In his early prose writing Brinkmann was following in the footsteps of French 'nouveau roman' writers such as Alain Robbe-Grillet, inspired by his realism. However, during the 60's American beat and pop literature bore more influence on his work.

Writers like Jack Kerouac ("On the Road"), William S. Burroughs ("Naked Lunch") and the poetry of Frank O'Haras showed him a way out of the more conservative European literary scene. Whilst, bands like "The Deviants", "The Doors", "The Soft Machine" or "The Rolling Stones" played the fitting soundtrack.

Beat and pop music, also from England, unleashed a new way of life, which was also seen in the fine arts, particulary the pop art genre, 'light fiction' (thrillers, westerns and science fiction), in advertising and in the latest fashions.

At the beginning of the German student movement, Brinkmann was full of hope of significant changes in not only fine arts, but the politics of Germany or Europe. But as the momentum and energy of the movement subsided, so did Brinkmanns enthusiasm, even for beat and pop, and he begun to work solitary with collages.

There are many books written on this subjects. The following titles are just a small selection:

• Ott, Ulrich / Pfäfflin, Friedrich (Hg.): Protest! Literatur um 1968. Katalog zur Ausstellung des Deutschen Literaturarchivs, 9.5.-30.11.1998. Marbacher Kataloge 51, Marbach am Neckar 1998.
  
  
• Schmiedt, Helmut: No satisfaction oder Keiner weiß mehr: Rockmusik und Gegenwartsliteratur. In: Helmut Kreuzer (Hg.): LiLi - Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik. Göttingen 1979, H. 34, S. 11-24.
  
  
• Syring, Marie Luise (Hg.): Um 1968: Konkrete Utopien in Kunst und Gesellschaft. Köln 1990.
  
  
• Thomas, R. Hinton / Bullivant, Keith: Westdeutsche Literatur der sechziger Jahre. München 1975.

[Translation: Anna Rank, Olaf Selg]