My thesis explores the role of religion and spirituality in the work of the Beat Generation, a mid-twentieth century American literary movement. I focus on four major Beat authors: William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Gregory Corso. Through a close reading of their work, I identify the major religious and spiritual attitudes that shape their texts. All four authors’ religious and spiritual beliefs form a challenge to the Modern Western worldview of rationality, embracing systems of belief which allow for experiences that cannot be empirically explained. They also assert the primacy of the individual—a major American value—in a society which the authors believed to encroach upon individual agency. Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Corso are also strongly influenced by established religious traditions: an aspect of their work that is currently overlooked in Beat criticism. Burroughs’ belief in a magical universe shapes his work. Ginsberg is heavily influenced by the Jewish exegetical tradition. Kerouac and Corso’s work contains Catholic themes. My study rectifies some tendencies in current criticism which I find problematic: a dismissal of the Beats as a countercultural phenomenon rather than a literary movement, a tendency to frame Beat religion and spirituality in vague language, and a tendency to focus solely on Buddhism within the movement. My study illustrates that the Beat authors’ work contains serious religious and spiritual content, that they take part in American religious and literary traditions, and that the authors engage with major social issues of the post-war period.

With the publication of On the Road in 1957, Jack Kerouac became a cultural phenomenon. Crowned the "King" of the Beat Generation, Kerouac embodied the restlessness of Cold War-era America. What no one realized at the time, however, was that the movement that he supposedly led went against Kerouac's own beliefs. Rather than rebellion, Kerouac wanted to write in a way that no one had written before. Heavily influenced by, among others, Mark Twain, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Marcel Proust, Herman Melville, and, especially, James Joyce, Kerouac used the influence of his predecessors to formulate his own style of writing-spontaneous prose. The critics who label Kerouac as a cultural icon akin to James Dean fail to see Kerouac as a serious author. The removal of the cultural fanfare surrounding Kerouac shows the truth about his writing, his influences, and his influence on late-twentieth century literature, including the entire postmodern movement.

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The aim of the present study is to account for the significance of mobility in American culture and its reflection in literature. In order to reach this goal, the thesis observes the role of mobility in the history of the United States, its transformation in the twentieth century, and the manifestation of this motif in the works of Jack Kerouac. Through the analysis of his novels, including On the Road, The Dharma Bums, Desolation Angels, Lonesome Traveler, and Big Sur, the thesis identifies some of the recurrent themes associated with the motif of journey and further interprets them in the context of postwar America. With the support of an array of secondary literature, this research approaches mobility as a constitutive part of the American identity and Jack Kerouac as one of its most ardent advocates. The introduction probes the contemporary preoccupation with space and the necessity of interrogating its intersection with time. While incorporating both of these dimensions, movement is identified as a manifestation of this intersection and it is distinguished from mobility as lacking the meaning acquired through culture. In order to explain this process of acquiring meaning, the link between mobility and narrative is established and its presence in literature observed. It is subsequently argued...

La littérature américaine est en mouvement constant. Elle cherche des pistes, des issues et des histoires évoquant ou transgressant la réalité. Depuis l’arrivée des premiers colons, l’influence des auteurs européens ne s’est jamais démentie sur les futurs natifs d’une terre en pleine expansion. Progressivement voué à l’exploration et à la découverte de l’intériorité de l’homme, l’auteur décrit les multiples évolutions métamorphosant la terre et les consciences. S’affranchir des lieux communs afin de s’approcher au plus près du mythe ultime – à savoir le « Grand Roman américain » – est une manière pour les écrivains du Nouveau Monde d’entrer dans la légende en s’appropriant le langage. Grâce à Jack London et la Beat Generation, écrire est synonyme de témoignage, la langue étant perpétuellement à réinventer. Libérer l’écriture de ses entraves est bien plus qu’un simple projet, c’est en quelque sorte un moyen d’émanciper la page. Du voyage clandestin dans les wagons de marchandises à la glorification du verbe neuf, la route tient toute ses promesses. / American literature is a constant flux. It is looking for new paths, exits and stories evoking or transgressing reality. Since the arrival of the first settlers, the influence of European authors on the future natives of this always-expanding country has never waned. As he progressively devoted himself to the discovery and exploration of the interiority of Man, the author has described the multiple evolutions which transformed both the land and the minds. Freeing oneself from commonplace ideas in order to get closer to the ultimate myth – that is, the “Great American Novel” – is a way for the writers of the New World to go down in history by taking full ownership of the language itself. Thanks to Jack London and the Beat Generation, writing has become a byword for testimony, as the language has continuously been reinvented. Freeing writing from its shackles is much more than a simple project, it is a way to liberate the novel. From illegal trips in freight cars to the glorification of a new Word, the road has kept all its promises.

Despite the fame the prolific impressionistic, confessional poet, novelist, literary iconoclast, and pioneer of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac, has acquired since the late 1950’s, his written letters are not recognized as works of literature.  The aim of this thesis is to examine the different ways in which Kerouac develops and employs the poetics he is most known for in the letters he wrote to friends and publishers before becoming a well-known literary figure.  In my analysis of Kerouac’s poetics, I analyze 20 letters from Selected Letters, 1940-1956.  These letters were written before the publication of his best-known literary work, On The Road. The thesis attempts to highlight the characteristics of Kerouac’s literary control in his letters and to demonstrate how the examination of these poetics: repetition, language, and narration merits the letters’ treatment as works of artistic literature. Likewise, through the scrutiny of my first novella, “Trails” it then illustrates how the in-depth analysis of Kerouac’s letters improved my personal poetics, which resemble the poetics featured in the letters.

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