40 Years of Documentary Arts

THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO DISPARAGE THE WORK OF "BEAT" WRITERS LIKE ALAN GINSBERG, JACK KEROUAC, & WILLIAM BURROUGHS. ONE BIG PROBLEM WITH THE "BEATS" WAS THEIR PROBLEMATIC PERSONAL LIVES. FOR EXAMPLE, WILLIAM BURROUGHS SHOT HIS COMMON-LAW WIFE, JOAN VOLLMER , TO DEATH, & LATER GAVE DIFFERING ACCOUNTS OF HER DEATH. (ONE ACCOUNT WAS THAT HE WAS TRYING TO SHOOT A GLASS OFF HER DURING A DRUNKEN GAME OF "WILLIAM TELL," & THEN GAVE TWO DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS OF ACCIDENTALLY FIRING THE GUN: ONE WAS THAT IT MISFIRED WHEN HE DROPPED IT ON THE FLOOR & THE OTHER ACCOUNT WAS THAT IT MISFIRED WHEN HE WAS TRYING TO SELL IT TO AN ACQUAINTANCE. MS. VOLLMER'S FATHER LATER SAID THAT HE BELIEVED HIS DAUGHTER'S DEATH WAS ACCIDENTAL. BUT, SINCE HE LATER ADMITTED TO SLAPPING MS. VOLLMER WHEN SHE THREW AWAY HIS HEROIN, I THINK THAT WE HAVE TO CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY THAT HE HAD A VIOLENT SIDE. ALSO, ALAN GINSBERG LATER CAME OUT IN SUPPORT OF THE NORTH AMERICAN MAN BOY LOVE ASSOCIATION. (APPARENTLY, NOONE EVER TOLD GINSBERG THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A CHILD TO CONSENT TO SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH ADULTS). FOR SOME REASON, DIRECTOR ALAN GOVENAR NEGLECTED TO IGNORE THE DARK SIDE OF THE "BEAT" WRITERS. INSTEAD, HE CHOSE TO FOCUS ON THEIR LITERARY ACCOMPLISHMENTS & THEIR STATUS AS OUTSIDERS IN 1950'S AMERICA, & HE DID SUCCEED IN THAT WITH THE INSIGHTS PROVIDED BY THE INTERVIEW SUBJECTS, WHO GAVE FASCINATING GLIMPSES OF WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE IN AMERICA IN THE 1950'S & ALSO WHAT IT WAS LIKE IN THEIR ADOPTED HOME, FRANCE. FOR EXAMPLE, ONE SUBJECT TALKED ABOUT WORKING IN A "DINGY" RESTAURANT IN SOHO (WHICH MUST HAVE BEEN A LOT DIFFERENT THAN THE SOHO THAT EXISTS TODAY). I WAS ALSO INTRIGUED BY THE FACT THAT ONE BEAT WRITER- I THINK IT WAS GREGORY CORSO- WAS CRITICIZED BY MEMBERS OF THE "BAN THE BOMB" MOVEMENT BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THAT HIS POEM ABOUT THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS WASN'T CRITICAL ENOUGH OF THE UNITED STATES. I GUESS IT DIDN'T OCCUR TO THEM THAT THE TERRIBLE TWIN TRAGEDIES OF HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT HAD ACCEPTED PRESIDENT TRUMAN'S EARLIER PLEAS FOR SURRENDER. (THOSE TRAGEDIES COULD ALSO HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF THE JAPANESE ARMY HADN'T BOMBED PEARL HARBOR & IF THEY HADN'T MASSACRED 300,000 PEOPLE IN MANCHURIA). FINALLY, I CAN'T HELP THINKING ABOUT WHAT TRUMAN CAPOTE SAID ABOUT THE "BEAT" WRITERS: "THAT'S NOT WRITING. THAT'S TYPING." SINCE CAPOTE WAS KNOWN FOR MAKING NASTY PERSONAL REMARKS ABOUT WRITERS LIKE TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, JACQUELINE SUSANN, & HARPER LEE, HIS REMARKS ABOUT THE "BEATS" MAY HAVE BEEN MADE OUT OF JEALOUSY. THEIR WRITING MAY HAVE BEEN A FORM OF TYPING, BUT IT ALSO REPRESENTED A CULTURE THAT IS NOW LONG GONE.