Beat Generation
What are writers trying to do? They are trying to create a universe in which they have lived or would like to live. To write they must go there and submit to conditions they may not have bargained for. Sometimes, as in the case of Kerouac, the effect produced by a writer is immediate, as if a generation were waiting to be written. Following a day in the lives of a group of rugged off-duty railroad brakemen as they drink, bet on the horses and generally shoot the shit, Beat Generation explores the philosophical and the spiritual, culminating in a memorable dialogue with a colourful bishop. Entertaining and exuberant, and conjuring up a thrilling, smoke-filled, atmospheric New York of bygone days, the play probes the American working-class psyche and tackles profound questions of religion, mortality and rebirth. Written in 1957, but only recently rediscovered in manuscript form in a New Jersey warehouse, Beat Generation bears the hallmarks of vintage Kerouac: flowing, stream-of-consciousness language, orchestrated with a jazz-musician-like sense of adventure and rhythm.