Counterculture and Counter-memory in Beat Literature

Amidst the few studies on the Beat Generation and Jack Kerouac this research takes a step towards the academic recognition of the literature created by this group of American writers in the 1950s. One of the lenses for this analysis is the presence of counterculture and countermemory in the beats' accounts. The exploration of elements of counterculture in addition to contextualizing the cultural scenario of the American Way of Life in which the works were written also aids in understanding the alternative community created around cultural expressions such as bebop jazz. The idea of counter-memory refers to the selection process made by the Beat writers in which through their vision as members of the counterculture they place bebop at the center of many of their narratives. By studying Kerouac's novel The Subterraneans published in 1958 it is possible to understand the writer's and his generation's contact with African-American culture bebop music the literary canon and the result that this mosaic of references constructs.