Voices From off the Beaten Track: Female Representation in the Beat Generation. An analysis of Joyce Johnson, Diane di Prima and Joanne Kyger.

Abstract

This thesis examines the exclusion of female authors and their literary works from the Beat Generation discourse. The authors associated with the Beat Generation are all male. Authors such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs are often names coming up in debates around the Beat Generation. However, during the rise of the movement, several interesting works were written by female authors. The aim of this thesis is to expose these female authors and to find a possible explanation for their ignored presence within the Beat Generation discourse. In using the work of Bourdieu and his notion of “habitus” and his field theory, this thesis will examine how “generations” come into existence. This, in order to illustrate the workings of matters of exclusion, agency and canon formation. A great part of this thesis consists of analyses of literary works by Joyce Johnson, Diane di Prima and Joanne Kyger. First, their respective works Come and join the dance, Loba and The Japan and India Journals, 1960-1964 will be analyzed. Subsequently, two memoirs will be analyzed; Minor Characters by Johnson and Memoirs of a Beatnik by di Prima. The memoir as a narrative tool will give us more insight into these female authors’ attempts of making themselves visible within the Beat Generation discourse.