Beat Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Beat Hotel was a small, run-down hotel of 42 rooms at 9 Rue Gît-le-Cœur in the Latin Quarter
of Paris
, notable chiefly as a residence for members of the Beat poetry movement of the mid-20th century
It was a "class 13" hotel, meaning bottom line, a place that was required by law to meet only minimum health and safety standards. It never had any proper name - "the Beat Hotel" was a nickname given by Gregory Corso
, which stuck on . The rooms had windows facing the interior stairwell and not much light. Hot water was available Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The hotel offered the opportunity for a bath - in the only bathtub, situated on the ground floor - provided the guest reserved time in beforehand and paid the surcharge for hot water. Curtains and bedspreads were changed and washed every spring. The linen was (sometimes and in principle) changed every month.
The Beat Hotel was managed by a married couple, Monsieur and Madame Rachou, from 1933. After the death of Monsieur Rachou in a traffic accident in 1957, Madame was the sole manager until the early months of 1963, when the hotel was closed. Besides letting rooms, the establishment had a small bistro on the ground floor. Due to early experiences with working at an inn frequented by Monet
and Pissarro
, Madame Rachou would encourage artists and writers to stay at the hotel and even at times permit them to pay the rent with paintings or manuscripts. One unusual thing that appealed to a clientele of bohemian artists was the permission to paint and decorate the rooms rented in whichever way they wanted.
writers and artists who stayed there from the late 1950s to the early 1960s in a ferment of creativity.
Allen Ginsberg
and Peter Orlovsky
first stayed there in 1957 and were soon joined by William S. Burroughs
, Derek Raymond
, Harold Norse
and Gregory Corso
, as well as Sinclair Beiles
. It was here that Burroughs completed the text of Naked Lunch
and began his lifelong collaboration with Brion Gysin
. It was also where Ian Sommerville
became Burroughs' 'systems advisor' and lover. Gysin introduced Burroughs to the Cut-up technique
and with Sommerville they experimented with a 'dream machine' and audio tape cut-ups. Here Norse
wrote a novel, Beat Hotel, using cut-up techniques . Ginsberg wrote a part of his moving and mature poem Kaddish
at the hotel and Corso wrote the mushroom cloud
-shaped poem Bomb.
There is now a small hotel (four stars) at that address called the Le Relais du Vieux Paris which contains photographs of several of these personalities and which describes itself as "The Beat Hotel" .
In July 2009, as part of a major William Burroughs symposium, NakedLunch@50, a special tribute was held outside 9 Rue Gît-le-Coeur, with Jean-Jacques Lebel
unveiling a plaque commemorative, now permanently hammered to the outside wall next to the main entrance, honoring the Beat Hotel's seven most famous occupants: B. Gysin, H. Norse, G. Corso, A. Ginsberg, P. Orlovsky, I. Sommerville, W. Burroughs.
Latin Quarter
Latin Quarter is a part of the 5th arrondissement in Paris.Latin Quarter may also refer to:* Latin Quarter , a British pop/rock band* Latin Quarter , a 1945 British film*Latin Quarter, Aarhus, part of Midtbyen, Aarhus C, Denmark...
of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, notable chiefly as a residence for members of the Beat poetry movement of the mid-20th century
Overview
Gregory Corso
Gregory Nunzio Corso was an American poet, youngest of the inner circle of Beat Generation writers...
, which stuck on . The rooms had windows facing the interior stairwell and not much light. Hot water was available Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The hotel offered the opportunity for a bath - in the only bathtub, situated on the ground floor - provided the guest reserved time in beforehand and paid the surcharge for hot water. Curtains and bedspreads were changed and washed every spring. The linen was (sometimes and in principle) changed every month.
The Beat Hotel was managed by a married couple, Monsieur and Madame Rachou, from 1933. After the death of Monsieur Rachou in a traffic accident in 1957, Madame was the sole manager until the early months of 1963, when the hotel was closed. Besides letting rooms, the establishment had a small bistro on the ground floor. Due to early experiences with working at an inn frequented by Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
and Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
, Madame Rachou would encourage artists and writers to stay at the hotel and even at times permit them to pay the rent with paintings or manuscripts. One unusual thing that appealed to a clientele of bohemian artists was the permission to paint and decorate the rooms rented in whichever way they wanted.
Fame with the Beat Generation
The hotel gained fame through the extended 'family' of beatBeat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
writers and artists who stayed there from the late 1950s to the early 1960s in a ferment of creativity.
Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
and Peter Orlovsky
Peter Orlovsky
Peter Anton Orlovsky was an American poet.-Life and work:Orlovsky was born in the Lower East Side of New York City, the son of Katherine and Oleg Orlovsky, a Russian immigrant. He was raised in poverty and was forced to drop out of Newtown High School in his senior year so he could support his...
first stayed there in 1957 and were soon joined by William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
, Derek Raymond
Derek Raymond
Robert William Arthur Cook , better known since the 1980s by his pen name Derek Raymond, was an English crime writer, credited with being the founder of English noir.-Early life:...
, Harold Norse
Harold Norse
Harold Norse was an American writer who created a body of work using the American idiom of everyday language and images. One of the expatriate artists of the Beat generation, Norse was widely published and anthologized.- Life :Born Harold Rosen to an unmarried Lithuanian Jewish immigrant in Brooklyn...
and Gregory Corso
Gregory Corso
Gregory Nunzio Corso was an American poet, youngest of the inner circle of Beat Generation writers...
, as well as Sinclair Beiles
Sinclair Beiles
Sinclair Beiles - was a South African beat poet and editor for Maurice Girodias at the Olympia Press in Paris. He developed along with William S...
. It was here that Burroughs completed the text of Naked Lunch
Naked Lunch
Naked Lunch is a novel by William S. Burroughs originally published in 1959. The book is structured as a series of loosely-connected vignettes. Burroughs stated that the chapters are intended to be read in any order...
and began his lifelong collaboration with Brion Gysin
Brion Gysin
Brion Gysin was a painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist born in Taplow, Buckinghamshire.He is best known for his discovery of the cut-up technique, used by his friend, the novelist William S. Burroughs...
. It was also where Ian Sommerville
Ian Sommerville (technician)
Ian Sommerville was an electronics technician and computer programmer. He is primarily known through his association with William S. Burroughs's circle of Beat Generation figures, and lived at Paris's so-called "Beat Hotel" by 1960, when they were regulars there, becoming Burroughs's lover and...
became Burroughs' 'systems advisor' and lover. Gysin introduced Burroughs to the Cut-up technique
Cut-up technique
The cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique in which a text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. Most commonly, cut-ups are used to offer a non-linear alternative to traditional reading and writing....
and with Sommerville they experimented with a 'dream machine' and audio tape cut-ups. Here Norse
Harold Norse
Harold Norse was an American writer who created a body of work using the American idiom of everyday language and images. One of the expatriate artists of the Beat generation, Norse was widely published and anthologized.- Life :Born Harold Rosen to an unmarried Lithuanian Jewish immigrant in Brooklyn...
wrote a novel, Beat Hotel, using cut-up techniques . Ginsberg wrote a part of his moving and mature poem Kaddish
Kaddish (poem)
Kaddish also known as Kaddish for Naomi Ginsberg is a poem by Beat writer Allen Ginsberg about his mother Naomi and her death on June 9, 1956.-Background:...
at the hotel and Corso wrote the mushroom cloud
Mushroom cloud
A mushroom cloud is a distinctive pyrocumulus mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. They can be caused by...
-shaped poem Bomb.
There is now a small hotel (four stars) at that address called the Le Relais du Vieux Paris which contains photographs of several of these personalities and which describes itself as "The Beat Hotel" .
In July 2009, as part of a major William Burroughs symposium, NakedLunch@50, a special tribute was held outside 9 Rue Gît-le-Coeur, with Jean-Jacques Lebel
Jean-Jacques Lebel
Jean-Jacques Lebel is a French artist, poet, poetry publisher, political activist and scholar born in Paris in 1936. He is known primarily for his work with Happenings, and as an art theory writer and art curator. He is the son of Robert Lebel, art critic and friend of Marcel Duchamp.-Life and...
unveiling a plaque commemorative, now permanently hammered to the outside wall next to the main entrance, honoring the Beat Hotel's seven most famous occupants: B. Gysin, H. Norse, G. Corso, A. Ginsberg, P. Orlovsky, I. Sommerville, W. Burroughs.
External links
- Documentary about The Beat Hotel
- Souvenirs of the Beat Hotel by Baird Bryant
- The Beat Hotel photographs (late 1950s and early 1960s) by Harold ChapmanHarold ChapmanHarold Stephen Chapman is a photographer noted for chronicalling the 1950s in Paris.He has produced a large body of work over many years, but his most significant period was from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s, when he lived in a backstreet Left Bank guesthouse in Paris later nicknamed ‘the...
- Beat Hotel Reconstruction at "Sinclair Beiles and the Beat Hotel" Exhibition, 24 January 1997
- The Beat Hotel, Photo Gallery at corsothefilm
- The Road to the Beat Hotel Video clip. Eddie WoodsEddie WoodsFor the English footballer see Eddie Woods Eddie Woods is a poet/prose writer, editor and publisher who lived and traveled in various parts of the world, both East and West, before eventually settling in Amsterdam, Holland, where in 1978 he started Ins & Outs magazine and two years later founded...
and others in a special Beat Hotel tribute on the Rue Gît-le-Coeur, Paris (July 2009). - http://www.beathotel.co.uk/ A comedy puppet show inspired by the original hotel