Independent Study Reading List:
Beat Literature and Culture
Instructor: Rob Latham
Books Needed:
Ann Charters, THE PORTABLE BEAT READER
John Clellan Holmes, GO
Jack Kerouac, ON THE ROAD
Joyce Johnson, MINOR CHARACTERS
William S. Burroughs, THE SOFT MACHINE
---, THE TICKET THAT EXPLODED
---, NOVA EXPRESS
Diane di Prima, MEMOIRS OF A BEATNIK
Week 1: Orientation & Organization
Week 2: Ann Charters, ed., PORTABLE BEAT READER:
--Introduction, "Variations on a Generation," pp.
xv- xxxvi
--Part I, Section 1, on Jack Kerouac, pp. 1-10, 43-61
--Part II, on Neal Cassady, pp. 187-226
Barbara Ehrenreich, "The Beat Rebellion: Beyond Work and
Marriage"
Week 3: John Clellan Holmes, GO
Week 4: Jack Kerouac, ON THE ROAD
Week 5: Joyce Johnson, MINOR CHARACTERS
Week 6: Ann Charters, ed., PORTABLE BEAT READER:
--Part I, Section 2, on Allen Ginsberg, pp. 62-104
--Part I, Section 3, on William Burroughs, pp. 104-
146
--Part I, Section 7, on Gregory Corso, pp. 172-186
Week 7: Material on Burroughs & the "cut-up" method:
--William S. Burroughs & Brion Gysin, THE THIRD
MIND (excerpts)
--Robin Lydenberg, WORD CULTURES (excerpts)
--Jennie Skerl & Robin Lydenberg, eds., WILLIAM S.
BURROUGHS AT THE FRONT: CRITICAL
RECEPTION, 1959-1989
(excerpts)
View Burroughs short films, if available
Week 8: William S. Burroughs, THE SOFT MACHINE
Week 9: William S. Burroughs, THE TICKET THAT EXPLODED
Week 10: William S. Burroughs, NOVA EXPRESS
Week 11: Material on the popularization of the Beat ethos:
--John Clellan Holmes, "The Philosophy of the Beat
Generation"
--Dennis Lynds, UPTOWN DOWNTOWN (excerpts)
--view THE BEAT GENERATION
Week 12: Diane di Prima, MEMOIRS OF A BEATNIK
Week 13: Ann Charters, ed., THE PORTABLE BEAT READER:
--Part 5, Memoirs & Posthumous Tributes, pp. 435-
477, 482-516
--Appendix--Three Commentators, pp. 582-622
Weeks 14-15: Student presentations & discussion
Rob Latham
English Department
308 EPB
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
PH: (319) 335-0465
Fax: (319) 335-2535
http://www.uiowa.edu/~c008171/robspage/roblath.html