English 349: Writers of the Beat Generation

Spring 2007

Monday & Wednesday, 3:00 – 4:20 P.M. – 102 Tyler Hall

Instructors: Don Masterson & Kurt Phaneuf
Office: 313 Poucher Hall
Phone: 2608
E-mail: masterso@oswego.edu & ephaneuf@oswego.org
Office Hours: Masterson – M-W-F 11:30 – 12:30 P.M.; T 1:00-3:00 P.M.
Phaneuf – By appointment only

Course Objectives:

This course has the following aims:

· To examine the cultural and literary phenomenon of ‘Beat’ in America and abroad.

· To develop familiarity with the major works of the primary writers of the period and, to a lesser extent, the work of those figures they influenced.

· To understand the political, social, and artistic climate during the time of the Beat Generation.

· To appreciate and examine the continued interest in the Beat phenomenon.

· To engage in and influence the ongoing critical debate about Beat ideas, Bohemianism, and popular culture by being active creators of corroborating and competing texts.

Required Texts:

· The Portable Beat Reader edited by Ann Charters (abbreviated PBR throughout the remainder of this syllabus)

· On The Road by Jack Kerouac

· Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

· Trout Fishing In America, The Pill Versus The Springhill Mining Disaster, and In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan

· Supplementary Texts: You will also be responsible for reading a number of handouts and online/electronic texts, some provided for you by your instructors, others available via the internet (Interzone?) version of the course calendar (below).

Two additional invaluable resources for this class are the online Naropa Archive found at

http://www.archive.org/details/naropa

and UBUWEB, a multimedia resource with mp3s and experimental video, including a great deal of Beat-specific material

http://www.ubu.com/

Course Requirements:

	One (1) Major (6-8 Pages) Paper – 25%
	Mid-Term Exam – 15%
	Final Exam – 25%
	Ten (10) Short Papers (2-Pages apiece) – 35% total

Attendance:

Your attendance and full participation are key to the class; in fact, the latter is so fully in keeping with the participatory spirit of Beat culture that we expect you not just to show up for class but to DO SOMETHING, to TAKE PART. If we are to develop a community of learning, contributions to our daily activities are required. If you miss more than four (4) classes for any reason, your final mark will be reduced by 1/3 of a letter grade for each absence beyond the maximum (B- to C+). Special circumstances need be documented. Perfect attendance will raise the grade by 1/3. Lateness seriously disrupts the learning environment. Attendance will be taken in the first five minutes of classes. Three (3) times late will count as one absence.

Classroom Behavior:

We will draw up a contract among ourselves that defines acceptable and unacceptable behavior in the classroom. We will expect everyone to abide by this contract throughout the semester. I feel assured that we already know what makes for a respectful and safe learning environment. Let’s confirm this awareness in the contract.

Plagiarism:

See the explanation in the College Handbook. We will discuss this issue further during the class. To put it simply—if you plagiarize, you may fail the course.

Course Calendar

Your instructors have made the online version of this schedule/syllabus interactive. There you’ll find numerous hyperlinks to online texts, assignments, worksheets, study resources, audio & video clips, historical or biographical resources, Beat scholarship and ephemera. Students absent from class or who have misplaced their PBR should find MOST (nearly ALL) relevant class materials available through the calendar.

January 29	Introduction to the course; explanation of assignments. Literary ancestry, thematics and mythology of the Beats. For those interested in expanding their general literacy and better understanding the ancestry of Beat Literature, a number of public domain PDF files (free downloadable e-books) are available here (right click to save): 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17
W January 31	Discussion of classroom behavior contract. More Beat background.
M February 5	Read Norman Mailer’s “The White Negro” and an excerpt (the introduction and Ch. 1-3) from Alvin Schwartz’s *The Blowtop; build foundations for reading Kerouac’s* On the Road. Point-Counterpoint: Read John Clellon Holmes' "This Is The Beat Generation" Anatole Broyard's "A Portrait of The Hipster" Robert Brustein's "The Cult of Unthink" Film: Pull My Daisy (watch/download the film here) Charlie Parker - "Ornithology" and "Embraceable You" Short Paper #1
W February 7	Read Kerouac’s Mexico City Blues excerpts and “Essentials of Spontaneous Prose” (you might want to also check out "Belief & Technique for Modern Prose") in *PBR* and online. An excerpt from Francis Davis' Bebop and Nothingness: "Pres and His Discontents" Begin On the Road
M February 12	*On The Road* (want some pics and a map?) continued. We will also listen to Kerouac reading excerpts from The Subterraneans and Visions of Cody and sections of On the Road. Music: Billie Holiday - "Lover Man" and Chet Baker - "Carson City Stage" (sample Billie HERE and Chet HERE)
W February 14	Kerouac’s relationship to music – Bird and Billie, Pres and Perez, Slim and Diz… Due: Short Paper #2 (music motivation HERE)
M February 19	Beat Muses: Read brief Herbert Huncke, Neal Cassady (read--or LISTEN!--to "The Great Sex Letter" and "The Joan Anderson Letter" online) and Carl Solomon entries in *PBR*.
W February 21	America’s Bard: read Allen Ginsberg’s background and major poems in PBR with special attention to “Howl,” “America,” “Kaddish,” “Sunflower Sutra,” and “A Supermarket In California” Possible Films: Huncke and Louis or The Last Time I Committed Suicide Music: Thelonious Monk - "Round Midnight" and Ray Charles - "I Got a Woman" (Listen to Monk HERE) Short Paper #3 (this assignment is technically not due until 2/26)
M February 26	Ginsberg's later work: "White Shroud," “Kraj Majales,” "Cosmopolitan Greetings," "Death and Fame," and others Short Paper #4
W February 28	The geographic center of Beat Poetics moves WEST…continue with Ginsberg’s “Ballad of the Skeletons” (WATCH IT!) and "Wichita Vortex Sutra” Check out the Wichita Vortex online, including the work of Charles Plymell (“Apocalypse Rose” and *Last of the Moccasins* excerpts in handout) In fact, Plymell's ...Moccasins in the most CRIMINALLY underappreciated of Beat/Hobohemian classics--get it in e-book form HERE! Film Excerpt: The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg Music: Bob Dylan - "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie" and "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
M March 5	William Burroughs: Read excerpts from Junky in PBR and selections from *Queer* (in handouts). Read “Deposition: Testimony Concerning a Sickness” from Burroughs’ Naked Lunch. Begin discussion of Naked Lunch. Hilton Als - "The Overcoat"
W March 7	The Algebra of Need: Naked Lunch Beat Film Screening Series - Saturday, 3/10 - 3rd Floor Poucher Hall The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997 - 92 minutes) Pull My Daisy (1959 - 24 minutes) Beat Angel (2005 - 99 minutes)
M March 12	Naked Lunch continued. In the 'Expanded Field': Burroughs reads from his work. Read excerpt from *Nova Express* in PBR and other excerpts on handouts TBA. Discuss the Cut-Up Method and read Burroughs' article on how to write Cut-Ups. Short Paper #5
W March 14	Bring your Burroughs-inspired cut-up text to class; Burroughs & Balch – Towers Open Fire: The Cinema of Cut-Ups Download the Cut-Up films FREE HERE! Mid-Term
M-Fr March 19-23	Spring Recess
M March 26	Read all of Gregory Corso’s work in *PBR* (pay particular attention to "Bomb," "Marriage," "The Mad Yak" and additional material in handouts). Short Paper #6
W March 28	Begin discussion of the Beats of the San Francisco Renaissance: Kenneth Rexroth, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder (and HERE) and Philip Whalen. Read Alan Watts’ “Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen”
M April 2	Beats/Jazz of the San Francisco Renaissance continued.
W April 4	Back-Beats/Black Beats: Beats and the Color Line: Amiri Baraka, Bob Kaufman, and Ted Joans (handouts and all poems in PBR) Short Paper #7
M April 9	“Beatest of the Beats”: The Women Beats It is recommended that you read the following historical/informational article about the female Beats titled “No Girls Allowed: Women Poets and the Beat Generation” by Jennifer Love found at http://www.womenwriters.net/may2001/No%20Girls%20Allowed.pdf …then Read excerpts on handouts from Ruth Weiss, Hettie Jones, Diane Di Prima, Denise Levertov, Elise Cowen, Lenore Kandel, Anne Waldman and Jan Kerouac. Short Paper #8
W April 11	More Female Beats… April 13 - 15 (On The Road Trip - Page & Class Information)
M April 16	*“The Kool-Aid Wino”: Trout Fishing In America* by Richard Brautigan.**
W April 18	No Classes: Quest
M April 23	Hunter Thompson/Tom Wolfe/Ken Kesey: Read excerpts from *Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas* and the *Electric Cool Aid Acid Test. Film: Intrepid Traveller or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Music: Grateful Dead - "That's It For the Other One" and "Cassidy"* MAJOR PAPER (Sample Topics)
W April 25	Diverging Derangements: Charles Bukowski & Jim Carroll
M April 30	Continue Discussion of Bukowski (or listen to one of his masterful later poems HERE) and Carroll. Begin discussion of the New 'Beats': Kathy Acker, Irvine Welsh, Mark Leyner, Will Self, Steven Jesse Bernstein, Bob Arnold, William Vollmann, Dennis Cooper and David Wojnarowicz excerpts Film: Barfly or The Charles Bukowski Tapes Music: Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - "Television, the Drug of the Nation" and Ministry - "Just One Fix" Short Paper #9
W May 2	New Beats Continued…
M May 7	The International Beat Phenomenon: Read Alexander Trocchi, Leonard Cohen, Jan Cremer excerpts. Concluding discussion. Or Student contributions to the Beat Canon / Bring to class examples of “Beat Culture,” preferably art/artists NOT covered in the class Short Paper #10
W May 9	Summations – Class Evaluations Final Examination as scheduled during exam week

Course Calendar

Film: Intrepid Traveller or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas