American literature of the second half of 20 century

The Original Beat Writers

• The Beat Generation in literature was small, the original core group consisted of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady and William S. Burroughs, who met in uptown Manhattan in the 1940's and are all depicted as characters in On The Road.
• The original Beat writers influenced many alienated young people to gather in San Francisco. They acquired the name “Beatniks,” derived from the ‘beats’ and the Russian space invention Sputnik.

Kerouac, Jack (1922-1969)

• An American writer, who was the first to use the term Beat Generation in reference to the group of American writers, including himself, who rejected mainstream society in the 1950s through their unconventional writings and alternative lifestyles.
• Kerouac's best-known novel is On the Road (1957), a loosely structured and mostly autobiographical account of the Beat experience in America, regarded as one of the classic works of the Beat Generation
• Kerouac drew from experiences with his contemporaries and friends, including intellectuals Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, and William S. Burroughs.