I must admit, I generally find them irrelevant in the 2010s. Stuff like On The Road, etc. they aren't too bad, but life now is very different. There are always going to be defeated / tired elements in each generation, but this stuff isn't that relevant to us now, I think.
Pic related. Probably what Jack Kerouac got used to seeing upon entering rooms, for a year after the release of On The Road.
Guess that answers THAT question, then.