The Literature of Rebellion. The voice of dissent in contemporary American Literature and Society.

Transcription

1 The Literature of Rebellion The voice of dissent in contemporary American Literature and Society.

2 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test The 1968 new journalism novel by Tom Wolfe. It tells the story of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters. The book follows the Pranksters across the country driving in a psychedelic painted school bus. It also describes the Acid Test parties Kesey held, the use of LSD and psychedelic drugs. In 1968, The New York Times called The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test "not simply the best book on hippies (but also) the essential book."

3 Tom Wolfe American author and journalist, known for being influential in the new journalism style. In the Acid Test Wolfe tried to describe what the Pranksters did, but also how they felt while on their acid trips. He tried to describe the transition from the Beats to the Hippies through the book, and the differences between the two groups. Tom Wolfe s first novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, released in 1987 was met with critical acclaim and was a great commercial success.

4 Lysergic Acid Diethylamide A Bicycle Day acid tab. April 16 th Chemist Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938, when trying to create a stimulant. Five years later, in 1943, he was working on the drug when he accidentally absorbed some though his finger tips. This accident caused him to discover the powerful hallucinogenic effects of the drug on the mind. I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away.

5 The Advocate & The Chemist Dr. Timothy Leary, Psychologist and writer, famous advocate and user of psychedelic drugs. Arrested and many times, in 1970 he escaped prison with the help of the Weathermen. Timothy Leary s most famous quote Turn on, Tune in, Drop out. Owsley Stanley, best known of the only a dozen or so chemists who made all the LSD in 1960s America. He is known to have supplied the LSD used by Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.

6 Overview of the Novel It tells the rise and fall of Kesey, as the charismatic leader of the Merry Pranksters. It tells of their journeys, both in the literal sense and the metaphysical. From the early Acid Test parties, through to Kesey s arrest for drug possession. Ending with the break-up of the Pranksters and Kesey going to Oregon to live with his wife in the woods. What of Neal Cassady, the hero of Kerouac's novels and here Kesey's great adventure? Even though Kesey had hoped to create a kind of Nietzschean superman through Cassady. He becomes a victim of his fast-paced lifestyle. At the end, you wonder if the entire thing was one big prank, after all.

7 The Merry Pranksters A group of people who formed around Ken Kesey in 1964, they sometimes lived communally at his homes in California and Oregon. They famously road-trips across America in their bus Furthur, in 1964 and in They traveled cross-country giving LSD to The Merry Prankster s moto was Never trust a Prankster. anyone who was willing to try it (LSD was legal in the America until October 1966).

8 Some of the Pranksters Ken Kesey: Author of One Flew Over The Cuckoo s Nest. Ken Babbs: Kesey s best friend. Acid Tests sound engineer. Stewart Brand: Writer, who founded The WELL in Neal Cassady: Original Beat. Who Kerouac based Dean Moriarty. Paul Foster: Responsible the audio/visuals at the Acid Tests. Del Close: Actor, who made light shows for The Grateful Dead. Carolyn Garcia (Mountain Girl): Wife of Grateful Dead s Jerry. Grateful Dead: American rock band formed in Wavy Gravy: Peace activist and comic. Paul Krassner: Founder of the Yippies activist movement. Other famous figures of the counter-culture movement were involved with the Acid Tests of Kesey and the Pranksters, such as Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson.

9 The Acid Test The Acid Tests were a series of parties held by Ken Kesey in the San Francisco Bay Area during the mid 1960s. Musical performances by the band The Grateful Dead were common, along with black lights, strobe lights, and fluorescent (day-glo) paint. They advertised the parties or happenings with posters and flyers that read, CAN YOU PASS THE ACID TEST?

10 The Themes of the Novel New Journalism: The style of the book is the main theme. Writing about real events and people in a fiction style. Trying to explain the inner experiences of the characters. Religion: Kesey described as a prophet, the Pranksters as disciples, and the Acid Tests as religious worship experiences. Intersubjectivity: An attempt to create a shared meaning, a group mind. The goal of the Pranksters through their LSD trips. But also a goal of Wolfe himself, as he tries to put the reader in the mind of the Pranksters through his prose. LSD: Which Wolfe claims formed the Hippy movement, but at the same time destroyed the activist and anti-war movement. Counter-Culture: The shows the conflict between the Beats desire to find real culture, and the Hippies desire to transcend culture and experience through intersubjectivity.