O N T H E R O A D
JACK KEROUAC (1957)
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| My Penguin edition of Jack Kerouac's On The Road, part of their Great Kerouac collection. |
Starting off with the most obvious title in the Beatnik Curricilum™; On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Jack is one of my favourite authors. His writing is very autobiographical, based on his road trips and experiences with friends. The writing is exciting and melodic—I'm so fascinated by just how musical Jack's writing is. There is a sense of rhythm in his style, sometimes consistent, other times irregular, like a swinging jazz tune. Recently I came across a 28-minute video on Youtube of Jack reading an excerpt from On The Road [x], and it's really unlike any audiobook. It's so much more personal, sometimes he's laughing or singing, which really drives home the energetic spirit of the book in my opinion.
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| Favourite quote from this book ♡ (page 7) |
M I N O R C H A R A C T E R S
JOYCE JOHNSON (198-)
This is a book I stumbled across when I was doing some reading about the beat generation (as I like to do from time to time). As a literary movement, the beats fascinate me, but what it's missing is the female perspective. Oftentimes when we think about The Beats™, Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs are almost always talked about. Yes, they are key figures and their work was revolutionary at the time, but I think it's also important to highlight the many women that were there. An article from The Guardian puts this perfectly:
"I loved the beat generation and the men in it. I loved how they shared themselves with each other and their readers, generously. But I always had, and still have, the sneaking and sinking suspicion that there would have been no place for me in that world. [...] There were women, certainly, but they felt like cardboard cut-outs, something to move around, admire, shift gently out of the way when necessary."
— Lynette Lounsbury, 2016
This is why I wanted to start reading more works by women who were there. I picked up Joyce Johnson's memoir Minor Characters and reading it was such an experience. It's a beautiful recounting of that generation, demystifying the literary larger-than-life figures and bringing to the forefront the voices of the minor characters of that time—the women.
W O M E N O F T H E B E A T G E N E R A T I O N
BRENDA KNIGHT (EDITOR) (198-)
Still, in the same vein, I wanted to talk about the book Women of the Beat Generation, edited by Brenda Knight and with an incredible foreword by Ann Charters. This is a beautiful book, I found it so inspiring to see what all these incredible, talented women created. The book goes into detail about each woman and showcases excerpts of their stories or poetry. As someone who loves creative writing, I became so inspired by these ladies to create my own stories and poems. If you're interested in learning more about the Beat Generation, I highly recommend you begin with this collection.
V I O L E T B E N T B A C K W A R D S O V E R T H E G R A S S
LANA DEL REY (2020)
I got into Lana Del Rey's music in quarantine and when I heard that she was going to publish a poetry book I got extremely excited! Her poetry has received mixed reviews, some praise it while others express their dislike. I do think that some poems are weaker than others (like the haikus for example), but in general, I greatly enjoyed this little book. Compared to other modern poetry, I think Lana really knows and understands the medium, you can see her influences and traces of Plath and Whitman. She has a really great way with words and listening to the audiobook makes it such a gorgeous experience.
My favourite poem from the book is L.A Who Am I To Love You. I love the way she's addressing Los Angeles like it's a person and speaking to it directly, comparing a lover to a city using gorgeous metaphors. It reminded me a lot of Allen Ginsberg's poem America upon first reading which I thought was neat :)
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Sidenote, the book is really pretty. I love to just hold it, the paper feels really nice (haha) |
That's it for now I think! If I go on any further I won't be able to stop. Hope you enjoyed this post, feel free to share what books you've read this fall. Wish you all the best!
