The Journal of Beat Studies is devoted entirely to the scholarly criticism of Beat Generation writing and writers. Its mandate is to provide readers with intelligent and penetrating criticism across the range of Beat writing, including fiction, poetry, drama, autobiography, life writing, travel writing, and screenplay writing.

This volume’s critical essays are rich in scope. One essay revitalizes the evolutionary place of the poet Kenneth Rexroth, archival research on Kerouac’s ethnic and cultural origins, Ginsberg’s committed engagement with the philosophical traditions of Indian civilization, and The Beat Interview is an archival oral history—published here for the first time—that brings new perspectives to the art scene that flourished around San Francisco’s 6 Gallery.

• Submission Guidelines

Editor: Ronna Johnson and Matt Theado
ISBN: 978-1-935625-47-6
ISSN: 2165-8706
Price: $40
Paperback, 2023

Order NowTable of Contents Editorial Board

The Journal of Beat Studies is devoted entirely to the scholarly criticism of Beat Generation writing and writers. Its mandate is to provide readers with intelligent and penetrating criticism across the range of Beat writing, including fiction, poetry, drama, autobiography, life writing, travel writing, and screenplay writing.

This special volume 10 of Beat Studies honors the work of Jack Kerouac at the centenary of his birth. On the Road and Kerouac’s other novels are revered by a generation of readers around the world as an “American literary odyssey.” In this issue, pieces written by close friends of Kerouac and those who wished to honor the progress his work set forth, reflect on his work, life, and impact made on the Beat generation and those after.

• Submission Guidelines

Editor: Ronna Johnson and Matt Theado
ISBN: 978-1-935625-75-9
ISBN-10: 1-935625-75-6
ISSN: 2165-8706
Price: $40
Paperback, 2022

Order NowTable of Contents Editorial Board

The Journal of Beat Studies is devoted to the scholarly criticism of Beat Generation writing and writers. It provides readers with critiques and analyses of Beat writing in all its forms, including poetry, life and travel writing, autobiography, fiction, drama, art, and sketches, and screenplays. This issue is a solemn one due to the loss of many notable Beat writers and figures.

Volume 9 offers three Commemorations. “Revolutionary Poet: Diane di Prima, 1934-2020” by Mary Paniccia Carden praises di Prima’s “transformative” trail-making cultural and literary lines, her inspiring rejection of gender role arrangements in life, in poetry, and in poetics. Our losses and setbacks notwithstanding, volume 9 attests to the fact that Beat scholars are still publishing books, refreshing Beat arts’ critical discourses, sustaining dialogue with those who remain, and offering new ways to think about Beat arts and culture.

ISBN: 978-1-935625-66-7
ISBN-10: 1-935625-66-7
ISSN: 2165-8706
Price: $40
Paperback, 2021

Order Now Table of Contents Editorial Board

The Journal of Beat Studies is devoted to the scholarly criticism of Beat Generation writing and writers. It provides readers with critiques and analyses of Beat writing in all its forms, including poetry, life and travel writing, autobiography, fiction, drama, art, and sketches, and screenplays.

Volume 8 features a survey of Beat Studies scholars on the topic of the state of the field and two essays on the the poetry of Joanne Kyger.

ISBN: 978-1-935625-48-3
ISBN-10: 1-935625-48-9
ISSN: 2165-8706
Price: $40
Paperback, 2020

Order Now Table of Contents Editorial Board

Journal of Beat Studies is devoted to the scholarly criticism of Beat Generation writing and writers. Its goal is to provide readers with intelligent and penetrating critiques and analyses of Beat writing in all its forms, including poetry, life and travel writing, autobiography, fiction, drama, art and sketches, and screenplays.

Volume 7 will feature an article in both English and French, detailing Jack Kerorac’s adoration for libraries.

ISBN: 978-1-935625-38-4
ISBN-10: 1-935625-38-1
ISSN: 2165-8706
Price: $40.00
Paperback, 2019

Order Now Table of Contents Editorial Board

Journal of Beat Studies is devoted to the scholarly criticism of Beat Generation writing and writers. Its goal is to provide readers with intelligent and penetrating critiques and analyses of Beat writing in all its forms, including poetry, life and travel writing, autobiography, fiction, drama, art and sketches, and screenplays.

In particular, we’re pleased to feature several essays focused on archival work in Beat Studies. Volume 6 includes a detailed study of Joanne Kyger’s numerous travel journals and an homage to an audacious voice in Beat’s philosophical and literary experimentation. Also, Terence Diggory expounds on the wide-ranging and interdisciplinary nature of Beat poetics, spirituality, and Welch’s literary and personal life. Several of these texts are accompanied by archival and vintage images, which add period authenticity to the scholarship and, by their publication here, contribute greater access to the historical record.

ISBN: 978-1-935625-27-8
ISBN-10: 1-935625-27-6
ISSN: 2165-8706
Price: $40.00
Paperback, 2018

Order Now Table of Contents Editorial Board

Works Reviewed in Journal of Beat Studies Volume 5

World Beats: Beat Generations Writing and the Worlding of U.S. Literature by Jimmy Fazzino

Beat Drama: Playwrights and Performances of the “Howl” Generation Edited by Deborah R. Geis

Awakening the Eye: Robert Frank’s American Cinema by George Kouvaros

Ambiguous Borderlands: Shadow Imagery in Cold War American Culture by Erik Mortenson

To Think of Her Writing Awash in Light: Lyrical Essays on Dorothy Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson, Hettie Jones, Joanne Kyger, and Anne Waldman by Linda Russo

Works Reviewed in Journal of Beat Studies Volume 4

Crowded by Beauty: The Life and Zen of Poet Philip Whalen by David Schneider 

Elise Cowen: Poems and Fragments by Elise Cowen, edited by Tony Trigilio

Conversations with Ken Kesey edited by Scott F. Parker

The Village: 400 Years of Beats and Bohemians, Radicals and Rouges, a History of Greenwich Village by John Strausbaugh 

Call Me Burroughs: A Life by Barry Miles 

The Soft Machine: The Restored Text by William S. Burroughs, edited and with an introduction by Oliver Harris

The Ticket That Exoloded by William S. Burroughs, edited and with an introduction by Oliver Harris

Nova Express by William S. Burroughs, edited and with an introduction by Oliver Harris