Pick any one essay from Relocating San Francisco or San Francisco Stories, and use this as a critical starting point to discuss or reflect a movement, work, art form, neighbourhood, or some SF social, art, or literary movement you are interested in. For example, create your own “meta-tourist” narrative for a tour of San Francisco.
I’m going to use the essay ‘The Beat Generation and San Francisco’s Culture of Dissent’ by Nancy J. Peters as my starting point in this essay, in an attempt to explore and discuss North Beach as a literary and cultural inspiration. After visiting North Beach recently, I feel this is an appropriate topic as I feel quite passionately about this part of the city, and it continually arises and is very apparent in the works by various beats. I’m also very interested in the beats, and have found there to be a lot of relevant sources and material to use in an essay about this topic.
In particular, I will focus on Ferlinghetti, as his writing on North Beach captures the essence of the area and supports he idea of it being poetically inspiring. Gary Snyder’s ‘North Beach’ from ‘ Place in Space’, also seems relevant to the essay and seems another good introducing piece when discussing North Beach.
Peter’s essay seems a good starting point as she talks through the history of the beats, as well as the importance of the city to their work. One particular passage I wish to focus on, is the reference to Philip Lamantia, in which he states ‘San Francisco was terribly straight laced and provincial, but at the same time there were these islands of freedom – in North Beach’. This statement will be, to an extent, the root of my argument.
In the essay I may diverge to discuss the possibility of other inspirations, contrasting parts of the city, and contemporary life in North Beach ion order to evaluate any changes with regards to this part of the city and if it now is able to inspire and reflect a counter culture as well as it did decades ago.
I hope to do a great deal more research and find other contrasting theories about North Beach, perhaps critics of the Beats, and sources who possibly regard North Beach as not such a literary inspiration. This may be difficult, as it is highly regarded as a poetic and ‘beat’ space, but I feel a counter argument and conflicting source will add another dimension to my essay rather than simply discussing the positive aspects of North Beach, the city and the Beats.
1 comment:
Flora,
The proposal sounds well-focused, and the project worth pursuing. The North Beach spirit has been with us in full force this term, and it seems as if you've got a good idea of which materials would be best to draw upon, as a result. A few thoughts here, in the interest of opening up other possible avenues for discussion:
+ What is the history of North Beach? It might be useful to have some of this information to gain a better understanding of why it came to be such an "island of freedom." Do we know why the Beats chose it as their "headquarters"? Do we know why Ferlinghetti chose this location for City Lights? How did it come to be that this ethnic enclave also became a safe spot for literary experimenters? How did the Beats interact with the peoples and places in North Beach?
+ Does North Beach carry the same experimental energies it did in the 50s and 60s?
+ You're beginning to ask this question as well: How does North Beach relate to other areas of SF? Are there any significant interactions between other neighborhoods or scenes?
+ Is North Beach envisioned the same across the literary works we've read? Is Ferlinghetti's vision similar/different from Snyder's? Brautigan's? Kingston's?
This is a solid start - keep chiseling, and yes, do keep your eyes open for any surprising connections that might be worth adding to our current understanding of North Beach as cultural hotbed. Looking forward to what you come up with.
sc
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