Literature and Rebellion: An analysis of Beat literature from a conception of political resistance

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to an analysis of the Beat literary movement as a resistance movement against the values ​​of North American society in the period preceding and during the counterculture demonstrations of the 1960s. To do so, we will use as a theoretical reference, the thought of philosopher Herbert Marcuse. In this sense or direction, in Marcuse, art cannot represent revolution; she can only invoke it in another medium, in an aesthetic form in which the political content becomes metapolitical, governed by the internal need for art. In this case, based on Marcuse and writers from the Beat literary movement, we can say that most of the great works of art since the 19th century represent a revolt against the bourgeoisie, a challenge to capitalism, the brutality of industry, the disruption of human relations and instrumental reason. When analyzing Beat literary production, we take into account the fact that, in order to be engaged, artistic manifestations do not necessarily have to be linked to any political doctrine. The idea of ​​political action present in the work of Beat authors did not refer to a dogmatic-marxist position.