The roots of this movement took place during 1944 near Columbia University, with the meeting of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs; the formation of this clique being fueled by a passion for writing, poetry, and a distaste for conformity (The Beat Page). Soon, this group would expand to include other names, such as Neal …show more content…
Kerouac referred to his society as “a beat generation” to describe a collective feeling of weariness (Cellania). This was something he had originally heard from a homeless man by the name of Herbert Hunche, who described being beat as, “exhausted, at the bottom of the world, looking up or out, sleepless, wide-eyed, perceptive, rejected by society, on your own, streetwise” (Cellania). Holmes later went on to publish what is now considered to be the first introduction of this phrase to the public: a New York Times article entitled, “The Beat Generation” (Asher).
However, it was not until the publication of Ginsberg’s Howl that the Beats began to be truly recognized as a full-fledged movement (Asher). During a poetry reading at the Six Gallery in 1955, Ginsberg read aloud from Howl’s manuscript (Asher). This piqued the interest of a publisher within the crowd, Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Ferlinghetti, cofounder of City Lights publishing, later contacted Ginsberg by writing, "I greet you at the beginning of a great career. Please send manuscript”