Beat Films and the Persistence of Vision

Authors

  • Michael L. Shuman University of South Florida Author

Keywords:

Beat Generation, film adaptation, pedagogy, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs

Abstract

Michael L. Shuman reviews Raj Chandarlapaty’s Seeing the Beat Generation: Entering the Literature through Film (McFarland), which argues that film offers a more effective way than primary texts to introduce today’s students to Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, and their circle. Shuman summarizes the book’s readings of films including Heart Beat, Kill Your Darlings, David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch, and Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder, and wonders whether young viewers will embrace older films. He faults textual and proofreading lapses and obscure diction, but commends the book as an impassioned case for bringing film into the literature classroom.

Author Biography

  • Michael L. Shuman, University of South Florida

    Michael L. Shuman had long careers in both newspaper management and software development before earning his PhD and joining the Department of English at University of South Florida, where he teaches writing for the technical professions and coordinates the department’s internship program. Dr. Shuman is Deputy Editor of The Mailer Review.

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Published

2018-10-25

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2018)

Section

Book Reviews

How to Cite

Shuman, Michael L. “Beat Films and the Persistence of Vision”. The Mailer Review, vol. 12, no. 1, Oct. 2018, pp. 303–309, https://mailerreview.org/journal/article/view/664.