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Beats
The term 'Beat', coined by Jack Kerouac, comes from the notion of being beaten or downtrodden, and also from the notion of beatitude, or holiness. Originally, the Beat generation applied to a small group of writers and bohemians, who included Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady, although it came to encompass their devotees as well. Followers of the Beat movement were also known as beatniks, initially a derogatory term, with the suffix 'nik' coming from the Russian and identifying the Beats with godless Communism.
While Beats were usually associated with wearing scruffy black clothing and berets, hanging out in coffee bars and listening to modern jazz, there was more to it than that. American poet and journalist Ed Sanders argues: 'You had to know jazz, you had to be able to distinguish between the different saxophone riffs ... You were expected to read Pierre by Herman Melville and to know who Apollinaire was.'
Find out more …
Literary Kicks
www.charm.net/~brooklyn/LitKicks.html
History of the Beat movement and the writers involved, plus those who are continuing the tradition.
The Beat Generation Archives
www.halcyon.com/colinp/beats.htm
Well-researched links.
The Beat Book: Writings from the Beat generation, edited by Anne Waldman (Shambhala Publications, 1999) £10.50.
Selected works of Gregory Corso, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and other writers of the Beat generation, with biographies and information on the places they lived.
Goths
'If you were happy all the time, you wouldn't be human, you'd be a gameshow host.' Winona Ryder as Veronica in the film Heathers
Veronica was not a Goth, but her sentiments were shared by the Goth subculture that grew up in the bleak post-punk era in Britain in the early 1980s. Initially, Goth culture was about music: bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Damned, The Cure and Bauhaus were performing a gloomy style of rock with an intense blend of guitar, bass and drums, often with apocalyptic lyrics. Along with the music came a look: bands and fans dressed in black, wore heavy makeup and metal jewellery. And with the lyrics came a bleak outlook on the world, an enthusiasm for the literature of Dante and Byron, and for German expressionist film and art.
The movement declined in the late 1980s, though elements still exist. Because of its dismal outlook on life, Goth culture has gained a reputation for encouraging depression and suicidal or violent tendencies. The killing of 10 students by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 was linked to their alleged Goth tendencies: both wore black trenchcoats and were said to be fans of the singer Marilyn Manson.
Find out more …
Gothic Net
www.gothic.net/
Goth literature, journalism, music, plus links.
The Gothic Revival by Chris Brooks (Phaidon Press, 1999) £14.95.
Gothic style — architecture, writing, art, movies, video games and music — from Victorian times to the present.