If you look up the word beatnik in the American Heritage Dictionary, the following is in part what you will find:

beat·nik. A person who acts and dresses with pointed, often exaggerated disregard for what is generally thought proper and who is given to radical and extravagant social criticism or self-expression.

However, according to the Beatitude website:
Beatnik (n.) -- sarcastic term for a beat. Derived by Herb Caen in 1958 as a combination of Beat and Sputnik.

Let's assume that most of us know what Sputnik is about. But how about the word beat in this context? Let's head back to Beatitude and have a look at the word beat:
Beat (n.) -- short for beatific

Which takes us back to the American Heritage Dictionary:
be·a·tif·ic .Showing or producing exalted joy or blessedness; angelic: a beatific smile.

A little confusing? Ok, let's cut to the chase and go to the source. That would be none other than Jack Kerouac. Mr. Kerouac can be found in the American Heritage Dictionary as well:
Ker·ou·ac, Jack. 1922-1969. American writer and leading figure of the beat generation. His primarily autobiographical books include On the Road (1957) and Desolation Angels (1965).

The crassest and simplest way to classify or categorize someone like Jack Kerouac is to say he was a Beatnik. Jack Kerouac was much more.

Kerouac thoughts on beat:
"Beat doesn't mean tired, or bushed, so much as it means beato, the Italian for beatific: to be in a state of beatitude, like Saint Francis, trying to love all life, trying to be utterly sincere with everyone, practicing endurance, kindness, cultivating joy of heart."

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Jack Kerouac coined the term beat generation, a label for alternative lifestyles and writing styles. As a young man he hung out with folks such as Allen Ginsberg, Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs, and Neal Cassady. He is perhaps most famous for his book ON THE ROAD, a nonfiction account of young, penniless artists associated with the Beat Movement who traveled back and forth across the country. The book was eventually published but only after years of rejection.

Dispite the rejections and length of time it took to be published Kerouac is considered by many to be nothing short of brilliant wordsmith and without question the father of the beatitude, beat or beatnik movement. In the 50s he became interested in Zen Buddhism and wrote the novel, THE DHARMA BUMS. In his later years he became an alcoholic and all together disillusioned with religion. Jack Kerouac died in St. Petersburg, Florida on October 21, 1969 at the age of 47.

Dispite Kerouac early demise the beat that he put into motion goes on to this day. The works of Kerouac and his cohorts, people like Burroughs, Ginsberg and a whole new generation of Beatitude types can be found all over the net.

Exploring these provided links is like taking a trip into the past and yet into the future, here you will find poems, writings, images and sounds to challenge the mind and imagination.