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Cancelling the Beat Generation

Willis, David S.
http://quillette.com/2021/10/08/cancelling-the-beat-generation/

Publisher:  Quillette
Date Written:  08/10/2021
Year Published:  2021  
Resource Type:  Article

What is extraordinary is the way in which the assaults on the Beat legacy have now switched from the Right to the Left.

Abstract: 
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Abstract:

What is extraordinary is the way in which the assaults on the Beat legacy have now switched from the Right to the Left. Although their well-documented and valiant efforts in fighting obscenity, challenging corruption, calling for environmental awareness, and -- perhaps most notably -- pushing for gay acceptance have made them heroes to many, they are now problematic, to use that most familiar of expressions.
For more than a decade, it has been de rigueur to criticise the Beat writers, not because of their progressivism, but for a perceived lack of it. It is easy to pitch an article or essay complaining about Kerouac’s sexism. Even in explorations or celebrations of their work, their white privilege and misogyny is routinely denounced. But attacking artists from history for their lack of 21st century values is tiresome. It is exhausting reading these dull tracts. From Jezebel to the Guardian and Salon, left-leaning publications are turning against the very writers who helped make possible the freedoms and attitudes they now take for granted.

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