Customer Reviews

This Is the Beat Generation: New York-San Francisco-Paris

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I started reading this book with little prior knowledge of the beat movement and authors. I also didn't expect much from the book, thinking that it would probably be a rather academic piece of writing. And what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be! The book was so gripping that I finished it in a few days, reading long passages at a time. It covers the rise to prominence of the dramatis personae of the beat movement (focusing on Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs), giving enough information on their backgrounds to facilitate an understanding of how this influenced them and their writing, but does not dwell on unnecessary minutiae in the process. All the information is presented in a concise and remarkably readable manner. The author points out the foibles of the beats, but is not too judgemental, leaving it to the reader to come to his own conclusions.

But the best thing about this book is the way the author links events and people in a witty, intelligent way without falling into the very beat trap of being pretentious. It can serve as an example to all authors wishing to write an intelligent, accessible work of non-fiction.

[...]. But then I also suggest getting a subscription to the National Enquirer, for the same rhetoric to be found in that rag is to be found in this book's overtly slanted viewpoint. Every luminary in this significant literary and cultural movement is depicted as psychotic, criminal, racist, and sexually confused. Nothing positive about the Beat Generation is mentioned. Granted, the Beats had their personal faults, but who doesn't? Campbell does a great disservice to his readers by not presenting a balanced perspective of the Beats and the influence they have had around the world. If you're looking for fair, introspective commentary on the Beat Generation...look elsewhere.