Rebels, Beats and Poets

Rebels come in various shapes and sizes, and in some ways it’s possible to see most of the people dealt with in these essays and reviews as rebels of one sort or another. Some, like the Wobblies, were political and/or economic dissenters from the status quo, as was B. Traven. Others, such as certain of the poets discussed, might be viewed as challenging established ideas about how to write poems. William Burroughs is an interesting example of someone who, in his life and writing, stood outside conventional values. As for jazz musicians, they’ve often been outsiders. But I don’t want to make an issue of whether or not specific individuals can be truly identified as rebels. It’s possible for someone to be a rebel in some ways, but not in others. And rebels can mellow and come to terms with the wider society, even to the point where they become successful in its eyes.