As you are probably aware (made obvious by my web address), I have a small fascination with the Beat Generation. I love the writing styles of Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg. I crave bebop and cool jazz daily. I love my black turtle neck and, admittedly, own more than a couple of beret's. I've often wondered what led me to be so enthralled in this strange era of American History. Is it the stereotyped clothing style of the seudo French-Goth persuasion? Is it the attitude of reckless ambandon that is so delicious to my adolescent pallet--or perhaps the patriotic idea of hitch-hiking across the United States? It could definately be that this generation adored the style of music that I love and study full time. These all may be valid and accurate, but I think the most appealling aspect of these rag-tag, irresponsible youths is this: they valued and lived for creativity. Not only this, it didn't even have to be "good" creativity, it just had to be creative. I look at poetry/writings/art from this genre and half the time it's just ridiculous, stream-of-thought ramblings. Sometimes it's more fun to laugh at than analyze. THIS is the appeal: I can write! I can draw. I can paint/sing/play/create. I don't have to be a scholar or professional. I may not be able to do all of it well, but that's not the point. The point is that I'm trying to create something unique and new. ANYONE can be an artist and EVERYONE deserves to be. We shouldn't have to worry about how "good" our art is and we definately shouldn't have to worry about if other people think it's good. Your art is just that...it's YOURS; it's for you, by you, given to you. The more we create, the better we get at it and if we worry about how it's going to be received, we'll most likely give up early. Nobody starts off exceptional. 
The Beat Generation seemed to understand this (at least the way I view it). When thoughts of these beret wearing hipsters enter into our imagination we tend to think of a smoky coffee shop where everyone, dressed in black, are sitting around listening to poetry and jazz. They are listening to creation...and supporting it.
3 comments:
Like that post.
I think I'd like to be a beatnik too if I wasn't so against turtlenecks...
Favorite Kerouac Moments:"Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together; sophistication demands that they submit to sex immediately without proper preliminary talk. Not courting talk--real straight talk about souls, for life is holy and every moment is precious."
"The one thing that we yearn for in our living days, that makes us sigh and groan and undergo sweet nauseas of all kinds is the remembrance of some lost bliss that was probably experienced in the womb and can only be reproduced (though we hate to admit it) in death. But who wants to die?"
"We were on the roof of America and all we could do was yell."
"Are we straight in the deepest and most wonderful depths of our souls, dear darling?"
"The arty types are all over America, sucking up its blood."
"We understood each other on other levels of madness."
"...there's so many things to do, so many things to write! How to even begin to get it all down and without modified restraints and all hung-up on like literary inhibitions and grammatical fears..."
"I was halfway across America, at the dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future."
"...the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'"
Favorite Tobian Moments:"I've often wondered what led me to be so enthralled in this strange era of American History. Is it the stereotyped clothing style of the pseudo French-Goth persuasion? Is it the attitude of reckless abandon that is so delicious to my adolescent palette--or perhaps the patriotic idea of hitch-hiking across the United States?"
"They are listening to creation...and supporting it."
"I'm a jazz saxophone player (majoring in jazz studies) who takes any opportunity to convince himself and others that he should have been born a black man in the 1970's--what a gorgeously fascinating time."
"For years now, whenever one volcano erupts, it triggers a chain reactions of thousands of little catastrophes and the boiling lava covers all of the innocent village people who (despite their many offerings to these angry gods) writhe in agony as their flesh gets charred from the wave of the arguing titans."
Oh you and your beret habit... :P
Cool! Ahem...likecool, I mean.
Post a Comment