Asian Thought, American Transcendentalism and the Beat Generation

Abstract

The Transcendentalist movement of early to middle 19th century America is often referred to as the ”American Renaissance” Approximately one hundred years later, another, literary and cultural movement in America, the ”Beat Generation” and its counter-culture successors, was in many ways similar to the Transcendentalist movement of the 19(superscript th) century, not least in its appreciation of Asian thought and literature. And like its 19(superscript th) predecessor, the Beat Generation and the counter-cultural movement it spawned can be considered a renaissance of American art, literature, and culture. In this paper, I first explore the idea of a ”renaissance”, and then I look at how contact with Asian thought, and literature helped to initiate, first, the Transcendentalist renaissance of American thought, literature, and culture, and then, approximately one hundred years later, the Beat Generation. Among the Transcendentalists, I focus on Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau; among Beat writers, I look at Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.