The sad truth of the matter is that I have not written anything like this or read anything by these folks since I took the course. It really did end up totally killing my love of that kind of literature (thought interestingly, not the illogical admiration for some of that lifestyle).
Chris Kawecki Self-Evaluation The Beats December 1992 This course served at least two purposes for me. First, it was an introduction to real-world literary analysis. Second, it was a chance to see what numerous people thought about books and people I read and think about a lot. As an introduction to literary analysis, I grew tremendously in terms of presenting acceptable ideas in an acceptable manner. This is certainly not independant of the effort I put into that section of the course. Indeed, the first paper went through 3 enormously different drafts, the second two, and the final paper also two. I had for some time thought that the most important parts of writing a good paper happened before the writing began, but I have realized through these papers that in fact a majority of a paper's worth is based on how you can use rough initial ideas to create, in the writing porcess, a final product. I make no illusion that I am now the best writer in the world, yet I am confident in saying that I have managed to step quite a bit closer to good literary analysis, and I may even have one foot in bounds. On the material: I really enjoyed reading the material very much and found that it was analytically interesting, historically and culturally enlightening, and simply a joy to read. Beat poetry, especially Ferlinghetti, Kerouak, and Snyder, are perhaps so meeningful at this stage in my life because of the disillusionment I, too, find myself in in the light of a seemingly hopeless world. As an examination of the Beat literature, I would have included Ferlinghetti's A Coney Island of The Mind, though I personally did not lose much by it not being a reading of the course (already having read it numerous times). For me, Ferlinghetti's verses are more moving than any other, with Kerouak's Subterraneans (only after the third reading however), and Dharma Bums close behind. One more thing I have discovered for myself this term is how much more I enjoy Beat writing after numerous readings. Bob Kaufman, for example, I held in very low regard when I first picked up his Solitudes; yet after the three readings allowed by it being so much shorter a book, I found I was moved by almost all of his poems- with the exception of his Jail Poems. (Sorry Bob) As I write this self-evaluation, perhaps falling into a bit of Kerouakian spontaneous prose, I am struck again and again by the variety of ways I was interested and influenced by this course. Not the least of these is being given the opportunity to here numerous interesting viewpoints, especially those of the professor. Though I may not have totally agreed on every count, I was always started to thinking, and thinking, of all the wonders on this plant, is among the most spectacular. If I were going to sum up the course in one sentence, I think it would be: "Oh, so this is what it is like to analyze good writing. This isn't so bad after all." Or then again, maybe two sentences. Thanks, Bob, for a wonderful class.