In/Out, Up/Down, Bless/Blast, Hip/Square...such lists have long graced magazines as largely ironic signifiers of social trends. This tongue-in-cheek (what else could it be?) book captures the spirit of '59 in the USA, by which time the Beat Generation was 'OUT', as was seeing Kerouac in public. Aside from the content, I love the wonderfully stressed cover.
I guess, according to this, the Angry Young Men of America are out, and the Angry Young Men of England are in?
ReplyDelete'Kerouac himself frequently sounds like a bad translation from the Czech' ? - Heh-heh - good book, though. One of the first 'Beat' collections I bought, though it is a strange pairing.
DeleteI've read a copy, and it's amazing. "Joan Crawford is a problem."
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