2-5m-1-S2E43-Jazz and the Beat Writers Part 1

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We intended for this to be just one episode but felt that we had a lot more to say and ended up with enough for 2 five minute episode the next will follow in March 1st 2025.

this is the introduction to a blog on the beats on our website links below

The Beat movement was a literary movement which emerged in the United States in the post war-era. ‘Beat’ was slang for ‘down and out or poor and exhausted’. Jack Kerouac also spoke of the beat, especially the Jazz beat and also beatitude in a spiritual sense.  Central elements of Beat culture were the rejection of standard moral and narrative values, the importance of spiritual quest,  rejection of materialism,  experimentation with psychedelic drugs and sexual liberation. 

Pivotal works include Alan Ginsberg’s Howl, William Burrough’s Naked Lunch and jack Kerouac’s  On The Road. The core group met in 1944 in and around Columbia University in NYC, although later writers settled on the West Coast. 

The beat writers were attracted to jazz and especially bebop because of its, underground, counter-cultural status. The writers were also influenced by the ‘improvisational’ nature of jazz which many tried to replicate in their writing. 

There is a good documentary called " The source" a standard definition version is on You tube here  but full fat versions are available to buy from apple  or Amazon Prime the imdb page is here 

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