Hip Sublime

<div>Despite their self-presentation as iconoclasts the writers of the Beat Generation were deeply engaged with the classical tradition. Many of them were university-trained and highly conscious of their literary forebears and they frequently incorporated their knowledge of Greco-Roman literature into their own subversive experimental practice. Seeking to transcend the superficiality commercialism and precariousness of life in post-World War II America the Beat writers found in their classical models both a venerable literary heritage and a discourse of sublimity through which to articulate their desire for purity.<br>  <br> In this volume a diverse group of contributors explore for the first time the fascinating tensions and paradoxes that arose from interactions between these avant-garde writers and a literary tradition often seen as conservative and culturally hegemonic. With essays that cover the canonical Beat authors-such as Allen Ginsberg Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs-along with less well-known figures-including Kenneth Rexroth Ed Sanders and Diane di Prima-<i>Hip Sublime: Beat Writers and the Classical Tradition</i> brings long overdue attention to the Beat movement's formative appropriation of the Greek and Latin classics.<br>  </div>