A new sort of stance toward reality, behind which a new sort of consciousness lay
restless exuberance
the quality of search
a kind of furtiveness
an inner knowledge there’s no use flaunting
a kind of beatness, being right down to it
a weariness with all the forms, all the conventions of the world
a generation coming of age in a world without spiritual values we can honor
a vision, not an idea
a sort of revolution of the soul
a cultural revolution in progress
.....a beat generation.
excerpted from The Portable Beat Reader, 1992: Penguin Books, edited by Ann Charters, pgs. xix-xx.
For a brief history of The Beat Generation, Click here.
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