The Beats Tips
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The Beat Defined
A "beat" or "beatnik" was a social group of young people in the 1950's. They were the predecessors of the hipppies of the 1960's and wrote poetic ficiton and poetry. Sterotypically, beatniks are associated with coffee shops, bongos, and black turtlenecks. For ficitonal interpritations of these over-the-top beatniks, see Manard G. Krebs in the television series Dobie Gillis or Pia Zadora's role in the movie Hairspray.
Aside from these stereotypes, the beats are typically thought of as a literary movement including authors like Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg.
Some of Kerouac's most popular works
Jack Kerouac's first published novel was The Town and the City, later followed by his most famous work, On the Road. On the Road is said to have captured the spirit of a generation the way The Sun Also Rises did for Hemingway's era. Many of Kerouac's other novels tackled the issues of his childhood (Visions of Gerard, Maggie Cassidy) and his spiritual journey in life (The Dharma Bums, Desolation Angels).
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