Loni Reynolds

Loni Reynolds completed a thesis on the Beat Generation at University of Roehampton, in London, in 2011. Mid-twentieth century American literature and non-traditional religious expression is her major research area. Her thesis explored religion and spirituality in the work of the Beats, focusing on Burroughs’ engagement with magic and the spiritual quest; Ginsberg’s Judaism and connection to the tradition of midrash, or the rewriting and re-imagining of sacred Jewish texts; and Kerouac and Corso’s Catholicism.

Since completing her thesis, Reynolds has written various articles on the Beats. One, based on an article written for the Hip Sublime conference at the University of Pennsylvania in 2012, investigates Burroughs’ oblique relation to the Classical epic. An article drawn from her thesis, ‘A Humane Yet Dark Tribute to Life: The Eucharist in the Work of Gregory Corso’ will be published in Religion and Literaturelater this year.  Another, entitled ‘The Mad Ones and The Geeks: Cognitive and Physical Disability in the Writing of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg’ will appear in a 2015 special issue of Disability and the American Counterculture. Currently based in London, Reynolds is now focusing on writing fiction based on her research into extreme religious expression and her experiences growing up in the American South.