Greening Bohemia : the environmental arc of beat generation literature / Chad Weidner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weidner, Chad, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Beat literature.

Environmental literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Clemson : Clemson University Press, 2024.

Summary:

"Greening Bohemia is the first book to connect diverse Beat Generation literature to environmental concerns. What is the connection between the Beat Generation and the environment? Using careful textual and rhetorical analysis and integrating ecocritical concepts and critical vocabulary, this study shows the Beats' varied environmental contributions. It challenges the boundaries of Beat literature by including sometimes marginal voices in the discussion. Greening Bohemia suggests that Beat writing contains deep insights into the human-nature relationship, critiques of consumerism, spiritual quests, and a vision for a more harmonious future human existence. The book places the Beat Generation in a larger ecological and cultural narrative, emphasizing its lasting impact and encouraging readers to reconsider its legacy. The study challenges the American ecocritical focus on nature writing and suggests that Beat-bohemian literature has environmental potential and traces cultural change to the present day. This study thus expands our understanding by re-examining well-known and neglected Beat Generation texts and promoting ecocritical responses to art. It highlights the enduring significance of the Beat Generation, and it encourages readers to reevaluate its legacy, considering contemporary attention to environmental concerns. In short, Greening Bohemia clarifies ways Beat texts connect to the most extraordinary defining problem of our age."-- From JSTOR.

Contents:

Kerouac's everything and nothing: From cats to cosmic jams

The ecological ether: Allen Ginsberg's early verse

Devolution: The early cut-up and ecology

Aspirations and apparitions: Confessional ecopoetics in Elise Cowen's poetry

A brush with anarchy: Diane di Prima's esoteric ecological activism

Bebop reverie: ruth weiss's rhythmic convergence with nature's beat

Stars within us: Anselm Hollo's wild and warped geometric poetics

Resonating shadows: Joanne Kyger on culture, ecology, and environmental justice

Poetic convictions: Denise Levertov's ecological intensity

Conclusion: Ecological echoes and future refrains.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (JSTOR, viewed April 16, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Weidner, Chad. Greening Bohemia.

ISBN:

9781835538852

1835538851

1638041350

9781638041351

OCLC:

1463763879

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license