1 AZINE Sunday, March 30, THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE ... .. ... ... ... ..w... va 3v.J~ .J, I1.0 KEROUAC The Sunshine State and The T A Fourth Class American Traveler A Haven for Snow-Sickened Rich And The Beat Generation THE SUBTERRANEANS. By Jack Kerouac. Grove Press. New York. 111. pp. Paperback, $1.A5. By KEITH DEVRIES WHAT IS the present younger generation? Crys of "conform- ists" and "non-committed" are commonly heard. Time magazine attracted much attention last fall with an article about the "No- Nonsense Kids" and recently Life ran a widely-read report on "The Unsilent Generation,' a condensa- tion from a book of the same title. What has become increasingly prominent, however, is an analy- sis which dubs us the "Beat Gen- eration." Briefly, the "beat" thesis is that the significant young man of to- day is a "hipster": i.e., he goes wild over jazz, motorcycles, hitch- hiking, sex, marijuana and little else. In most accounts he is pic- tured as "looking for something," often finding it in Zen Buddhism. Presumably it is this trait com- bined with his always present ex- pletive "gass" and "man" which keeps him from being classified in the old "Lost Generation." The scoffers usually sneer that these characteristics apply to on- ly about ten people in the coun- try, most of whom belong to.the Keith DeVries, a senior in English Honors, was formerly a Daily staff writer. He makes his first appearance in the Magazine with his review of "The Subterraneans:" small group of San Francisco mu- sicians and writers who have pro- claimed themselves the official spokesmen for the "hipsters." WHATEVER the actual size and significance of the "beat" trend may be, it has received a re- markable amount of publicity. The slick magazines, Esquire, Playboy, Life, even Mademoislle, have de- voted considerable and excited space to its western prophets. In San Francisco the city govern- ment helped the "push" by at- tempting to ban as obscene the most famous "beat" poem, Howl, by one of the famous "poets", Al- len Ginsberg. The subsequent hearing, at which the ban was removed, was enlivened by the prosecuting at- torney, who apparently represents the rage of the bourgeoisie at the group. "Can you tell me," he de- manded of the Bohemians and critics he brought to the stand, "what a line means like 'angel- headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the ma- chinery of the night'?" That does not seem so very difficult, but no one would enlighten him. The best answer he got was "you can't ex- press in prose what you can say in poetry." In spite of the lawyer and his fellow Philistines across the coun- try, the Movement has flourished. LAST FALL, another of the spokesmen, Jack Kerouac, a 35 year old citizen of the high- ways, had his novel On The Road KEROUAC ... non-committed? published. His second book and his first genuinely "beat" one, it described a series of mindless, frantic wanderings across Ameri- ca. The volume sold surprisingly well and fast, particularly after a great number of magazine"articles, many inspired by the book, ap- peared towards the end of the year. So extraordinary indeed was its success that Grove Press de- cided to publish another of Ker- ouac's novels, The Subterraneans, which had previously been rejected by the publishers. Soon Kerouac's frenzied fans received word of the new book and bought out nearly the entire first edition before it reached the retail stores. In the midst of all this excite- ment, it is a sad duty to report that The Subterraneans isn't a very good book. Its plot is essentially a love story of a wandering "beat" nov- elist in his thirties, Leo Percepied and a Negro girl, Mardou Fox. All that really happens is they sleep together frequently, realize on ev- ery other page the magnitude of their love, question their rela- tionship on the pages in between, and finally drift apart. The effect is to make the 111 page book seem very long indeed. EVEN drearier than the plot are the moaning complaints Ker- ouac makes about the awful suf- ferings his hero goes through in an awful world. Still worse there is really no meaning given to Percepied's troubles, not even the meaning of no meaning. Kerouac never both- ers to examine the standard Amer- ican ideals and values which have presumably brought his charac- ters into Bohemia. An occasion- al mention of racial prejudice and one comment on "midtown silli- ness" are his only attempts in that direction. Neither does he make the "beat" environment of North Beach a significant background. The people there, who get drunk con- stantly, play Gerry Mulligan con- stantly, and dance the Mambo naked are sillier than they are dreadfully or excitingly nihilistic. ONLY other conceivable excuse for the final cries of "I don't want to live in this beast- ly world" would be an explora- tion into the individual depravi- ties and failings of the central characters. While Kerouac at- tempts a little of this, he makes Percepied's supposedly terrible be- trayal of Mardou only absurd. (He pushes her into a taxi and sends her home _alone so that he can get to a bar before it closes.) Mar- dou's subsequent betrayal is mere- ly justified and again a little stu- pid. As disappointing as anything else is the writing. In -his intro- duction to Howl Allen Ginsberg hailed Kerouac as the "new Buddha of American prose, who spit forth intelligence into eleven books . ..creating a spontaneous bop prosody and original classic literature." He doesn't live up to his billing. IT'S ONLY fair to say that in some passages, particularly those describing the affection be- tween Mardou and Leo, Kerauac achieves a real beauty. Between these high points, however, are long, masses of uninspired, tedious prose. Early this year Kerouac turned up in New York to read Ginsberg's poetry to the accompaniment of jazz. The clothes he wore then, brown slacks, brown shoes and a shirt that glowed in the dark, were so decidedly non-cool as to raise fears among his disillusioned fans that he might have killed off the Whole movement. What he didn't do by his clothes he may well do through his book. All in all, it just doesn't roll. ON THE ROAD. By Jack Kerouac. Viking. New York. 310 pgi., $3.95. By DONALD A. YATES jACK KEROUAC. wanderer and lover of America, comes as, close as anyone writing today to being the Thomas Wolfe of his generation. And we should have a Wolfe in every generation- someone to sing the praises and the glory of the country in terms of the poetry that Jamestown, Valley Forge, Gettysburg, and Chicago inspire, not in terms of machines and might and motion. Author Kerotlac, as a fourth- class traveler 'of the U.S. has been close to what this country is un- derneath the generalizations and statistics. He can - and does -- speak to us of the power and beauty that lies in the heart of America, in the souls of Americans who have to be reminded of what they really are -- so far have material concerns removed them from their origins. Kerouac writes with'great free- dom, and with surprising effec- tiveness. It would seem it is diffi- cult for him to write badly, even when he is obviously not writing consciously dramatic or descriptive pages. The reader wants to be- lieve in him as the seer and feeler of all the sights that he, as the author, has experienced and that.-- he unselfishly reveals to us. Time and time again, our sym- pathies are won over by a line, an observation, written always on the same theme-America Ias a place where some people still live con- sciously and believe in the past. Here is an example of the love_ for what is American, of the au- thor's concern for what is at the soul center of the country: "I didn't know what to say; he was right; but all I wanted to do was sneak out into the _night and disappear somewhere, and go and find out what everybody was doing all over the country." KEROUAC IDENTIFIES himself with the "Beat" Generation, the young idealless people who want to "dig" whatever's exciting and live, live, live. This novel tells what it's all about. There's no doubt that the "beat" group man- ages to get closer to the soil than the "Lost Generation" ever did. SUN DRENCHED BEACHES-Florida beaches are noted for their white sand, picturesque palm trees and dry bathing suits. One of the; popular attractions on Clearwater Beach is the arrival of the fishboats. They leave early in the morning ladened with tour- ists, fishpoles, minnows and little boys who catch all the fish. At about 5 p.m. they boats return, ladened with exhausted tourists, broken fishpoles, and enormous fish jubilantly, if not strenuously, held up by the little boys. Cars line up for blocks along the docks to watch the old fishing boats moor. Observers ooh and ahh in unison when a successful fisherman flaunts his catch. After the fishboats are in, a day in Clearwater is complete. Now comes the night life. MUCH is to be done in Clear- water at night. Tourists hit the nightclubs and movie houses.' Residents stay home and watch television. If you're the athletic type, and young, you can always find a beachparty and a late swimming party. But, the water is cold, and hardly anyone goes in swimming --only the laymen tourists. They know better later on. Traveling along a Florida high way, one, while o c c a s i o n ally glimpsing the water, is constantly faced with citrus orchards and advertisements proclaiming fresh orange juice and pecan nuts pick- ed right from the trees. Otherwise highways in Florida are compar- able to those in Michigan, except for the presence of palm trees and lack of maples. By DONNA HANSON Daily Personnel Director Florida's Chamber of Commerce handles a booming year-round business. It is impossible to read through a newspaper - without coming across some type of propa- ganda extolling the virtues of the "Sunshine State." About every Florida newspaper takes up much front page space with details on the weather and po p u l a t i o n growth. This is a bad year for the Flori-. da Chamber of Commerce though. .Rumors have it that snow and freezing weather have been plagu- ing the sunny south-with Florida being no exception. This is bad news for Florida businesses which flourish on tourist trade. Nonetheless, Florida is a haven for the snow-sickened rich. It was quite an experience for an uncos- mopolitan Northerner like me when I saw my first palm tree. And the water - "the blue, sparkling, sun - specked Gulf of Mexico softly lapping on the snow- white sandy beaches." And it's all true. The water is blue and it does lap on snow-white sandy beaches but you never see anyone swim- ming in it. It's too darn cold, and, on top of that it's too darn salty. DURING Christmas vacation, I flew from Winter Park to Palm Beach. If you want to cross the state, you travel by car, bus, or plane, since trains can't cut across the swamps. Anyway, I had an op- portunity to view Lake Okeecho- bee from the air, and believe me, it was impressive. As was all the swamp land on which clever, fast- talking businessmen and real estate brokers are building their fortunes. PalmsBeach is beautiful-really. The homes are magnificent and found in a multitude of sizes and pastel shades. Yachts bob quietly up and down in their moorings at the docks and the cabanas are absoluely indescribable. Residents aren't too ostentatious in Palm Beach. You'll find the up- stairs maid dressed more elegantly than the lady of the house when on a shopping expedition. It's the fashion to dress sloppily in Palm Beach, but sloppily-in an expen- sive way. Those aren't rhinestones around her neck! ON TO THE western seaboard- Clearwater, 21 miles f r o m Tampa, is right on the edge of the "blue, sparkling Gulf of Mexico." Acually, Clearwaer is a fine "little" town-when it's devoid of tourists. The motels are grandious, each with its own brand of swim- ming pool and schedule of rates-- each attempting to be bigger, grander and more expensive than the other. They're great, for sight seeing. r tfHETHINGS I find so unusual about Florida, other than the palm and fresh pecan trees, are the homes. Wood or brick homes are rare. Most are adobe and are painted in pastel colors. This is something hard to imagine in the North. Chartreuse and white are popular colors, as are the more feminine pink and white and blue and white. Christmas in Florida is interest- ing, if not an unusual experience for a Northerner. Christmas trees in homes 'are rare. Santa's sleigh l: S Y U j, P STATELY HOTEL-If you think t about one-half a block further a bigger and grander than the forni } ii - ' FOOT WEAR 108 East Washington - Open Monday Nights Till 8:30 As sere is GI2AAfQUR4 Li Pubt and Brig ht Black Patent Turquoise Kid Scarlet Red Kid Pink Kid .,, Yellow Kid t '1 I *: I VETERAN'S CADS . are now authorized by the Michigan Public Service Commission to transport passengers to both airports Numbler of Passengers per Trip -Air por2s4 ONE-WAY TRIP Willow Run $450 300 20 t t. REMEMBER!! jBlackPotent II IF YOU WANT HOME-LAUNDERED "QUALITY" and the FINEST in DRY CLEANING try ACE HAND LAUNDRY and DRY CLEANERS on campus since 1912 now located at 1115 SOUTH UNIVERSITY AT THE SIGN OF THE WASHERWOMAN Alligator All-Weather Coats $9.5 Caps and Rain Hats $1.95 t< 11 rFizanedes ONE-WAY TRIP I Wayne Major- $1000/ $500 j ,$335 [j $250 i niericana ... a Of 4.19 e _ r iryri i n "YC !i -CALL A VET" SERVICE ACE HAND LAUNDRY (MOE'S) 1115 S. UNIVERSITY TICE & WREN Cd 1107 SOUTH UNIVERSITY - Across from An