What did the The Beat writers do?

Here is what the Beat Generation writers did

“The beats came along and revived through mere power and abandonment and the unwillingness to commit death in life some idea of a decent equivalent between verbal expression and actual experience.”

That’s it, isn’t it? It’s worth a second look, with a focus on a key phrase.

The Beats “revived … some idea of a decent equivalent between verbal expression and actual experience.”

That is Seymour Krim’s definition and I’m not sure there is a better one.

Until the publication of On The Road in 1957, Krim spent 10 years writing book reviews for the New York Times and literary criticism for The Hudson Review, Commonweal and other quarterlies.

It was literally driving him crazy. In 1955, a crack-up sent him to Bellevue.

The Beats saved his life.

“I should have gotten out of criticism, said to hell with it, but one turned scared at the thought because where could you go?”

The Beats showed him a way out.

So why have the Beats dropped him so completely? Krim is harder to find than Jimmy Hoffa.