Reviews
De Beat Generation: een geïllustreerde geschiedenis by Gerben Visser, Ed Piskor, Harvey Pekar
billyhopscotch's review against another edition
5.0
The eclectic style, artistically and literarily, of The Beats makes it intriguing and exciting. It's a fun way to learn some history, and as a piece of comics history it is superb.
chadstep's review against another edition
3.0
Good quick overview from the plain spoken narrative voice of Harvey Pekar. Good for high schoolers getting some background on Kerouac and it adds dimension and context to his life and work beyond "On the Road" which also puts him alongside his greater and lesser known counterparts. Bonus points for including Gary Snyder! But what about Paul Bowles? It got a little tiresome after Pekar's piece but then I'm not a fan of the Beats really. Good for what it is though.
vampirehelpdesk's review against another edition
3.0
I mean, really a 2.5. I’m someone with an English degree who slept with men in college, so I’m very familiar with the Beats. I have an admiration for them just basically dicking around and making art—I wish I could do that, too. And don’t get me wrong, I see value in that art. But the history of the Beats is something that has always fascinated, intrigued, and bothered me. However, I wouldn’t say this book is a good companion to any of those feelings. Chaotically organized, with spelling and grammar mistakes and facts that contradict themselves in the span of two chapters. Really, the thing that mostly pissed me off was how insanely tiny and hard to read the last pages were. I truly did not give a shit anymore because of how cramped the lettering was. A headache to end on. Points for some interesting facts I did not know and some cool art from varying artists. I do love Allen Ginsberg, so if you come for me hating the Beats, I’ll show you my Gay for Ginsberg pin I bought at City Lights six years ago.
rebus's review against another edition
3.75
The work by Pekar featuring the more prominent Beats--an artistic movement I despise, which I can now see is accurate based on the characters involved--is the best part of this book, the second half devolving into bios of lesser known Beats by inferior artists (the awful right wing Jay Kinney and Trina Robbins getting it all wrong about Jay DeFeo and the tiny amounts of lead she ingested compared to the quart of hard booze and 3 packs a day that really caused her cancer being the lowlights of the series). It's very strange to find that the poetic movement that was such in influence on the Boomers featured so many characters born in the 1920s, many of them smokers, drug abusers, alcoholics, anti-semites, and self hating homosexuals (yes, there was also hate toward the rainbow crowd). Joyce Brabner was also erroneously called a 2nd wave feminist, which no one born in the 50s can claim, as they came of age in the 80s during the nascent 3rd wave. Even Burroughs was a misogynist and was anti-union (though the latter belief is far left wing, not right wing as Pekar asserts).
Ginsberg is still a self propagandized moron who had no talent, seeing Asian countries as the threat to the world and not recognizing his own fascist country. The truth is that he and most of the others who dropped out--including the generation they inspired--could only do so due to white privilege and the money of class privilege. Their notion of working because you want to, rather than because you need to in order to feed and house yourself, is utterly bankrupt and wholly corrupt.
I supposed the influence on rock and roll is the only good they wrought.
Ginsberg is still a self propagandized moron who had no talent, seeing Asian countries as the threat to the world and not recognizing his own fascist country. The truth is that he and most of the others who dropped out--including the generation they inspired--could only do so due to white privilege and the money of class privilege. Their notion of working because you want to, rather than because you need to in order to feed and house yourself, is utterly bankrupt and wholly corrupt.
I supposed the influence on rock and roll is the only good they wrought.
nkives's review against another edition
2.0
This book starts out strong and interesting. First 100 pages are on Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs, but then the next 100 pages are just short blurbs about 20 other people. Not enough to give real information about them except to list their name.
mjanssen's review against another edition
3.0
From a textual standpoint, I found a lot of this rather perfunctory and of interest solely for factual purposes. The lives of Beats such as Burroughs, Ginsberg and Kerouac are related mostly on a chronological level -- "he did this, then he did this." Which means, not a lot of depth beyond a surface accounting of their peregrinations and publications. Still, that was interesting in a "XXX For Beginners" sort of way (I'm thinking of those illustrated books about various philosophical figures and the like).
Some chapters were more interesting, though, because they shed light on more overlooked areas of the Beat era: a chronology of the career of Tuli Kupferberg and the Fugs, for example, and a consideration of women in the Beat universe, which is related from a more personal perspective. I would have appreciated more chapters that examined the Beat legacy through a personal lens, though that wasn't really the book's objective. But then, I've read a fair amount about the Beats already. The chapter on Philip Lamantia also made me want to read more about him and his work. And it was great to see a few shoutouts for KPFA and Pacifica radio.
Much of the accompanying artwork, I thought, was executed well enough but not especially creative. There are some less-than-riveting images of, say, Allen Ginsberg on the phone. I'm sure he did use the phone at times, but I'm not sure I need to see this depicted. The chapter about Diane di Prima, though, did feature some trippy imagery.
In all, though, it's a decent enough primer for anyone who wants to know more about the Beats. And, like most chronicles about hippies and the Beats, it made me long for a truly countercultural movement that isn't so, I don't know, darned boring and all-around respectable. Where's the humor these days? The fun? And the wholesale rejection of the establishment? Why does everyone just want to play nice and wear nice clothes and want to get along with the Establishment these days instead of, I don't know, getting together and trying to levitate the Pentagon?
Some chapters were more interesting, though, because they shed light on more overlooked areas of the Beat era: a chronology of the career of Tuli Kupferberg and the Fugs, for example, and a consideration of women in the Beat universe, which is related from a more personal perspective. I would have appreciated more chapters that examined the Beat legacy through a personal lens, though that wasn't really the book's objective. But then, I've read a fair amount about the Beats already. The chapter on Philip Lamantia also made me want to read more about him and his work. And it was great to see a few shoutouts for KPFA and Pacifica radio.
Much of the accompanying artwork, I thought, was executed well enough but not especially creative. There are some less-than-riveting images of, say, Allen Ginsberg on the phone. I'm sure he did use the phone at times, but I'm not sure I need to see this depicted. The chapter about Diane di Prima, though, did feature some trippy imagery.
In all, though, it's a decent enough primer for anyone who wants to know more about the Beats. And, like most chronicles about hippies and the Beats, it made me long for a truly countercultural movement that isn't so, I don't know, darned boring and all-around respectable. Where's the humor these days? The fun? And the wholesale rejection of the establishment? Why does everyone just want to play nice and wear nice clothes and want to get along with the Establishment these days instead of, I don't know, getting together and trying to levitate the Pentagon?
chelseamartinez's review against another edition
4.0
Great if only as an annotated bibliography of beat poets, authors, and related musicians to look up. I enjoyed the second half more than the first, although I did learn a lot of trivia about Kerouac and the first half does a good job of juxtaposing the famous beat writers' lowlife behavior with their art without too much judgment and without absolution either. My favorite chapter was the last, on the Fugs.
weetziebot's review against another edition
3.0
I can't remember when I read this book though I do remember a red haired boy from Lowell tried to impress me on the train by telling me Jack Kerouac was also from Lowell (which I knew since I had just read that two pages before he told me). I imagine it was shortly after it came out in the spring of 2009 but may have been more recently. The brief biological sketches of Burroughs, Kerouac and Ginsberg were interesting...sort of. I loved the artwork, but I could have just read a bunch of wikipedia articles. The writing was often dry (despite the subjects), jokes were corny or forced. I'm not sure who the intended audience was but for much of the book I felt as though someone was trying to beat into my head "THE BEATS WERE REVOLUTIONARY, CRAZY AND TOTALLY COOL" but I already knew that...that's why I wanted to read the book in the first place. The second half of the book was much better, each author and artist pair captured a very 'beat' sensibility that came across in each segment, mostly because few of them said "This happened, and then this other thing happened and then so and so did this". Beatnick Chicks by Joyce Brabner was one of my favorites!
*If anyone remembers me reading this book in 2010 let me know!
*If anyone remembers me reading this book in 2010 let me know!
lindacbugg's review against another edition
3.0
My favorite pieces were about Kenneth Patchen & the Beat Chicks. Who knew Louise Fitzhugh illustrated a book about a little Beatnik girl(Suzuki Beane)before she wrote Harriet the Spy.