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The writers of the
nonconformist
Beat Generation of the 1950s, many of whom were gay or bisexual,
endorsed gay rights as a part of their rebellion against inhibition and
self-censorship. |
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A portrait of Harold
Norse by Stathis Orphanos
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Paul Bowles
(1910-1999) was an American expatriate composer, writer, and translator
who liked to examine sexuality from a dispassionate perspective for its
psychological suggestiveness. |
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William
Burroughs (1914-1997) was an outlaw and a provocateur in both
his life and his novels. He focused on sexual repression as the
fundamental element of social control and wrote in a surrealistic and
bitterly satirical mode. |
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Robert Duncan
(1919-1988), an American poet, published an article entitled "The
Homosexual in Society" in 1944. While his openness damaged his career,
it also allowed him to create a remarkable series of poems that deal
directly with the love of men for other men. |
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Allen
Ginsberg (1926-1997) is probably the best-known U.S. poet to
emerge in the post-World War II period. His first book, Howl and
Other Poems (1956), is a sharp, sexually explicit denunciation of
America's cultural temper during the Cold War. |
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Jack Kerouac
(1922-1969) is primarily known for his novels depicting Beat life,
though his experimental writings inspired several writers because of
their inventiveness and unique use of sound. Though he was bisexual, he
omitted references to his homosexuality from his otherwise
autobiographical works. |
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Harold Norse
(b. 1916) is a poet and memoirist often categorized as a Beat writer.
His poetry uses everyday language to express homoerotic attractions and encounters not as
novelty but as lived experience. |
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Frank O'Hara
(1926-1966) was an influential writer whose works were influenced by
both modern art and urban gay male culture. One of his most important
innovations was an allegiance to popular culture in his poetry. |
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Related Special
Features |
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American Literature:
Gay Male, 1900-1969
American Literature: Lesbian, 1900-1969
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Photo
Credits:
Portrait of Harold Norse courtesy Stathis Orphanos. |
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