Topic > Essay on the Beat Generation - 1943

Racist Representations of Latinos/As in Beat Generation Literature Studies regarding the Beat Generation have pulsated over the years since the movement itself was at its peak, but what has survived throughout the fifty years following their The emergence is the popularity of Beat literature among the general public. To further increase the Beat's influence, their literature also had a huge impact on the American literary canon. Over the past two decades, primary sources of the Beat movement continue to be published. Major film adaptations of some of their most influential works and personal lives are also produced. The literature of the Beat Generation has been examined through many different perspectives ranging from anthropological to sociological. Some have analyzed that the Beats, particularly Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, were racist in their portrayal of African Americans, but little research has been done regarding their portrayal of Latinos. The literature review demonstrated that few, if any, have considered Beat racism towards Latinos and their culture, despite having spent a significant amount of time in Mexico. Who was the Beat Generation? The Beat Generation was a subculture that arose from post-World War II bohemian culture in the United States. Bohemians can be defined as people, artists, who live an unconventional life, usually, among others, also practice this lifestyle. Bohemianism, as such, has always had a strong affiliation with the development of the avant-garde as movements within art; significantly, Bohemia has been called the “underworld of art”. Bohemian culture itself “is characterized by an active, if perhaps erratic, communalism and group dynamic… halfway… themselves from mainstream American society, they were not that far removed from the period in their views racist. The period in which the Beats were most active was around the 1950s, and during that time racism was still a norm. So, although many writers of the Beat Generation – with their public rejection of social and cultural norms and their lifestyle governed by the pursuit of pleasure, faith and truth – are celebrated for their literature, I would like to revisit their work. There has been little to no analysis regarding the Beat Generation's representations of Latinos/as, despite the fact that this minority group is depicted in multiple Beats works. I plan to see if Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs' social mores regarding racism are reflected in their work by comparing their letters, diaries, and personal essays with published novels and poems..