coinage emerged as Jack Kerouac and John Clellon Holmes stated that the period after World War Two was to be regarded as the Beat Generation. Their beliefs were simple: the rejection
In its formation the understanding was that it was made of people who had been beaten down, worn out and exhausted by society however by the mid-1950s, Kerouac had stated that they were the beatific; the blessed. Therefore there is a sense even in the literal meaning of the Beat Generation of evolution and influence through time. As the times change, so does the meaning of the Beat Generation. In 1959 the American College Dictionary sent Jack Kerouac their interpretation of the ‘Beat Generation’ to be “certain members of the generation that came of age after World War II who affect detachment from moral and social forms and responsibilities supposedly due to disillusionment. Coined by Jack Kerouac”. To Jack Kerouac this was “trash” and sent back his own definition to be “beat generation, members of the generation that came of age after World War II- Korean War who join in relaxation of social and sexual tensions and espouse anti-regimentation, mystic-disaffiliation and material simplicity values, supposedly as a result of Cold War disillusionment. Coined by JK”. Kerouac’s determination of who is part of the generation seems to be universal whereas the American College Dictionary begins their definition with “certain”. A potent differentiation when looking at that wrote what; the conservative traditionalists (as the Beat Generation would deem them to be) or one of the founding three of the movement concerned. William Burroughs (another founding member) stated that the Beat Generation meant whatever you want it to mean. The single fact that there was controversy over what the Beat Generation was to people at the time gives the idea that the movement was an evolving time – changing with the tides and having the capacity for interpretation. This fact alone makes it stand that the impact of the Beat Generation was vast after World War Two. Even the American College Dictionary was attempting to define the new,