BEAT POETRY/BEATNIKS
“Beatniks”- were a group of American writers and artists popular in the
1950s and early 1960s, they were influenced by Eastern philosophy and
religion. They were known especially for their use of nontraditional
forms and for their rejection of conventional social values. The
Beatniks emerged in and around Columbia University in New York City in
the 1940s. They picked up the word "beat" from a man named Herbert
Huncke.  Some of the original Beat Writers include William Burroughs,
Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac. Beat poetry was used it to describe
their free-form, improvisational style of writing and their
unconventional, spontaneous way of life. Their movement soon emerged in
California in the mid-1950s and influenced much of the cultural
rebellion of the 1960s. The most famous beat novel, “On the Road”, was
written by Kerouac‘s in 1951 but was not published until 1957. The book
was based on his adventure with Neal Cassady in the late 1940s, the book
reportedly encouraged countless others to seek personal fulfillment
through the pursuit of an existential lifestyle. The beats were
rehabilitated in the 1970s. Today Beat Poetry and literature has
significantly changed American literary conventions and values, and
their lifestyle inspired restless souls and cultural rebels of all stripes.

Beat movement. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November
08, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/57467/Beat-movement