Abstract:

Travel runs through Ginsberg’s life and literary career, yet existing scholarship, while acknowledging its influence on his writing and thought, has not fully explored its poetic significance as a method of social critique. This article proposes the concept of a “poetics of travel,” regarding travel as a distinctive mode through which Ginsberg observed, represented, and intervened in society. It argues that travel not only provided experiential material for his poetry, but also formed a crucial mechanism through which his social critique took shape and unfolded: geographical distance afforded him the critical space from which to reassess America, while cross-cultural encounters offered comparative perspectives and new poetic resources for reflecting on American society. Travel became a crucial means by which the poet exposed repression, alienation, war, and the operations of American hegemony, while also connecting him with marginalized communities, the counterculture, and antiwar movements, thereby moving poetry beyond text and into the public sphere. Travel thus became a vital thread linking his personal experience, writing, social critique, and political practice. This article offers a new perspective on the relationship between Ginsberg, Beat literature, and postwar American society, while also providing a representative case for addressing the broader question of how literature intervenes in social reality.

Key words: Allen Ginsberg, poetics of travel, social critique, postwar American society