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East Coast Beats and Jack Kerouac

• The book begins with a short introduction to the historical background of the Beat Generation written by editor Ann Charters.

• The Beat Generation started off as a very small literary movement in New York City, originally centered around Times Square.

• The Beats experiment with crime and drugs in an attempt to get outside of post-war American society, which the Beats see as fundamentally sick.

• The most important literary statement of the Beat Generation is Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," which renounces the cynicism of American intellectual life.
• The excerpt from "On the Road" begins with Kerouac describing his first meeting with Neal Cassady known as Dean Moriarty in the book.

• Kerouac introduces Dean to Allen Ginsberg, referred to as Carlo Marx, and Dean and Carlo immediately begin spending all their time together.

• Dean leaves New York in the spring of 1947, and Kerouac...

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