Matthew S. Monahan
3.1 Outline: Texts and Methods
Jack Kerouac was greatly influenced by Thomas Wolfe. Although Wolfe's writing predates World War II, it has been said that no study of American literature would be complete without his inclusion. Faulkner went as far as to say that Wolfe was the most important writer of his generation (rating himself a close second). Wolfe's novels are too sprawling and dense for inclusion in this, or any other unit designed for my high school level courses; however, there is one chapter from his novel You Can't Go Home Again that would fit quite nicely as a companion piece, especially in its description of a fictionalized version of the visionary sculptor Alexander Calder. "Piggy Logan's Circus" describes a New York society party at which Logan/Calder has been hired to perform; although Calder is best known for his abstract mobiles (he is said to have invented the mobile in 1931) his wire circus Cirque Calder, that is on permanent display at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
3.1.1 Onomatopoeia and Figurative Language in Kerouac's "Jazz of the Beat Generation"
In his introduction to Beat Collection Miles observes that the "Beats not only questioned society's norms but challenged existing literary forms… they experimented with… strange words not in the dictionary, slang and obscenities never before seen in poetry or prose" (xvii) nowhere is this more clear than in Kerouac's "Jazz…" "Jazz…" relies heavily on the use of onomatopoeia, the formation of words such as buzz that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to, in recreating the world of subterranean bop clubs and gin mills of Chicago in the 1940s. Kerouac goes as far as to include onomatopoeia in the opening line of this excerpt from On the Road that was published in short form under the title by which I am referring,
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OUT WE JUMPED in the warm mad night hearing a wild tenor-man's bawling
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horn across the way going "EE-YAH! EE-YAH! And hands clapping to the beat
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and folks yelling "Go, go, go!" (Miles 9)
The tracking down of Kerouac's short form prose was not an easy task. Few references are even made to "Jazz..." and another excerpted piece entitled "The Mexican Girl." Updike makes reference to these works and even goes as far as to say that the editors of Best American Short Stories of the Year allowed at least one of them to "creep in" past the bellwether that excluded excepts from larger works (xv).
Although my focus has shifted to literature, this would be an appropriate time to introduce students to the work of the American painter Jackson Pollock, who shares with Kerouac his love of experimental Jazz, the music that had unquestionable influence on these artists and their work.
3.1.2 The Irreverent Free Verse Of Alan Ginsberg and His Use of Personification, Allusion and Symbol
Although I will later make reference to Ginsberg's quintessential Beat poem "Howl" I would advise against using it in its entirety in the high school classroom unless one has extensive knowledge of his or her students. This is not to say that I advocate censorship in any shape or form; however, Ginsberg's depiction of "the best minds of [his] generation… who let themselves be [sodomized] by saintly motor cyclists, and screamed with joy," is arguably worthy of an NC-17 rating.
In his poem "A Supermarket in California" Ginsberg inverts Walt Whitman's notion of "oneness among people" (Foster 107); whereas Whitman writes in his poem "Song of Myself," "in all people I see myself, none more and not one a barleycorn less," Ginsberg, writes:
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I saw you Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber,
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poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys (Miles
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98).
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It maybe somewhat ironic that the other poet to whom Ginsberg alludes (other than Whitman) in "Supermarket In California" is Garcia Lorca and not Pablo Neruda; I say this because Neruda often wrote of fruits and vegetables, most notably of artichokes and tomatoes both of which appear in "Supermarket In California,"
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… Whole families shop-
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ping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in avocados, babies
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in the tomatoes! ---and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing
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down by the watermelons?
And later in lines 17-20,
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We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary
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Fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never
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Passing the cashier (98).
Ginsberg not only alludes to literary giants in his poem but also to Greek and Roman mythology, specifically to the "Devil's Boatsman" Charon and to "the black waters of Lethe."
In his poem "America" Ginsberg continues to incorporate the device of allusion; however, this time he ups the ante by including historical events rather than simply referencing literary mammoths and earlier well-known works such as Roman myths,
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America free Tom Mooney
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America save the Spanish loyalists
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America Sacco & Vanzetti must not die
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America I am the Scottsboro Boys…
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America you really do not want to go to war (Miles 102).
The metaphor "America I am the Scottsboro Boys" is especially interesting when contrasted with Ginsberg's earlier statement in the same poem, "It occurs to me that I am America./ I am talking to myself again" (102). I am also struck by the Scottsboro Boys reference because I have had a great deal of success teaching their story in conjunction with Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird; the PBS documentary Scottsboro: An American Tragedy is most effective in capturing students' interests and generating meaningful class discussions and student writings.
3.1.3. The Inclusion of the Illustrious William S Burroughs
Burroughs was the oldest of the core group and was more interested in the anthropological study of the fringe characters that inhabited Times Square and its surrounding area and in experimenting with drugs than in writing; it was Kerouac who encouraged him to pursue writing seriously. His early novels, those mentioned in the Special Issues section of this unit, were genre novels whose style were firmly rooted in the hard-boiled detective novels of likes of Hammet and Chandler and would certainly sit comfortably alongside the works of Jim Thomson (e.g. Pop. 1280, The Killer Inside Me, The Getaway etc.). It was not until he had completed the watershed Naked Lunch that he took a seat at the head of the table of America's postmodern writers.
Burroughs is difficult to include for numerous reasons; he had difficulty finding anyone willing to publish Queer, his follow-up to the immensely popular Junky which according to Foster sold in excess of one hundred thousand copies its first year in print.
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Junky talks about the homosexual world in Mexico City, but the subject is sec
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ondary to drugs. Queer deals explicitly with homosexual relationships, emo
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tions, and fantasies, and according to Burrough's biographer, "the people at A.A.
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Wyn [the publisher of Ace Books] decided that publishing Junky was dangerous
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enough without teaming it with a book … that might land them in jail" (Foster
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pp.153-154).
Foster goes on to explain that as a result the book went unpublished for over thirty years. And so, if one is to exclude these early novels, one is primarily left with the cut- ups and or the possibility of including Naked Lunch in some type of excerpted form, which of course offer challenges all their own. The filmmaker David Cronenberg wrote the following about his early attempts at adapting Burroughs for the screen,
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There are two main problems. One is the scope of it [Naked Lunch] It really is
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quite epic. It would cost $ 400-500 million if you were to film it literally, and of
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course it would be banned in every country of the world. There would be no cul
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ture that could withstand [it]…. As a book, you dip into it, you don't read it
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start to finish. It's like the Bible; it's a little bit here; cross-references. You find
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your favorite parts, like the i ching. You look in it when you need it and you find
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something there (Rodley, 161).
One might assume that its (Naked Lunch's) nonlinear narrative would facilitate its being excerpted; and it does, but the challenge of finding a passage or passages that are classroom appropriate at the high school level remains.
3.1.4 Gregory Corso: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb
Gregory Corso is arguably the least known of the Beat Generation writers. Whether it is in the creative writing classroom or the traditional English classroom I enjoy dedicating a brief moment of time to the study of concrete or visual poetry; one of the major challenges in the teaching of concrete/visual poetry is locating good examples.
Concrete poetry is poetry in which the text or typography visually conveys the poem's subject or theme. I have taught e.e. cummimgs' poem "r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r" in the past, as a well as an anonymously published poem "The Parallelogram." Corso's poem "Bomb" from 1958 is an example of concrete poetry. Originally published as a pull-out centerfold ala Mad magazine, it is constructed in the shape of a mushroom cloud; adding to its visual effectiveness, its reprint in Miles' Beat Collection runs five pages in length, the first page/ cap of the mushroom cloud doubles as the shape of the bomb itself.
3.1.5 LeRoi Jones AKA Amiri Baraka the Black Beat
According to John Updike in his introduction to The Best American Short Stories of the Century, "The African-American has inhabited, and to a lamentable degree still inhabits, another country within the United States, where most white signposts of security and stability are absent" (xviii). Nowhere is this more apparent than in the work of Amiri Baraka. Baraka who wrote under the name of LeRoi Jones during the time that he was associated with the Beats may be best known for the controversy surrounding his poem "Somebody Blew Up America" and his subsequent dismissal from the post of Poet Laureate of the great state of New Jersey.
"Somebody Blew Up America" echoes Ginsberg's "Howl" (especially its "Part I") in that both works rely heavily on repetition and on the repetition of the word "who" specifically. A major point of contrast is that Ginsberg's who statements (first off, are statements) describe
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…the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, hysterical naked,
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dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
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angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry
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dynamo in the machinery of night,
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Whereas Baraka's who's are blatantly accusatory, "Like an owl exploding…
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Like the acid vomit of the fire of Hell
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Who and Who and Who (+) who who ^
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Whoooo and Whooooooooooooooooooooo!
As previously noted Baraka's poetic rant (bordering on the polemical) cost him his position as state Poet Laureate; conversely, it has provided me with some of my most memorable classroom experiences to date
Although the study of Morrison is not directly included in this unit, it may be of interest that both she, in her novel The Bluest Eye, and Baraka in "Somebody…" attempt, quite successfully I might add, to adopt a conspiratorial tone. Morrison begins the narrative of her novel with the phrase "Quiet as it is kept…." This creates the impression that the reader is being let "in on" a big secret. Baraka begins his poem, "(All thinking people/ oppose terrorism/ both domestic/ and international…/ But one should/ be used/ To cover the other)." Ultimately both writers are creating a kind of expose that serves both to enlighten and, at the same time, to implicate its audience.
I regularly read the Baraka/LeRoi Jones poem "Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note" with my students when studying poetry. Although many of the modernist writers and even the example of "Somebody Blew Up America" may fit the absurdist paradigm "Preface," in my assessment, is its polar opposite. This is just to say, that writers working in this mode, especially Bathelme, describe an "existence in a meaningless and irrational universe in which an individual's life has no meaning or purpose." Although the speaker in the Jones' poem is being pulled into a state of melancholy while he grapples with the everyday problems of modern life i.e. the tedium of walking the dog and waiting for the bus, he is brought back from the precipice of his despair by the image of his young daughter praying.
3.1.6 Post-Script: Postmodern American Literature after the Beats
At the time of my conception of this unit, I had read but one Barthelme story, "The City of Churches," which was included in The Best American Short Stories of the Century. I had hoped that his story "The Joker's Greatest Triumph" would be of high interest to my students with its incorporation of popular/well-known characters from DC Comics, especially in light of actor Heath Ledger's posthumous receipt of the Academy Award for his portrayal of the story's titular character (not to be confused with titular character of the film, The Dark Knight); alas, I was foiled. The story is quite innovative in its use of grammar and punctuation but reads a little too much like Salinger's "Uncle Wiggley in Connecticut" with its focus on the 1950's era fascination with the rolling cocktail hour; however, in his short story "A Shower of Gold," Barthelme presaged reality television, this was something my students were able to tap into, not to mention the fun they had making R Kelly jokes in their directed pre-reading writing exercise.
Section 3.2 Details: Sample Lesson Plans
3.2.1 Teaching Jack Kerouac's "Jazz of the Beat Generation"
Journal/Motivation: Today we are going to read a short prose piece entitled "Jazz of the Beat Generation." This piece was written in the nineteen-fifties and incorporates the use of a specific genre of music as a symbol of the time. Brainstorm a list of types of music that is representative of your generation. Next, jot down your ideas as to what moniker (e.g. the Beat Generation) might best accompany the types of music from your initial list in describing you and your peers. Finally, choose one or two examples from your lists and provide a brief explanation of your labels significance.
Word of the Day:
moniker NOUN: A descriptive name added to or replacing the actual name of a person, place or thing.
Aim: How can we identify and analyze the use of onomatopoeia and figurative language in Jack Kerouac's short story "Jazz of the Beat Generation," so that we may incorporate these techniques in our own writing?
Objectives: SWBAT…
1. Define, identify and analyze the use of onomatopoeia in a work of short fiction by the American author Jack Kerouac.
2. Identify and analyze the use of figurative language in Kerouac.
3. Demonstrate content area knowledge by incorporating the literary devices of onomatopoeia and figurative language in original written work.
Mini Lesson:
Onomatopoeia, from the Greek, is one or more words that imitate or suggest the source of the sound they are describing. Common occurrences include animal noises, such as "oink" or "meow" or "roar". Onomatopoeia are not universally the same across all languages; they conform to some extent to the broader linguistic system they are part of; hence the sound of a clock may be tick tock in English and tik tak in Dutch or tic-tac in French.
Figurative language
Workshop:
A. Whole class reads Kerouac's "Jazz of the Beat Generation."
B. Reader Response and Analysis (note: although responses to Workshop B. may be generated in pairs or in small groups all students are individually responsible for recording responses in their required English notebooks):
Summary/Review
Homework:
Draft a long poem or short prose piece in which you incorporate more than one example of both onomatopoeia and figurative language. Remember you are not limited to but may include examples of the figurative comparisons simile and metaphor.
3.2.2 Teaching Allen Ginsberg's poem "Supermarket in California"
Journal/Motivation: What associations do you have with supermarkets? How do you and your family members view shopping for groceries? Does shopping for groceries differ from shopping for other types of items? Explain.
Word of the Day:
misnomer NOUN: 1. An error in naming a person or place. 2a. Application of a wrong name. b. A name wrongly or unsuitably applied to a person or object.
Aim: How may we identify the use of literary allusion in Ginsberg's poem "Supermarket in California," so that we may incorporate this technique in our own writing?
Objectives: SWBAT…
1. Define the literary device of allusion.
2. Identify and analyze the use of allusion in Ginsberg's poem "Supermarket in California."
3. Demonstrate their understanding of the literary device of allusion by incorporating this device in original written work.
Mini Lesson:
Allusion- is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, a place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art, either directly or by implication. M.H. Abrams defined allusion as "a brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or event, or to another literary work or passage". It is left to the reader or hearer to make the connection (Fowler); an overt allusion is a misnomer for what is simply a reference.
In a freer more informal definition, allusion is a passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication.
Workshop:
A. Whole Class reads and annotates Ginsberg's poem "Supermarket in California."
B. Reader Response and Analysis (note: although responses to Workshop B. may be generated in pairs or in small groups all students are individually responsible for recording responses in their required English notebooks):
1. What images do you find most striking? Explain.
2. Does Ginsberg use the device of literary allusion in his poem? If yes, provide examples.
3. Your partnership or group may designate a "researcher" whose task it is to use electronic resources to gather information on the subjects of any allusions found in the poem; all group members are to include these findings.
Summary/Review
Homework:
Draft a long poem or short prose piece in which you incorporate the device of literary allusion. Although you are not limited works covered by this class, you are required to have one or more of your allusions refer to a work or works of American literature that we have read this year.
3.2.3 Teaching Gregory Corso's poem "Bomb"
Journal/Motivation: What associations do you have with the word bomb? Do you have any opinions or thoughts about the US's relationship with the bomb (literally)? Is there a difference between "the bomb," "a bomb" and an "A-bomb?" Explain.
Word of the Day:
perturb VERB: To disturb greatly; make uneasy or anxious.
Aim: How can we read, appreciate and analyze Gregory Corso's concrete poem "Bomb" so that we may incorporate this technique into our own writing?
Objectives: SWBAT…
1. Define and identify examples of concrete poetry.
2. Respond to a work of American literature by creating original examples of concrete poetry.
Mini Lesson:
Concrete or visual poetry- poetry in which the text or typography visually conveys the poem's subject or theme.
Workshop:
A. Whole class reads and annotates Gregory Corso's poem "Bomb."
B. Analysis and Creative Response to Literature
Summary/Review
Homework:
Either create a "clean copy"/published version of the concrete or visual poem you began drafting in class or repeat steps one and two of the five-step writing process in drafting a second poem (visual or concrete).
3.2.4 Teaching Allen Ginsberg's poem "America"
Journal/Motivation: In today's reading of Allen Ginsberg's poem "America" you will encounter a short list of people and events that the poet thought definitive in the shaping of the hearts and minds of his generation. Brainstorm a list of people and events that you think are definitive of your generation. Next, choose one to three items from your list and explain what makes them so.
Word of the Day:
definitive ADJECTIVE: precisely defined or explicit; describes something which is considered an authoritative, final or conclusive example or version of its type.
Aim: How may we identify and analyze both the use of personification and historical allusion in Allen Ginsberg's poem "America," so that we may incorporate these techniques into our own writing?
Objectives: SWBAT…
1. Define, identify and analyze the use of the literary device of personification in a poem by Allen Ginsberg.
2. Identify and analyze the use of historical allusion in Ginsberg's poem "America."
3. Incorporate the literary devices of allusion and personification in original written work.
Mini Lesson:
Personification is the literary device by which an author ascribes human traits or characteristics to either an inanimate object or an animal.
Review and expansion of allusion
Workshop
Summary/Review
Homework:
Draft either a long poem or short prose piece in which you incorporate the literary device of personification. Extra credit will be awarded for the inclusion of any historical allusions.