Beat This!

We're ready to launch our major writing project of the semester. While there is certainly a research component to this essay, you would be mistaken to think of it as a "research essay." It will be a 5-7 page double-spaced essay using MLA citation format, but it will not be a wooden and boring essay that is disconnected from your life as an artist, designer, and overall creative person and citizen. 

The poets, writers, and novelists that are frequently categorized as part of the so-called Beat Generation flourished in the 1950s and 1960s, but they had their start in the late 1940s. They were Americans with a global outlook, and many if not most of them preferred to not play by the rules of "respectable" literature. They were freaks and outlaws for the most part.

The website of the Poetry Foundation is a good but not definitive source for a curated collection of information by and about the Beats. Another good web resource is the site of the Academy of American Poets. Students are encouraged to find other material both primary and secondary that relates to the author(s) and topic(s) they choose. For students interested in gender politics in the movement, Joyce Johnson's Minor Characters is indispensable.

I will be driving the van down to Newark on two afternoons (TBD) to visit the exhibition "Beat Visions" at the University of Delaware. This will be an optional but highly encouraged trip. I will try to see if the curator, Stephen Petersen, is available to meet with us. He is an old colleague of mine from our days at the Corcoran.

We will be talking a lot more about this project over the coming weeks. For now, I just wanted to plant the seed for those who want to get started early. 

As always, send questions to csmith@dcad.edu 

Your finished first draft will be due on Wednesday, November 20, and your final draft will be due on Monday, November 25 (the last day of class before the Thanksgiving Recess).