What would be the best novel to read from the Beat generation?

[spookymulder93]

I know. I know. You guys have missed me big time. School is very demanding, but I'm out for winter break now.

back to business.

I'm definitely getting the Beat reader, but I'm trying to figure out which of the novels to buy? Should I get Naked Lunch or On the Road, or a completely different novel? I'm looking for something that will shock me.

[OrphanPip]

Those are pretty much the only two Beat novels anyone reads, so I'd go with those anyway.

Ginsberg's early poetry is probably the best stuff the Beats produced.

http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/america.html

[Paulclem]

Kerouac's The Dharma Bums is also a good read. It is interesting how the terms from Buddhism were appropriated to fit into a liberated western conception of what the Dharma should be, (particularly Zen). For example a girl they meet is named as a Bodhisattva - a highly realised person whose purpose is to ease the suffering of beings - because she will sleep with them. This is not about Buddhism, but is about having a good chat up line.

There's not much Dharma - only an interpretation of it, but plenty of bumming around. :D

[laymonite]

I second the Beat poetry, especially Ginsberg and Rexroth. As far as novels, I would go with the "original scroll" version of On the Road (this came out not too long ago) for starters. Then branch out into the novels of Burroughs, Kesey, Kerouac, et al.

Now, as for something that will shock you, I cannot gauge your tastes/shock threshold/etc., so I'm not sure exactly how far to take it; but I can tell you that you're probably not going to find as much "shock" in Kerouac as you will in Burroughs. At the same time, however, the "shock" found in Burroughs--in my opinion--is slight by today's levels à la reading Henry Miller today.

Hope this helps!

Enjoy!

[papayahed]

Junky was pretty good but not very shocking by today's standards.

[Buddha Frog]

I would co-sign the suggestions of Dharma Bums and Junky. Both excellent books, although even Junky is unlikely to shock. The Beats era must have been quite something, but these days it doesn't retain the ability to shock in the same way that some of its successor generation (e.g. HS Thompson) arguably does. You still get a fascinating insight into the mind of the original American wide-eyed teenager though, and it is pretty useful given the usual Happy Days style crap you get when the fifties are represented.

[PeterL]

The Dharma Bums may be the best Beat novel. Junky is rather dull, and it is very unlike the rest of Burroughs writing, some of which was very good. If you want to read something by Burroughs, then Naked Lunch or something much later would be better than most of what he wrote during the Beat period.

On the Road is a classic, but it isn't very good.

[Desolation]

Personally, I think that Burroughs is best avoided. I would start with On the Road and Visions of Cody by Jack Kerouac, which are essentially companion novels, and provide very different views on the same story.