(Full name Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth) American poet, translator, critic, biographer, and novelist.
Although he disavowed the title, Rexroth is known as the father of the Beat Generation by writers who contend that his works foreshadowed many of the characteristics associated with the literary movement. Among these qualities are the rejection of American social conventions and a preoccupation with spiritual development. Along with Kenneth Patchen and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Rexroth was also at the forefront of experimenting with recitation of poetry to jazz music.
Rexroth was born in South Bend, Indiana, the only son of Charles, a pharmaceuticals salesman, and Delia Rexroth. As a child, Rexroth was instructed at home, where his mother instilled in him her love of literature and the arts. After Delia’s death when Rexroth was ten years old, he went to live with an aunt in Toledo, Ohio. There, Rexroth joined a youth gang, participated in a major labor strike, and learned of socialism. In 1918 he was taken in by an aunt who lived in Chicago, where he attended Englewood High School. Although he dropped out of high school, he studied at the Chicago Art Institute and audited classes at the University of Chicago.
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