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| Jack Kerouac |
Jack Kerouac was named one of
the most important figures of the 20th century by LIFE Magazine. He is known as one of the most famous natives of
Lowell, Massachusetts—he was awarded a scholarship to Columbia University after
graduation from Lowell High School in 1939. Neal Cassady first came into his life while he was attending University, they later traveled together across country—and his novel On the Road memorialized their travels
together. His second novel On the Road was
published in 1957 and it epitomized the “Beat generation”. The culture of the “Beat
generation” consisted of drug experimentation, a rejection of materialism, and an
uncensored means of expression and being.
In the 1960s On the road was regarded as a
spontaneous and passionate celebration of the the country(U.S)—this novel became
somewhat religious for the “beat generation”. The novel appealed to the “flower
child-ness” of the time period and many young people absorbed the mindset of the "beat generation".
“I realized these were all the
snapshots which our children would look at someday with wonder, thinking their
parents had lived smooth, well-ordered lives and got up in the morning to walk
proudly on the sidewalks of life, never dreaming the raggedy madness and riot
of our actual lives, our actual night, the hell of it, the senseless
emptiness.”
“I woke up as the sun was
reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment
of all, when I didn't know who I was - I was far away from home, haunted and
tired with travel, in a cheap hotel room I'd never seen, hearing the hiss of
steam outside, and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps
upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and I looked at the cracked high ceiling and
really didn't know who I was for about fifteen strange seconds. I wasn't
scared; I was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a
haunted life, the life of a ghost.”
“the only people for me are the
mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous
of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace
thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like
spiders across the stars.”
Kerouac remains popular as has the
novel On the Road, so much so that it
has been adapted into a film starring Garrett Hedlund and Kristen Stewart that premiered
at the Cannes Film Festival 2012.
This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for years, and I feel guilty because it just sits there mocking me. Yet each time I pick the book up (this is the 5th time now) I can never make it past the 10th page. Maybe his writing is not for me, maybe my brain just doesn't want to focus on the font, maybe my book is just too pristine and not thrashed enough--I'm not quite sure. But your review reminds me that Kerouac is a widely known author, and I honestly should read the damn book once and for all--so here goes round six.
ReplyDeleteI'll admit that I've never actually read "On the Road" even though I feel like just about every other person has read it. But after reading your review, I think I'm missing out on something good here. I'll be adding Kerouac to my summer reading list this year thanks to you!
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