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More often associated with hedonism and cheap thrills than with
notions of alienation and suffering, Beat literature has rarely
been envisaged from the perspective of the paradoxical dynamics at
play in the writings. What this book evidences is that the
sacrosanct quest for transcendence staged by Kerouac and by
Ginsberg is underpinned, primarily, by a trope of nullification
that acts as a menace for the self. This tropism for destruction
and death is not only emblematic of their works, it is also used as
a literary strategy that seeks to conquer the fear of
self-annihilation through the writing itself. It is precisely this
interplay-approached through an Existentialism that simultaneously
converges upon the Transcendentalist legacy of Beat writing-which
probes the paradoxical dimension of the texts, enabling the
mythological figure of Thanatos to take centre stage. The critical
synergy of the book, brought about by relating American literature
and culture to European thought, enables in-depth analyses of a
selection of novels and poems, grasped through their aesthetic,
ontological and historical dimensions. Shedding new light on the
literary strategies of two widely misunderstood American writers of
the twentieth century, this captivating study into the drives for
self-destruction and self-liberation encapsulated by Kerouac and
Ginsberg sets out to reinvent the well-worn definition of 'Beat'
through its original approach-an essential critical piece for all
those interested in the American counterculture.
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