I think that it’s likely that actual rejection of American middle class ideals requires strong familiarity with them. So many of the folks who followed him and the other beats don’t seem to realize that they rejected what America was offering because it had become a stultifying shadow of a place of promise. You can’t see through the bullshit without being well versed in it and loving much of it.
semiote23 t1_j76y9jx wrote
Reply to comment by LeanMeanDrMachine in TIL American writer Jack Kerouac served on SS Dorchester which was torpedoed by a German U-boat on 3 February 1943. Kerouac would have also been on the ship during the attack, but for a telegram he received from coach Lou Little, asking him to return to Columbia University to play football. by History-Guy111111
I think that it’s likely that actual rejection of American middle class ideals requires strong familiarity with them. So many of the folks who followed him and the other beats don’t seem to realize that they rejected what America was offering because it had become a stultifying shadow of a place of promise. You can’t see through the bullshit without being well versed in it and loving much of it.