University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee: William Burroughs and The Beat Generation
Instructor: James Liddy
Semester 1, 1999-2000
350-248-101 William Burroughs and The Beat Generation James LiddyOrder of Texts:
Allen Ginsberg, Howl
William Burroughs, Queer
William Burroughs, Interzone
Diane di Prima, Memoirs of a Beatnik
Jack Kerouac, Big Sur
William Burroughs, Naked Lunch
Stan Persky, Autobiography of a Tattoo
John Wieners, Cultural Affairs in Boston
Richard Riordain, 45 Days in the Greek CoolerWilliam Burroughs's Junky and the letters of Burroughs, Ginsberg, and Kerouac are particularly recommended.
Beat writing surfaced around the figures of Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg, and a "holy family" of Bohemians in the forties and fifties. Reflecting the change in values after WW11, the group concentrated on transforming personal and societal assumptions. Beat writing represented a new American underground whose activities including pad-making, friend-finding, drug-making, travelling, hiking, jazz-listening, and writing with an added consciousness. This course explores the aesthetic and cultural contexts of the Beat Generation which demonstrates how a generation of writers which know each other can work together and influence later groups and individuals (Burroughs, though not fully a member of The Beat Generation, is strongly associated with it).
No students will be allowed more than two excused absences. Barring emergencies, no incompletes will be awarded. (Information on student rights and duties is obtainable from the English Department.) Students will write two papers of six pages each due on October 26 and December 27; students will give also an informal report on some aspect of the Beat Generation. There will be a final exam on the day indicated in Schedule of Classes.
Assuming attendance is in order, grades will be:
Writing 60%
Exam 20%
Discussion and report 20%High Beat Birthdays may be celebrated!