Celebrating the Beat Generation
14 Jun 2016
University academic curates John Rylands Library exhibition and organises largest conference of those inspired by infamous American radicals
For three days and nights at the end of June, Manchester will host the largest conference of scholars, poets, filmmakers and musical performers interested in the Beat Generation.
The event – from Monday, 27 to Wednesday 29, June – will celebrate the loose group of American artists, including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs, who shook the walls of mainstream society and culture back in the 1950s, and still inspire creative radicalism today.
It is being organised by Douglas Field, Senior Lecturer in 20th Century Literature here at the University and also curator of a major exhibition of Beat-related artwork at the John Rylands Library.
His co-organiser is Oliver Harris, a former Mancunian, now Professor of American Literature at Keele University and President of the European Beat Studies Network.
Coming from a dozen countries, over 70 participants will gather at The Wonder Inn, a funky community arts centre in Shudehill, the perfect venue for the blend of criticism and creativity promoted by the European Beat Studies Network, the organisation that is running the conference.
The vibrant music scene of the 1970s and ‘80s which really put Manchester on the cultural map, owed a good deal to the example of Beat radicals like Burroughs, a favourite writer of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, who made a legendary reading appearance at The Hacienda nightclub in 1982.
One of the conference’s central themes is music and opens with a keynote talk by CP Lee, frontman for the famous Manchester satirical band of the 1980s, Alberto y los trios Paranois, before he became a musicology lecturer at Salford University.
The conference’s other key theme is science—echoing Manchester’s status in 2016 as European City of Science—and its other keynote speech will be given by a world-renowned Professor of Neurology, Dr Andrew Lees, whose recent memoirs ‘Mentored by a Madman’ describe the inspiring influence of Burroughs.
In between, there will be talks on everything from Ginsberg’s Buddhism to the relation between the Beats and the Beatles, plus a series of film screenings and live performances by veteran American “songpoet” Eric Andersen and the avant-garde Band of Holy Joy.
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