The Portable Beat Reader

In The Portable Beat Reader (2003), Ann Charters brings together a collection of pioneering literature written by the foremost voices of the Beat Generation. Starting in the early 1940s, American letters took an unexpected turn toward the edgy and experimental, the sublime and the daring, the dark and the twisted. Beat literature reshaped how the world perceived language and writing—and how humans understood themselves and one another. The Portable Beat Reader is a celebration of this landmark in the evolution of the written word.

The first section of the anthology devotes itself to the "Beats" of the East Coast. Selected works of Jack Kerouac—perhaps the most famous and enduring of all the Beat writers—open the volume. There are excerpts from his books On the Road, The Dharma Bums, and The Subterraneans, as well as portions of his epic poem "Mexico City Blues." Charters supplements Kerouac's contributions with two of his essays on writing prose. Another Beat trailblazer, Allen Ginsberg, features prominently in this section as well. Several of his unabridged poems appear here, including "Howl," "A Supermarket in California," and "Kaddish." William Burroughs was an equally formative influence in the Beat movement, and Charters includes excerpts of his books Junky and Naked Lunch, among others. A few lesser-known but equally important voices follow before the section closes with a few poems from Gregory Corso. All of these pieces touch upon the Beats' feelings of alienation from conventional society and their struggle to connect with an identity that is outside the stifling norms of the communities and worlds in which they were raised.

"Heart Beat," the second section, focuses on the mutual give-and-take between authors Neal Cassady and Kerouac. In publishing portions of their letters and the work that sprang from their correspondence, Charters shows both the beauty and the frustration that can fuel the artistic temperament—and the artistic friendship.



In the third section, Charters looks at the works of several prominent Beat-era San Francisco poets, including the legendary Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Most of these poets took their inspiration directly from Ginsberg and his generation-defining "Howl." After "Howl" became the target of indecency charges, the resulting publicity took Beat literature out of the realm of New York City coffeehouses and dive bars and into the rest of America. The poems in this section illustrate the union that was made between the East- and West-coast Beats and how one coast's style influenced the other's.

Part four of The Portable Beat Reader centers on artists that one might not immediately think of as being quintessentially Beat, as well as writers who were lesser-known in the movement. Mainstream poet Frank O'Hara, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, and poets Diane DiPrima and John Wieners all have pieces in this section. This portion of the book highlights the universal themes of much of the Beats' work, showing that the circle of Beat writers and artists extended well beyond the coasts.

The fifth section is a collection of memoir excerpts and tributes to writers that have died. Among the work detailed here are remembrances from Neal Cassady's wife, Carolyn, and Jack Kerouac's daughter, Jan, and a reflection from Ed Sanders on "beatnik glory." From these pieces, it is easy to see how the legacy of the Beat writers loomed large—for other writers, yes, but also for the Beats' own family members and friends.



The final part of the book chronicles some of the later works of the movement. The voices of Burroughs, DiPrima, Ferlinghetti, Corso, and Sanders are again included. From these works, readers can sense how the styles and perspectives of this generation evolved over time and how the advancing of age and the threat of mortality informed what they were writing.

Charters closes the volume with a unique appendix that seeks to illuminate the Beat writers and their work from different angles. In the essay "The White Negro," Norman Mailer, a writer not part of the Beat movement, traces the history of the Beat-era "hipster." Philosopher Alan Watts, also not generally considered a Beat writer, says in his essay "Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen" that the era's understanding of spirituality in general and Zen practice, in particular, was uniquely its own. In the essay "The Game of the Name," John Clellon Holmes explores the meaning of the name Beat, asking, essentially, "What's in a name?"

The Portable Beat Reader offers a snapshot of writing at a particular point in American history. Instead of presenting outdated or cliché words and viewpoints, the anthology demonstrates that the Beat writers were grappling with ideas and issues that have long been—and continue to be—fodder for writers and other artists. They encountered these experiences through their own creative lenses, understanding them in a new and exciting language. Ultimately, these are still tributes to all the mysteries that make life so enriching, thrilling, and heartbreaking: love and loss, birth and death, war and peace—and the power of the imagination to make sense of them all.