There are plenty of books written by or about the Beat Generation. These are just a few defining books by or about some of the main literary figures to introduce a reader to the Beat Generation.
Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman
Born in 1819 and influenced by Transcendentalism, Walt Whitman was himself influential on the Beat writers, particularly with his free verse writing style. His writing was controversial due to expressions of sexuality. Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection which he continued revising until his death.
The Portable Beat Reader – Ann Charters
Ann Charters collection of work by the defining members of the Beat Generation contains essays, poetry, letters and fiction. This anthology is a good guide to finding lots of information on the Beats, and is a great place to begin studies on this literary movement. Charters once worked with Kerouac compiling his bibliography and after his death wrote his biography.
The Doors of Perception - Aldous Huxley
Huxley describes his experience with mescaline to try and step into a world that is only inhabited by geniuses such as Blake, believing that great minds see the world in a different way. He writes that true enlightenment cannot be find through drugs but it can take you out of “the ruts of ordinary perception”.
The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac
The Dharma Bums is set in California and follows a year in the life of Ray Smith as he goes on a personal spiritual journey, travelling into the wild to find an authentic way of life. This search is driven by the study of Buddhism and different aspects of this are debated by the characters. The novel is a celebration of nature poet Gary Snyder.
Howl - Allen Ginsberg
A main figure of the Beat movement, Ginsberg's visionary poem is dedicated to his friend Carl Solomon, who he met in a psychiatric ward. Howl is very different to Ginsberg's earlier poetry. It broke barriers and transformed the way that poetry could be written. The long lines of this poem give more freedom for expression. It combines a demonic, apocalyptic world with a beatific one, culminating in spiritual affirmation.
No Nature – Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder is a nature poet who follows a type of “Eco-Zen”. Committed as a poet to defending nature alongside describing it in his poetry, he is depicted in Kerouac's The Dharma Bums as Japhy Ryder, the young Zen Buddhism enthusiast. His poetry uses language that expresses the importance of the earth as our home. His views can be linked to the ever-influential William Blake and his line “a heaven in a wild flower”. Everything is linked to everything else in a natural world. No Nature is an edition of his poetry that spans his career from emerging as part of the Beat movement to his main focus on the environment.
Zen and the Beat Way – Alan Watts
Alan Watts was a philosopher and writer. Zen and the Beat Way is from a series of radio shows and examine the Eastern philosophies that inspired the Beats. Zen is a fusion of Buddhist basic philosophy with an emphasis on nature. The Beat writers turned to the East for inspiration and found it in spirituality.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert M. Pirsig
This novel of counterculture value has become a cult book that made Eastern philosophy accessible. Similar to Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, the protaganist of this novel goes on a spiritual journey, which is also a journey into the past and of his former self. The novel also offers a critique on the superficiality of the beatnik ethos.
