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Dec 21, 2024
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2018-19 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
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US 204 Buddhism and the Beats: Dharma Bums, Zen Lunatics and Crazy Wisdom
The writers and artists who are identified as “beat” collided in San Francisco, New York City, Boulder CO and “on the road” smack in the middle of the twentieth century. In early fifties America, these budding writers were attracted to Buddhism as an alternative to the era’s prevalent social and religious values-epitomized by the likes of religious leader Billy Graham and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. For Beat writers, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Joanne Kyger, Allen Ginsberg and Diane DiPrima, Buddhism was an antidote to what they saw as the spiritual and cultural stagnation of a society corrupted by Cold War politics and rampant consumerism. An overarching goal of this University Seminar will be to make connections between the Buddhist sources and the voices and visions of the Beat generation. Students will read selected works of these writers alongside the Beats’ favorite Buddhists scriptures and texts. Students will engage in close reading, intertextuality, discussions and inquiry-based learning. Through responsive, reflective and creative writing students will explore how the Beats incorporated Buddhist thought and philosophy into their fiction and poetry.
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