Liminality and «Communitas» in the Beat Generation

This book analyzes the literature and lifestyles of the Beat Generation based on Victor Turner’s anthropological studies. Signs of liminality and «communitas» appear in works by Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg. The Beats formed anti-structure in their liminal stage and recorded this in their liminoid literature.

The Beat Generation questioned mid-twentieth century America and sought the margins of society. This book analyzes the literature and lifestyles of the Beat authors Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg in regard to Victor Turner’s anthropological studies. The Beats separated from society by willingly entering the rites of passage. Liminal symbolism is apparent in their literature such as in movement, time, space, pilgrimages, and monstrosities. In their liminal stage, they established «communitas» and developed anti-structure. They questioned society and made proposals to change it in their liminoid literature. The Beats shared similarities with previous countercultures, and they influenced the following Hippie Generation.

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