The Hippie Narrative: A Literary Perspective on the Counterculture

by Scott MacFarlane

The Hippie movement of the 1960s helped change modern societal attitudes toward ethnic and cultural diversity, environmental accountability, spiritual expressiveness, and the justification of war. With roots in the Beat literary movement of the late 1950s, the hippie perspective also advocated a bohemian lifestyle which expressed distaste for hypocrisy and materialism yet did so without the dark, somewhat forced undertones of their predecessors. This cultural revaluation which developed as a direct response to the dark days of World War II created a counterculture which came to be at the epicenter of an American societal debate and, ultimately, saw the beginnings of postmodernism. Focusing on 1962 through 1976, this book takes a constructivist look at the hippie era's key works of prose, which in turn may be viewed as the literary canon of the counterculture. It examines the ways in which these works, with their tendency toward whimsy and spontaneity, are genuinely reflective of the period. Arranged chronologically, the discussed works function as a lens for viewing the period as a whole, providing a more rounded sense of the hippie Zeitgeist that shaped and inspired the period. Among the 15 works represented are One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Crying of Lot 49, Trout Fishing in America, Siddhartha, Stranger in a Strange Land, Slaughterhouse Five and The Fan Man.

263 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

The author resides in the Skagit River Valley of western Washington with his ever-supportive wife, Brenda, also an artist.

His personal threads of inspiration for The Bone Shrine Crime series include being a transit operator for 12+ years. A sundry flow of on-the-bus surprises often spark his muse.

He served as the founding executive director of the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles, Oregon in the 1990s. This helped anchor Mary, Joe and Biff. The three key teen characters in the series came of age helping create the new museum.

In 1982, he appeared in Paramount Pictures, “An Officer and a Gentleman,” when he portrayed a U.S. Naval Air Officer candidate in Sgt. Foley’s (Lou Gosset, Jr.) platoon.

MacFarlane attended the University of Washington 1974-79, and Antioch University’s MFA in Creative Writing program from 2003 through 2005.

In 1975, he spent his summer loading bushels of potatoes from the processing line onto boxcars at Basin Produce outside Moses Lake, also home of the actual Bone Shrine that inspired this series.

As a senior in high school, the author was a Rotary International Exchange Student. He attended Katedralskolan in Linköping, Sweden.

The author is pleased to announce the completion of his two novel series, The Bone Shrine Crimes. Book One, The Bone Shrine, has been updated with a second edition. The alterations to this compelling crime drama were included in the new edition to foster the reader's transition into Book Two, WHO?, the mystery-thriller and sequel.

Reviews

[Jeff Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty heavy on the literary analysis. It was low on the groovy scale. I didn't have the mindset or patience to read the entirety of book. I really only read the sections on Ken Kesey and Tom Wolfe; I've enjoyed their writings for years.

[Sheela Word · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each chapter in this well-written book is dedicated to a key Sixties text, such as "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, or "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe. Macfarlane describes the origin of each text, defines its place in literature and history, and evaluates its literary merit. "The Hippie Narrative" is entertaining and illuminating.

[Richard Curry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very scholarly literary explication of the hippie era.
I am on page 164 of 240 of a 2007 paperback version I bought from the author.
Full disclosure: the author is my ex-brother-in-law, yet I have not seen him for many years. I obtained my autographed paperback via an intermediary: his adult son, my nephew.
Scott was always an excellent writer. I suspect he intended this book as a college textbook. He put in the work.
I have worked as a meticulous legal proofreader for big multinational law firms, and I think I need to reread this volume with a microscope because I recently found a "hit piece" review on Amazon criticizing Scott's spelling. I am wondering if that reviewer was looking at a digital copy which has OCR errors in the electronic edition which are NOT in the paperback edition.

I just learned Rick Steve's has a "Hippie Trail" travel book out in Jan. 2025, so I thought it was time to add my take on Scott's book. I plan to start from the beginning and proofread it thoroughly.

[Scott Andrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh

[Dylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its analysis can be bland at times, but I appreciate certain aspects it highlights, as well as the attempt to synthesize 60s lit. There was some energy, vitality, viewpiont lacking although in a genre that usually has blowhard hardnose academics, his voice is the better. Not as explosive say as: "bombs, beards, and barricades" though. Lit analysis tends to fall behind in velocity to straight history.

[Swan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept wanting this book to be better because it visits ideas, themes, authors, books and a time period that I am fascinated with... and yet reading it was a very lack-luster experience for me.