Should The Whitemud Freeway be Changed to The Brion Gysin Freeway?

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There are many roads in every city in the world named after their famous residents past and present. Edmonton, Alberta is no exception. Edmonton has Wayne Gretzky Drive and Anthony Henday Drive. I know that Wayne Gretzky is a famous hockey player, however, I have no idea who Anthony Henday is or was, nor have I ever felt to desire to Google that answer. Enough about Wayne and Anthony and the roads named after them, as it is time that the former resident of Edmonton, Brion Gysin, has a road named after him. Why not change the name of The Whitemud Freeway to the Brion Gysin Freeway? At this point, you may being asking yourself “Who is Brion Gysin?”. If you already know who Brion Gysin is sit tight whilst we catch the rest of the class up.

Brion Gysin was born in 1916 at Taplow House, a Canadian military hospital in England, to Leonard Gysin and Stella Martin. Leonard was killed when young Brion was only eight months of age, and Stella returned to Canada settling in Edmonton, Alberta. Brion, a Catholic by birth, attended a Anglican boarding school in Edmonton. He graduated from that school at age fifteen and returned to England to attend Downside College in Bristol.

If you are reading this because you are a resident of Edmonton instead of being a admirer of Gysin, I understand that you might not want to change the name of a freeway in your city for someone who only lived there for fourteen odd years. Someone of such minor importance as Brion Gysin. After all he is not a famous hockey player, Edmonton city official, or financial benefactor to the city. What did this joker do that is deserving of a freeway being named after him?

Gysin is responsible for much of Post Modern culture. How can that be if you have not heard of him? The tragedy of of Brion Gysin’s life is that those around him always got the credit for what he came up with first.

So what exactly did our Mr. Gysin do? Gysin was a Beat poet and artist. Beat meaning that which is created by the beaten down of society. The meaning of term “beat’ in Beat culture has become obscured over the years because of the inclusion of Jazz music and that mental jump by some to thinking Beat was a reference to the beat of the music. Beats were determined to achieve transcendence by any means necessary. Artistically Beats would try anything and everything. Because of this people like Gysin and his friend William S. Burroughs constantly searched for change. Change in society, change in art, change in music, and change in literature. The Beats created a culture that has had an effect on many aspects of Western culture.