Final Project Proposal

I am interesting in researching and writing about the Beat generation in San Francisco, and the involvement of City Lights. I think that the book store in some ways represents the city, as it was a meeting place for poets across the country with the desire to do something different.

Snyder, Kerouac, Ferlinghetti and Ginsberg will all play a large role. I will examine their role in the North Beach community, the book store, the city as a whole, and the beat movement. I will draw from their work to show the complex interweaving of city life with obsession with nature, holiness with immorality and many of the other issues this combined force of intellectuals dealt with in their off-beat way. Most importantly, I will point out their differences, but why they are all in some ways, beat, or beat-influenced.

In addition to course reading, I plan to use several of Kerouac's novels which were not assigned to this class, as well as biographical sources about these people.

Snyder, Kerouac, Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti generally come from very different economic, religious, and regional backgrounds. However, they all ended up spending a good deal if time in San Francisco, influencing each other and forming the core of the beat generation. I will compare and contrast their ideals, analyzing why, despite their differences, they were drawn to one another.

I foresee the possibility that this may be able to lose focus on. When I begin to outline by essay, I will try to confine my focus to specific examples, rather than rambling on and trying to throw in all the information off the top of my head. I also may even cut Snyder out of the essay, or perhaps add William Burroughs, just to get some more crazy diversity.