New Vision By George Ginsberg Research Paper

Most literary movements can be traced back to a specific time and place. It begins with a few writers defying the previous movement’s rules. The Renaissance began with two. The romantics: five. Following suit, the Beat generation was born when a few friends in and around Columbia University joined together to start a literary revolution. Defiant, free, and unattached, the Beats believed poetry didn’t have to follow rhyme and meter to have meaning. They believed in throwing out the general rules of literature. They were a “generation of crazy, illuminated hipsters suddenly rising and roaming America” (Kerouac 13), who wrote their own style of literature while on their bohemian travels. The Beats were the founders of the American counterculture

Carr wasn’t truly a Beat writer, but he was extremely important to his friend’s lives. He developed the New Vision: “1) Naked self-expression is the seed of creativity. 2) The artist’s consciousness is expanded by derangement of the senses. 3) Art eludes conventional morality” (Campbell 26). He borrowed the phrase “New Vision” from Arthur Rimbaud, a 19th century poet, whom he introduced to Ginsberg. Ginsberg described Carr as “self-destructive egotist but also as a possessor of real genius” (Campbell 23). His contributions were not only creative ideas, but the spontaneity he lived as a young adult. He would do odd things, such as carry around a jar of jam, and when asked what it was, he would respond that it was his date. However, this youthful streak appeared to end before the Beat generation was even published and recognized as a movement. This is due to his interactions with David Kammerer. When he was 14, he met Kammerer, who was friends with William Burroughs. Kammerer, being an adult, pursued Carr in a predatory manner for the rest of his teenage life. There are different stories on the nature of their relationship, but what is known is that Carr moved many times, with Kammerer following at each location. Carr attempted suicide at one point, in an attempt to finally escape his stalker. Carr killed Kammerer in August 1944. He plead that it was an “honor slaying,” that he, a

It was published as a novel, but it is autobiographical, only changing the names of the characters. He is responsible for documenting the Beats, both in the novel and through his diaries. He was different from them in that he was extremely religious. Even On The Road was riddled with Christian imagery, such as crucifixes and prayers. He once described it as a “story about two Catholic buddies roaming the country in search of God” as opposed to a group of friends on a romp across the country. The acclaim for On The Road haunted him, and he grew to resent it, despite his vigorous attempts to initially get it published. Kerouac did not want to be known as a Beat later in life, and he felt the moniker haunted him. He couldn’t do anything without being labelled one. The Beats were romanticized and objectified in media, and he couldn’t handle that oversimplification of the grand movement. He died of alcohol abuse in