The beat generation has been examined as a social movement, literary period, and political statement from many different scholarly perspectives. Through the method of rhetorical criticism I tease out an implicit theory of rhetoric from the writings of the principal beat generation founders namely Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Offering a rhetorical read of their major work along with analysis of their letters and journals I offer a theory of rhetoric from both thinkers. In the early chapters I discuss the history of poetic discourses and rhetoric to determine the connection between literary texts and rhetorical theory. I establish the rhetorical, cultural, and social environment of the post-war United States and its interpretation and assessment by both Kerouac and Ginsberg. I then establish linkages between Kerouac and the rhetorical sense of kairos, establishing his contribution to the beat theory by analyzing On the Road. Kerouacs contribution to beat rhetoric is developed through examination of the timely and appropriate. Next I turn attention to Allen Ginsberg and his poem Howl to demonstrate his implicit theory that the limits of the human body are a rhetorical commonplace. Ginsbergs contribution is established as finding great power of rhetorical invention in the limits of the human beings embodied condition. In the final two sections, I show applications of this rhetorical theory through examining Diane Di Primas Memoirs of a Beatnik and Amiri Barakas Somebody Blew Up America for elements of applied beat rhetorical theory, concluding that elements of the beat rhetoric are present in both.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-12082009-110126 |
| Date | 28 January 2010 |
| Creators | Llano, Stephen M |
| Contributors | Lester Olson, Ph.D., John Lyne, Ph.D., Peter Simonson, Ph.D., Ronald J. Zboray, Ph.D. |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-12082009-110126/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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