The Spiritual Imagination of the Beats

The first comprehensive study to explore the role of esoteric, occult, alchemical, shamanistic, mystical and magical traditions in the work of major Beat authors.

David Stephen Calonne (Author)

9781108416450, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 August 2017

244 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.7 cm, 0.49 kg

'It is one of the major perks of The Spiritual Imagination of the Beats that Calonne's straightforward and adequate prose provides easy access to both Beat literature and the tradition and cosmologies of the 'hidden religions' even to readers who are not familiar with either topic. Calonne delivers an incredibly far-reaching, well-founded, and well-researched study which successfully evinces that 'far from dilettantish dabbling in supposedly exotic heterodoxies, the Beats engaged in a serious, scholarly exploration of a variety of philosophical traditions' [(175)], and he has thus pioneered the way for further investigations into the numerous countercultural cosmologies that manifest in Beat literature.' Stefan Benz, Amerikastudien/American Studies

The Spiritual Imagination of the Beats is the first comprehensive study to explore the role of esoteric, occult, alchemical, shamanistic, mystical and magical traditions in the work of eleven major Beat authors. The opening chapter discusses Kenneth Rexroth and Robert Duncan as predecessors and important influences on the spiritual orientation of the Beats. David Stephen Calonne draws comparisons throughout the book between various approaches individual Beat writers took regarding sacred experience - for example, Burroughs had significant objections to Buddhist philosophy, while Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac both devoted considerable time to studying Buddhist history and texts. This book also focuses on authors who have traditionally been neglected in Beat Studies - Diane di Prima, Bob Kaufman, Philip Lamantia and Philip Whalen. In addition, several understudied work such as Gregory Corso's 'The Geometric Poem' - inspired by Corso's deep engagement with ancient Egyptian thought - are given close attention. Calonne introduces important themes from the history of heterodoxy - from Gnosticism, Manicheanism and Ismailism to Theosophy and Tarot - and demonstrates how inextricably these ideas shaped the Beat literary imagination.

1. San Francisco Renaissance: Kenneth Rexroth and Robert Duncan
2. Visionary poiesis, hidden religions: Diane di Prima
3. In the search for meaning, in reaching for the pure relation: Bob Kaufman
4. American road, Buddha Path: Jack Kerouac
5. Cosmic vibration breakthrough: Allen Ginsberg
6. Nothing is true, everything is permitted: William S. Burroughs
7. An astrologer dabbling in dragon prose: Gregory Corso
8. Nothing but the marvelous: Philip Lamantia
9. Exaltations, highs and strange knowledges: Philip Whalen
10. Mountains and rivers without end: Gary Snyder.

Subject Areas: Spirituality & religious experience [HRLK], Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC]