Tropical ginsberg

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them – proved to be quite a “neon light headline attraction” for young
Americans. At the same time mass media destroyed and stigmatized the
beats, it also helped to turn them into what they are today. Bad publicity
or good publicity was publicity anyway. Soon, the beats became an icon
of counterculture. Even though most beats despised the attention they
ended up receiving it due to their mass media exposure, and they
certainly knew how to use it for their advantage.
After the publication of “Howl,” “On the Road,” and “Junkie,”
anything seemed possible in the literary scene. If one should look at the
beat movement, or the American counterculture, as an edifice, its
foundation would certainly be these three works. The whole spirit of the
beats, and counterculture, was there: spontaneous, daring, shocking,
startling, and powerful. With the publication of “On the Road” in 1958,
the decade was closing its doors in a grandiose style, and, like most
good closing acts, “On the Road” was definitely a ‘molto allegro’ coda
whose message for the next decade echoed, “life is what you make of it,
so burn, burn, burn!”