Photo courtesy of Brenda Knight
Copyright Allen Ginsberg/Fahey Klein Gallery
�[A] woman from the audience asks: �Why are there so few women on this panel? Why are there so few women in this whole week�s program? Why were there so few women among the Beat writers?� and [Gregory] Corso, suddenly utterly serious, leans forward and says: �There were women, they were there, I knew them, their families put them in institutions, they were given electric shock. In the 50s if you were male you could be a rebel, but if you were female your families had you locked up. There were cases, I knew them, someday someone will write about them�� (Knight 141).
Elise Cowen is an example of the �hidden� women from the Beat movement that we rarely hear about. She kept her poetry hidden, her ideas hidden and her parents forced her to hide in mental institutions throughout her life until she finally committed a tragic suicide. Elise struggled to accept that her parents and society refused to allow her to be an unconventional, female rebel. Because of this, her life was very tragic, but she became one of the most inspirational Beat�s in the movement. Although she suffered severely from metal depression, she was still considered one of the most brilliant and inspirational women in the Beat community by authors such as Janine Pommy Vega, Joyce Johnson, Leo Skir, and Allen Ginsberg.
Born into an upper class family, Elise�s parents did all they could to be �normal.� They had achieved the American dream by having a �nice� home in a �nice� area. They took trips to Miami, and they could afford many luxuries for Elise like braces and skin care that most fifties children did not have. Although they portrayed the �perfect� family, behind the scenes they fought continuously, mainly about their �not so perfect� daughter. Joyce Johnson states in Minor Characters, which focuses a great deal on Elise�s tragic life, �They raised their voices, though, a great deal. Mr. Cowen was given to threats and rages; Mrs. Cowen to recriminations and tears. Elise was the focal point of their high-strung emotions, even of their battles with each other. She was the sore spot, the darkness in the household, depriving her parents of the middle-aged gaiety that should have been theirs� (Minor Characters 55).
Written
by:
Elisabeth Massie
Last updated: 22 July 2005