The First New York Beat Writers
The Other Poets, Activists and Literary Artists of the Beat Movement
Sep 7, 2009
In the mid 1940s, a group of writers came together in New York City. Hanging around Times Square, writing about drugs, homosexuality and alternative forms of spirituality, these artists pushed the limits of what was socially acceptable in the conformist 40s and 50s.
While it is said that Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Neal Cassady are the original Beat writers, there are a number of other key figures that would cause the movement to explode across the nation.
Writer, Criminal, Hustler and Mayor of 42nd Street
Herbert Edwin Huncke was born Jan. 9, 1915 in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He grew up in Chicago but left home when he was a teenager, after his parents divorced.
Huncke arrived in New York City in 1939 and immediately became a regular on 42nd Street, where he was a bisexual hustler, drug user, thief and burglar. He had begun writing in Chicago and, although unpublished himself, gravitated toward literary types and musicians. In New York, Huncke frequented the jazz clubs and associated with Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon. He eventually earned the title, “Mayor of 42nd Street.”
Huncke first met William S. Burroughs on 42nd Street, when Burroughs, selling a sub-machine gun and morphine, approached him. Huncke, after being assured Burroughs was not an undercover cop, bought the morphine and the two men became immediate friends when Huncke gave Burroughs an injection.
Huncke first met Ginsberg and Kerouac before they were published and both aspiring writers were inspired by his stories of 42nd Street life and crime. He was immortalized in Kerouac's On the Road as street smart character Elmer Hassel.
He died Aug. 8, 1996 at the age of 81 in New York City.
Huncke would eventually get published and his works include Guilty of Everything: The Autobiography of Herbert Huncke, The Evening Sun Turned Crimson, and Huncke’s Journal.
Writer of the First Beat Novel
John Clellon Holmes was born March 12, 1926 in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Holmes first met Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg at a 4th of July party in 1948 in New York. He and Kerouac, both just starting out as writers, struck up an immediate friendship based on their mutual interest in writing.
It was in 1948, during a conversation between Holmes and Kerouac, when the term that would define an entire generation and cultural movement was invented. Holmes asked Kerouac to describe the unique qualities of his generation and Kerouac replied, “You know, this is really a Beat Generation.”
On Nov. 16, 1952, Holmes published an article in The New York Times Magazine entitled This is the Beat Generation, introducing the phrase to the world. In the article he attributes the term to Kerouac who originally got the idea from Huncke.
Holmes was best known for his 1952 novel Go, which is considered the first Beat novel and depicts his life with Kerouac, Cassady and Ginsberg. He died March 30, 1988 at the age of 62 in Middleton, Connecticut.
His works also include The Horn, The Philosophy of the Beat Generation, Get Home Free, Nothing More to Declare, The Bowling Green Poems, Death Drag: Selected Poems 1948-1979, Visitor: Jack Kerouac in Old Saybrook, Gone in October: Last Reflections on Jack Kerouac, Displaced Person: The Travel Essays, Representative Men: The Biographical Essays, Passionate Opinions: The Cultural Essays, Dire Coasts: Poems, and Night Music: Selected Poems.
Herbert Huncke and John Clellon Holmes, along with Lucien Carr and Gregory Corso, would live on as members of the original New York Beats, prominent writers and influences of the generation. They were also joined by key figures of the West Coast Scene.
 |
