a) What is the topic you are interested in pursuing and why?
I am interested in studying the changes and influences drugs have made on the writings of San Franciscans. With how mind-bending some of these works can be, I find it very interesting to understand which ones are influenced by drugs, which ones have influenced drugs/drug use and which ones are purely religious (but you might otherwise think the author was on drugs). (note: drug use includes alcohol)
b) How does this topic relate to San Francisco materials or frameworks read for the course? Which of the readings are particularly relevant to this topic?
Jack Kerouac is always the forefront in my head, and I suppose with him the entire beat generation (read: lots of Ginsberg and Cassady and possibly Huxley)
c) What are some of the other materials you will need or want to read and/or inter-connect to cover this topic?
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (because I'm lame and haven't finished it yet), On The Road, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, etc...
d) What is your provisional “thesis” (hypothesis) at this point concerning this topic and these materials?
The idea of diversity is big in SF and diversity seems easily achieved through radical experimentation, the beat generation seemed to grip this by experimenting with their minds, bodies and souls in more ways than (but definitely including) using drugs and alcohol, and transgressing beyond a single style of religious thought, mixing influential deities from the East and the West.
(This is way too long and bulky and awkward but its kinda just a sprawl of thoughts on what should be in my thesis...)
e) What problems or limitations do you anticipate in pursuing, framing, researching, and writing on this topic?
I'm honestly not sure how much information there is out there on the specifics of who was on drugs while they were writing, so I might be limited to researching what drugs they were inclined to do in the general time span slightly before/during the writing process. That section might end up being mostly hypothetical.
1 comment:
William,
Ah, the drug project...very interesting and worth exploring in the works we've been dealing with. What's the deal with Kerouac's drinking, and the quest for beatitude? What is the role of drug use in the Beat works?
The main suggestion I have is a kind of cautionary note: be wary of making quick assumptions that works are "directly" affected by drugs - it's just hard to be 100% sure about such direct connections (unless of course you have reliable secondary material). Maybe the way around this complication will be to keep it on a literary level - that is, you can always examine the role of drugs IN the stories/novels/poems themselves. What, for instance, happens when drugs are introduced in Dharma Bums? Or mentioned in "Howl"? What is the attitude being championed, and how does reference to drugs help the writers in articulating a type of vision?
Looking forward to reading the paper - let me know if you have questions on these remarks or if any puzzles arise along the way.
sc
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