It is the aspiration of much literature that it wants to change the way we look at the world, but few authors and poets have been as influential as the group of writers labeled the Beat Generation.

The original Beat movement of the 1950s and ‘60s gave us Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” Michael McClure’s play “The Beard” and reams of other lively radical writings. But that ...

Why it’s daunting: Few art movements are as ripe for parody as the Beat generation. Thanks to the likes of Maynard G. Krebs, Scooby-Doo’s Shaggy, and Mike Myers’ jazz poet in So I Married An Axe ...