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George Pactrick McCall a Jack Korawack Best literary one-hit wonders is a Jack Skowron like, author of the bestseller “Freefall to Ecstasy.who writes the wonderfully-pretentious bestselling ''Freefall five months in a balloon'',about an alledged semi auto biography homeless man living in Fairmount Park,who steals an air balloon from the Philadelphia Zoo and spends five months on the run travelling America,published by Mammoth Books,as their answer to George Pactrick McCall write a sequile called Citizen George about his being a homeless suddenly being wealthy,but still living in the same tent,this time McCall is still trying to recapture his muse amid his raging alcoholism and stalled writing .

☀The only really amusing bit is the running joke about Jack Skowran's best selling novel, "Freefall to Ecstasy" in which everyone's heard of it, but NOBODY has finished reading it!

Anthony Zerbe as down-and-out writer Jack Skowron, an old friend of Rockford's whom he hasn't seen in 20 years. Skowron wrote a 1950s bestseller--on the charts for one-and-a-half weeks--"on the Kerouac/Burroughs wave", the wonderfully-pretentious Freefall to Ecstasy. Skowron is still trying to recapture his muse amid his raging alcoholism and stalled writing .

{{Infobox writer

| name         = Jack  Kerouac

| image        = Jack Kerouac Naval Reserve Enlistment, 1943.png

| caption      = Kerouac's Naval Reserve Enlistment mugshot, 1943

| birth_name   = Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac<ref>McGrath, Charles. [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/books/16kero.html? "Another Side of Kerouac: The Dharma Bum as Sports Nut," ''[[The New York Times]]'' (May 15, 2009).] Accessed May 16, 2009.</ref>

| birth_date   = {{birth date|1922|3|12|mf=y}}

| birth_place  = [[Lowell, Massachusetts]], United States

| death_date   = {{death date and age|1969|10|21|1922|3|12|mf=y}}

| death_place  = [[St. Petersburg, Florida]], United States

| occupation   = [[Novelist]], [[poet]], [[Painting|painter]]

| alma_mater = [[Columbia University]]

| nationality  = American

| genre        = [[Beat Generation|Beat poets]]

| movement     = [[Beat Generation|Beat]]

| notableworks = ''[[On the Road]]''<br />''[[The Dharma Bums]]''<br />''[[Big Sur (novel)|Big Sur]]''

| religion     = Catholic

| influences   = [[Henry Miller]], [[Thomas Wolfe]], [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]], [[Marcel Proust]], [[Jack London]], [[James Joyce]], [[Neal Cassady]], [[Walt Whitman]], [[Charlie Parker]], [[Arthur Rimbaud]], [[Hart Crane]], [[Ernest Hemingway]], [[William S. Burroughs]], [[Gary Snyder]], [[Louis-Ferdinand Céline]], [[Honoré de Balzac]], [[John Fante]], [[Herman Melville]], [[Matsuo Basho]], the [[Diamond Sutra]], [[Lester Young]]

| influenced   = [[Thomas Pynchon]], [[Tom Robbins]], [[Richard Brautigan]], [[Ken Kesey]], [[Russell Banks]], [[Joyce Johnson]], [[Jim Morrison]], [[Roy Harper]], [[John Lennon]], [[Bob Dylan]], [[Morrissey]], [[Tom Wolfe]], [[Tom Waits]], [[Jerry Garcia]], [[Haruki Murakami]], [[Ben Gibbard]], [[Craig Finn]], [[Will Clarke (novelist)|Will Clarke]], [[Joe Cutler]], [[Jim Dodge]], [[Blake Schwarzenbach]], [[Hunter S. Thompson]], [[D.M. Court]]

| signature    = Jack Kerouac signature.svg

}}

'''Jack Kerouac''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɛr|uː|æ|k}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɛr|ɵ|æ|k}}; born '''Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac''' March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist and poet.


He is considered a literary [[Iconoclasm|iconoclast]] and, alongside [[William S. Burroughs]] and [[Allen Ginsberg]], a pioneer of the [[Beat Generation]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PNRHQ96szrsC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=kerouac+iconoclast+literary&source=bl&ots=vAaUkb3MRu&sig=jTp_7Y-Ty25vUwdoXe-ChfGNZ2U&hl=en&ei=g7wbS57gNpT0sQOjkYX6Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CCgQ6AEwCTgo#v=onepage&q=&f=false |title=The view from On the road: the rhetorical vision of Jack Kerouac|last=Swartz|first=Omar|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|year=1999 |accessdate=2010-01-29|page=4|isbn=978-0-8093-2384-5}}</ref> Kerouac is recognized for his method of spontaneous prose. Thematically, his work covers topics such as [[Catholic spirituality]], [[jazz]], [[promiscuity]], [[Buddhism]], drugs, poverty, and travel. He became an underground celebrity and, with other [[Beat Generation|beats]], a progenitor of the [[History of the hippie movement|hippie movement]], although he remained antagonistic toward some of its politically radical [[Counterculture of the 1960s|elements]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Dean |first=Robert |url=http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-conservative-kerouac/ |title=The Conservative Kerouac |publisher=The American Conservative |date=2012-09-07 |accessdate=2013-11-21}}</ref><ref>{{citation |title=Countering the Counterculture: Rereading Postwar American Dissent from Jack Kerouac to Tomás Rivera |last=Martinez |first=Manuel Luis |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-299-19284-6 |page=26 |quote=Kerouac appeared to have done an about-face, becoming extraordinarily reactionary and staunchly anticommunist, vocalizing his intense hatred of the 1960s counterculture... }}; ''id''. at p. 29 ("Kerouac realized where his basic allegiance lay and vehemently disassociated himself from hippies and revolutionaries and deemed them unpatriotic subversives."); ''id''. at p. 30 ("Kerouac['s]...attempt to play down any perceived responsibility on his part for the hippie generation, whose dangerous activism he found repellent and "delinquent."); ''id''. at p. 111 ("Kerouac saw the hippies as mindless, communistic, rude, unpatriotic and soulless."); {{citation |title=Kerouac: His Life and Work |last1=Maher |first1=Paul |last2=Amram |first2=David |publisher=Taylor Trade Publications |year=2007 |quote=In the current political climate, Kerouac wrote, he had nowhere to turn, as he liked neither the hippies...nor the upper-echelon... |page=469 |isbn=9781589793668}}</ref>


In 1969, at age 47, Kerouac died from internal bleeding due to long-term [[alcohol abuse]]. Since his death Kerouac's literary prestige has grown and several previously unseen works have been published. All of his books are in print today, including ''[[The Town and the City]]'', ''[[On the Road]]'', ''[[Doctor Sax]]'', ''[[The Dharma Bums]]'', ''[[Mexico City Blues]]'', ''[[The Subterraneans]]'', ''[[Desolation Angels (novel)|Desolation Angels]]'', ''[[Visions of Cody]]'', ''[[The Sea Is My Brother]]'', and ''[[Big Sur (novel)|Big Sur]]''.


==Biography==


===Early life and adolescence===

[[Image:Jack Kerouac's birthplace, 9 Lupine Road, Lowell MA.jpg||thumb|left|Jack Kerouac's birthplace, 9 Lupine Road in the West Centralville section of Lowell Massachusetts, 2nd floor.]]

Jack Kerouac was born on March 12, 1922 in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]], to [[French Canadian]] parents, Léo-Alcide Kéroack and Gabrielle-Ange Lévesque, of [[Saint-Hubert-de-Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec|St-Hubert-de-Rivière-du-Loup]] in the province of [[Quebec]], Canada. There is some confusion surrounding his name, partly because of variations on the spelling of Kerouac, and also because of Kerouac's own statement of his name as ''Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac''. His reason for doing so seems to be linked to an old family legend that the Kerouacs had descended from Baron François Louis Alexandre Lebris de Kerouac. Kerouac's baptism certificate lists his name simply as ''Jean Louis Kirouac'', and this is the most common spelling of the name in Quebec.<ref name="autogenerated1983">{{harvnb|Nicosia|1983}}</ref> Research has shown that Kerouac's roots were indeed in [[Brittany]], and he was descended from a middle-class merchant colonist, Urbain-François Le Bihan, Sieur de [[Lanmeur|Kervoac]], whose sons married French Canadians.<ref name="dagier ; Quéméner"/><ref>[http://www.genealogie.org/famille/kirouac/PlaquesCOMM_AN.htm ]{{dead link|date=November 2013}}</ref> Kerouac's father Leo had been born into a family of potato farmers in the village of St-Hubert-de-Rivière-du-Loup. Jack also had various stories on the etymology of his surname, usually tracing it to [[Irish language|Irish]], [[Breton language|Breton]], [[Cornish language|Cornish]] or other [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] roots. In one interview he claimed it was from the name of the Cornish language (''Kernewek'') and that the Kerouacs had fled from Cornwall to [[Brittany]].<ref>Alan M Kent, Celtic Cornwall: Nation, Tradition, Invention. Halsgrove, 2012</ref> Another version was that the Kerouacs had come to Cornwall from Ireland before the time of Christ and that the name meant ''"language of the house"''.<ref>Michael J. Dittman, Jack Kerouac: A Biography, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004</ref> In still another interview he said it was an Irish word for "language of the water" and related to ''Kerwick''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Berrigan, Ted| authorlink =Ted Berrigan| url=http://www.parisreview.com/media/4260_KEROUAC.pdf|format=PDF|title=The Art of Fiction No. 43: Jack Kerouac, pg. 49|work=[[The Paris Review]]|year=1968|accessdate=2008-05-14 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080528025958/http://www.parisreview.com/media/4260_KEROUAC.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2008-05-28}}</ref>  Kerouac, derived from ''Kervoach'', is the name of a town in [[Brittany]] in [[Lanmeur]], near [[Morlaix]].<ref name="dagier ; Quéméner">{{harvnb|Dagier|2009}}</ref>


[[Image:Jack Kerouac's 3rd home, 34 Beaulieu.jpg||thumb|left|His third of several homes growing up in the West Centralville section of Lowell, Jack Kerouac later referred to 34 Beaulieu Street as "sad Beaulieu". The Kerouac family was living there in 1926 when Jack's older brother Gerard died of rheumatic fever at the age of nine. Jack was four at the time, and would later say that Gerard followed him in life as a [[guardian angel]]. This is the Gerard of Kerouac's novel ''[[Visions of Gerard]]''.]] He had one other sibling, an older sister named Caroline. Kerouac was referred to as ''Ti Jean'' or ''little John'' around the house during his childhood.<ref name="autogenerated1983"/> Kerouac spoke French until he learned English at age six, not speaking it confidently until his late teens.<ref>{{harvnb|Sandison|1999}}</ref> He was a serious child who was devoted to his mother, who played an important role in his life. She was a devout [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], instilling this deep faith into both her sons.<ref name="culturewars.com">Fellows, Mark [http://www.culturewars.com/CultureWars/1999/kerouac.html The Apocalypse of Jack Kerouac: Meditations on the 30th Anniversary of his Death], Culture Wars Magazine, November 1999</ref> Kerouac would later say that his mother was the only woman he ever loved.<ref name="beatmuseum.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.beatmuseum.org/kerouac/jackkerouac.html |title=Jack Kerouac - bio and links |publisher=Beatmuseum.org |date= |accessdate=2011-04-23}}</ref> When he was four, he was profoundly affected by the death of his nine-year-old brother, Gérard, from [[rheumatic fever]], an event later described in his novel ''[[Visions of Gerard]]''. His mother sought solace in her faith, while his father abandoned it, wallowing in drinking, gambling and smoking.<ref name="culturewars.com"/> Some of Kerouac's poetry was written in French, and in letters written to friend [[Allen Ginsberg]] towards the end of his life, he expressed a desire to speak his parents' native tongue again. Recently, it was discovered that Kerouac first started writing ''[[On the Road]]'' in Québecois French, a language in which he also wrote two unpublished novels.<ref>{{cite web|last=Anctil |first= Gabriel |url=http://www.ledevoir.com/2007/09/05/155613.html |title=Les 50 ans d'On the Road - Kerouac voulait écrire en français |work=[[Le Devoir]] |date=September 5, 2007| accessdate=2008-04-29}}</ref> <!---{{joual?}} ---><ref>{{cite web|last= Anctil |first= Gabriel |url=http://www.ledevoir.com/culture/livres/203916/sur-le-chemin.html |title=Sur le chemin - Découverte d'un deuxième roman en français de Jack Kerouac}}</ref>


On May 17, 1928, while six years old, Kerouac had his first [[Confession (religion)|Sacrament of Confession]].<ref name="books.google.com">Amburn, Ellis, [http://books.google.com/books?id=bN0PJn6VCNIC&pg Subterranean Kerouac: The Hidden Life of Jack Kerouac], p. 13-14 , MacMillan 1999</ref> For [[penance]] he was told to say a [[rosary]], during which he heard God tell him that he had a good soul, that he would suffer in life and [[Jack Kerouac#Death|die in pain and horror]], but would in the end receive salvation.<ref name="books.google.com"/> This experience, along with his dying brother's vision of the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]], (as the nuns fawned over him, convinced he was a saint), combined with a later study of Buddhism and an ongoing commitment to Christ, solidified the worldview which would inform his work.<ref name="books.google.com"/>


There were few black people in Lowell,<ref name="higherhome">{{cite web|author=Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center, University of Massachusetts Lowell|url=http://ecommunity.uml.edu/blackhistory/pdf/cen_stu_1930.pdf|title=1930 Black History Census Study, from: ''A Higher Home: An Exhibit on African-Americans in the Lowell Area during the 20th Century''|accessdate=2008-05-14}}</ref> so the young Kerouac did not encounter the sort of racism that was common in other parts of the United States. Kerouac once told [[Ted Berrigan]], in an interview for ''[[The Paris Review]]'', of an incident in the 1940s in which his mother and father were walking together in a Jewish neighborhood on the [[Lower East Side]] of New York. He recalled "a whole bunch of [[rabbi]]s walking arm in arm&nbsp;... teedah- teedah - teedah&nbsp;... and they wouldn't part for this Christian man and his wife.  So my father went POOM! and knocked a rabbi right in the gutter."<ref>{{harvnb|Miles|1998|p=8}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Berrigan|1968|p=14}}</ref> Leo, after the death of his child, also treated a priest with similar contempt, angrily throwing him out of the house despite an invitation from Gabrielle.<ref name="culturewars.com"/>


Kerouac's athletic skills as a running back in [[American football]] for Lowell High School earned him scholarship offers from [[Boston College]], [[University of Notre Dame|Notre Dame]] and [[Columbia University]]. He entered [[Columbia University]] after spending a year at [[Horace Mann Preparatory School]], where he earned the requisite grades for entry to Columbia. Kerouac broke a leg playing football during his freshman season, and during an abbreviated sophomore year he argued constantly with coach [[Lou Little]], who kept him benched.  While at Columbia, Kerouac wrote several sports articles for the student newspaper, the ''[[Columbia Daily Spectator]]'' and joined the fraternity of [[Phi Gamma Delta]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Phi Gamma Delta|url=http://www.wikicu.com/Phi_Gamma_Delta|publisher=Wiki CU|accessdate=19 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Beat Generation in New York: A Walking Tour of Jack Kerouac's City|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-nt1xVR4SrAC&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=fraternity+of+Phi+Gamma+Delta+kerouac&source=bl&ots=r-7YMRd94X&sig=5xqkD1SajFQ16vVwV6kXifklD7g&hl=en&ei=q-kqTumOA46usAOv46DQCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDEQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=fraternity%20of%20Phi%20Gamma%20Delta%20kerouac&f=false|publisher=Google Books|accessdate= 23 July 2011}}</ref> He also studied at [[The New School]].<ref name=hpo>{{cite web|last=Johnson|first=Joyce|title=How the 'Beat Generation' Got Away from Kerouac|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joycejohnson/how-the-beat-generation-g_b_1958500.html|publisher=Huffington Post|date=November 11, 2012}}</ref>


===Early adulthood===

When his football career at Columbia soured, Kerouac dropped out of the university. He continued to live for a time in New York's [[Upper West Side]] with his girlfriend and future first wife, [[Edie Parker]]. It was during this time that he met the people — now famous — with whom he would always be associated, the characters who formed the basis of many of his novels: the so-called [[Beat Generation]], including [[Allen Ginsberg]],  [[Neal Cassady]], [[John Clellon Holmes]], [[Herbert Huncke]] and [[William S. Burroughs]].


Kerouac joined the [[United States Merchant Marine]] in 1942, and in 1943 joined the [[United States Navy]], but he served  only eight days of active duty before arriving on the sick list. According to his medical report, Jack Kerouac said he "asked for an aspirin for his headaches and they diagnosed me [[dementia praecox]] and sent me here." The medical examiner reported Jack Kerouac’s military adjustment was poor, quoting Kerouac: "I just can’t stand it; I like to be by myself." Two days later he was honorably discharged on psychiatric grounds (he was of "indifferent character" with a diagnosis of "[[Schizoid personality disorder|schizoid personality]]").<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0906052_jack_kerouac_1.html|title=Hit The Road, Jack|work=[[The Smoking Gun]]|date=September 5, 2005|accessdate=2008-04-29}}</ref>


While serving in the United States Merchant Marine, Kerouac authored his first novel, ''[[The Sea Is My Brother]]''. Although written in 1942, the book was not published until 2011, some 42 years after Kerouac's death, and 70 years after the book was written. Although Kerouac described the work as being about "man’s simple revolt from society as it is, with the inequalities, frustration, and self-inflicted agonies", Kerouac reputedly viewed the work as a failure, reportedly calling it a "crock [of shit] as literature" and never actively sought publication of the book.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/25/kerouacs-lost-debut-novel-published |title=Kerouac's Lost Debut Novel Published |publisher=Guardian.co.uk |date= 2011-11-25|accessdate=2011-12-06 |location=London |first=Stephen |last=Bates}}</ref>


In 1944, Kerouac was arrested as a [[material witness]] in the murder of David Kammerer, who had been stalking Kerouac's friend [[Lucien Carr]] since Carr was a teenager in St. Louis. William Burroughs was a native of St. Louis, and it was through Carr that Kerouac came to know both Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. According to Carr, Kammerer's homosexual obsession with Carr turned aggressive, causing Carr to stab him to death in self-defense. After turning to Kerouac for help, together they disposed of the body in the Hudson River. Afterwards, encouraged by Burroughs, they turned themselves in to the police. Kerouac's father refused to pay his bail. Kerouac then agreed to marry [[Edie Parker]] if her parents would pay the bail. Their marriage was annulled in 1948.<ref>{{harvnb|Knight|1996|pp=78–79}}</ref> Kerouac and Burroughs briefly collaborated on a novel about the Kammerer killing titled ''[[And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks]]''. Though the book was not published during their lifetimes, an excerpt eventually appeared in ''Word Virus: A William S. Burroughs Reader'' (and as noted below, the novel was finally published late 2008). Kerouac also later wrote about the killing in his novel ''[[Vanity of Duluoz]]''.


Later, he lived with his parents in the [[Ozone Park, Queens|Ozone Park]] neighborhood of [[Queens]], after they had also moved to New York. He wrote his first published novel, ''[[The Town and the City]]'', and began the famous ''[[On the Road]]'' around 1949 while living there.<ref>{{cite web|author=Fenton, Patrick|url=http://www.wordsareimportant.com/ozonepark.htm |title=The wizard of Ozone Park|work=Dharma Beat|year=1997|accessdate=2008-05-27 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080225101624/http://www.wordsareimportant.com/ozonepark.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2008-02-25}}</ref> His friends jokingly called him "The Wizard of Ozone Park", alluding to [[Thomas Edison]]'s nickname, "the Wizard of Menlo Park" and to the film ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''.<ref>{{cite news|author=Kilgannon, Corey |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/10/nyregion/10ink.html|title=On the Road, the One Called Cross Bay Boulevard|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 10, 2005|accessdate=2008-04-29}}</ref>


===Early career: 1950–1957===

[[Image:Jacks house3.JPG||thumb|Jack Kerouac lived with his parents for a time above a corner drug store in Ozone Park (now this flower shop),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&num=100&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=%22LITTLE+SHOPPE+OF+FLOWERS%22+%22Ozone+Park%22+Queens+%22New+York%22&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&cid=0,0,6055163161404423961&ei=rL37SfO0BZmSswOXo731AQ&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1 |title="LITTLE SHOPPE OF FLOWERS" "Ozone Park" Queens "New York" - Google Maps |publisher=Maps.google.com |date=1970-01-01 |accessdate=2013-11-21}}</ref> while writing some of his earliest work.]]

[[File:Kerouac by Palumbo 2.png|thumb|Jack Kerouac by [[Tom Palumbo]] circa 1956]]


''[[The Town and the City]]'' was published in 1950 under the name "John Kerouac" and, though it earned him a few respectable reviews, the book sold poorly. Heavily influenced by Kerouac's reading of [[Thomas Wolfe]], it reflects on the generational epic formula and the contrasts of small town life versus the multi-dimensional, and larger life of the city. The book was heavily edited by [[Robert Giroux]], with around 400 pages taken out.


For the next six years, Kerouac continued to write regularly. Building upon previous drafts tentatively titled "The Beat Generation" and "Gone on the Road," Kerouac completed what is now known as ''[[On the Road]]'' in April 1951, while living at 454 West 20th Street in Manhattan with his second wife, Joan Haverty.<ref name="epic">{{cite web|author=Wolf, Stephen |url=http://www.thevillager.com/villager_238/anepic.html|title=An epic journey through the life of Jack Kerouac|work=[[The Villager]]|date=November 21–27, 2007|accessdate=2008-05-14}}</ref>  The book was largely autobiographical and describes Kerouac's road-trip adventures across the United States and Mexico with [[Neal Cassady]] in the late-40s, as well as his relationships with other Beat writers and friends.  He completed the first version of the novel during a three-week extended session of spontaneous confessional prose.  Kerouac wrote the final draft in 20 days, with Joan, his wife, supplying him bowls of pea soup and mugs of coffee to keep him going.<ref name="amburn">{{Cite book|author=Amburn, Ellis |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bN0PJn6VCNIC&pg=PA164|title=Subterranean Kerouac: the hidden life of Jack Kerouac|date=October 5, 1999|accessdate=2010-09-28}}</ref>  Before beginning, Kerouac cut sheets of tracing paper<ref name="sante">{{cite news|author=Sante, Luc |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/books/review/Sante2-t-1.html|title=On the Road Again|work=The New York Times|date=August 19, 2007|accessdate=2008-05-10}}</ref> into long strips, wide enough for a typewriter, and taped them together into a {{convert|120|ft|m|sing=on}} long roll he then fed into the machine. This allowed him to type continuously without the interruption of reloading pages. The resulting manuscript contained no chapter or paragraph breaks and was much more explicit than what would eventually be printed.  Though "spontaneous," Kerouac had prepared long in advance before beginning to write.<ref name="allthings">{{cite web|author=Shea, Andrea |url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14112461|title=Jack Kerouac's Famous Scroll, 'On the Road' Again|work=[[National Public Radio|NPR]]|date=July 5, 2007|accessdate=2008-04-29}}</ref>  In fact, according to his Columbia professor and mentor [[Mark Van Doren]], he had outlined much of the work in his journals over the several preceding years.


Though the work was completed quickly, Kerouac had a long and difficult time finding a publisher. Before ''On the Road'' was accepted by Viking Press, Kerouac got a job as a "railroad brakesman and fire lookout" (see [[Desolation Peak (Washington)]]) traveling between the East and West coasts of America to collect money, so he could live with his mother. While employed in this way he met and befriended Abe Green, a young freight train jumper who later introduced Kerouac to his friend [[Herbert Huncke]], a street hustler and favorite of many [[Beat Generation]] writers. During this period of travel, Kerouac wrote what he considered to be "his life's work", "[[Jack Kerouac bibliography|The Legend of Duluoz]]".<ref>[[Ann Charters|Charters, Ann]]. "Jack Kerouac." American Novelists Since World War II: First Series. Ed. Jeffrey Helterman and Richard Layman. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 2. Literature Resources from Gale. Gale. 8 Nov. 2010.</ref>


Publishers rejected ''On the Road'' because of its experimental writing style and its sympathetic tone towards minorities and marginalized social groups of [[United States in the 1950s|post-War America]]. Many editors were also uncomfortable with the idea of publishing a book that contained what were, for the era, graphic descriptions of drug use and homosexual behavior—a move that could result in obscenity charges being filed, a fate that later befell Burroughs' ''[[Naked Lunch]]'' and Ginsberg's ''[[Howl]]''.


According to Kerouac, ''On the Road'' "was really a story about two Catholic buddies roaming the country in search of God. And we found him. I found him in the sky, in Market Street San Francisco (those 2 visions), and Dean (Neal) had God sweating out of his forehead all the way. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY OUT FOR THE HOLY MAN: HE MUST SWEAT FOR GOD. And once he has found Him, the Godhood of God is forever Established and really must not be spoken about."<ref name="culturewars.com"/> According to his authorized biographer, historian [[Douglas Brinkley]], ''On the Road'' has been misinterpreted as a tale of companions out looking for kicks, but the most important thing to comprehend is that Kerouac was an American Catholic author – for example, virtually every page of his diary bore a sketch of a crucifix, a prayer, or an appeal to Christ to be forgiven.<ref name="weekendedition">{{cite web|author=Vitale, Tom |url= http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14112461|title= 'On the Road' at 50|work=[[National Public Radio|NPR]]|date=September 1, 2007|accessdate=2011-02-28}}</ref>


In the spring of 1951, Joan Haverty left and divorced Kerouac while pregnant.<ref>{{harvnb|Knight|1996|pp=88}}</ref>  In February 1952, she gave birth to Kerouac's only child, [[Jan Kerouac]], though he refused to acknowledge her as his own until a blood test supported it 9 years later.<ref>{{cite web|author=Dictionary of Literary Biography |url=http://www.bookrags.com/biography/jan-kerouac-dlb/|title=Jan Kerouac Biography|work=[[Dictionary of Literary Biography]]|accessdate=2008-05-10}}</ref> For the next several years Kerouac continued writing and traveling, taking extensive trips throughout the U.S. and Mexico and often fell into bouts of depression and heavy drug and alcohol use.  During this period he finished drafts for what would become 10 more novels, including ''[[The Subterraneans]]'', ''[[Doctor Sax]]'', ''[[Tristessa]]'', and ''[[Desolation Angels (novel)|Desolation Angels]]'', which chronicle many of the events of these years.


In 1954, Kerouac discovered Dwight Goddard's ''A Buddhist Bible'' at the [[San Jose, California|San Jose]] Library, which marked the beginning of his immersion into [[Buddhism]]. However, Kerouac had taken an interest in Eastern thought in 1946 when he read Heinrich Zimmer's ''Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization''. Kerouac's stance on eastern texts then differed from when he took it up again in the early to mid-1950s. In 1955 Kerouac wrote a biography of [[Gautama Buddha|Siddhartha Gautama]], titled ''Wake Up'', which was unpublished during his lifetime, but eventually serialized in ''[[Tricycle: The Buddhist Review]]'', 1993–95. It was published by Viking in September 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Up-Buddha-Jack-Kerouac/dp/0670019577/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228158449&sr=1-1|title=''Wake Up!'' on Amazon.com|accessdate=2008-12-01}}</ref>

[[Image:Jack Kerouac House - Orlando Florida.jpg|thumb|House in [[Orlando, Florida]] where Kerouac lived and wrote ''[[The Dharma Bums]]'']]


Politically, Kerouac found enemies on both sides of the spectrum, the right disdaining his association with drugs and sexual libertinism and the left contemptuous of his anti-communism and Catholicism; characteristically he watched the 1954 Senate [[Army–McCarthy hearings|McCarthy hearings]] smoking cannabis and rooting for the anti-communist crusader, Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]].<ref name="culturewars.com"/> In ''Desolation Angels'' he wrote, "when I went to Columbia all they tried to teach us was [[Karl Marx|Marx]], as if I cared" (considering Marxism, like [[Sigmund Freud|Freudianism]], to be an illusory tangent).<ref>{{cite book|last=Fisher|first=James Terence|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Q08cuo8-7ggC&dq |title=The Catholic Counterculture in America, 1933-1962|pages=216, 237|publisher=UNC Press|year=2001}}</ref>


In 1957, after being rejected by several other firms, ''On the Road'' was finally purchased by [[Viking Press]], which demanded major revisions prior to publication.<ref name="allthings"/> Many of the more sexually explicit passages were removed and, fearing [[Defamation|libel]] suits, [[pseudonym]]s were used for the book's "characters".  These revisions have often led to criticisms of the alleged spontaneity of Kerouac's style.<ref name="sante"/>


===Later career: 1957–1969===

In July 1957, Kerouac moved to a small house at 1418½ Clouser Avenue in the [[College Park (Orlando)|College Park]] section of [[Orlando, Florida]], to await the release of ''On the Road''. Weeks later, a review of the book by Gilbert Millstein appeared in ''The New York Times'' proclaiming Kerouac the voice of a new generation.<ref name="nytreview">

{{cite news

|url=http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/07/home/kerouac-roadglowing.html

|title=Books of the Times

|accessdate=2012-10-24

|publisher=The New York Times

|work=}}</ref> Kerouac was hailed as a major American writer. His friendship with Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and [[Gregory Corso]], among others, became a notorious representation of the Beat Generation. The term "Beat Generation" was invented by Kerouac during a conversation held with fellow novelist [[Herbert Huncke]]. Huncke used the term "beat" to describe a person with little money and few prospects. "I'm beat to my socks", he had said. Kerouac's fame came as an unmanageable surge that would ultimately be his undoing.


Kerouac's novel is often described as the defining work of the post-World War II [[Beat Generation]] and Kerouac came to be called "the king of the beat generation,"<ref name="King">

{{cite news

|url=http://partners.nytimes.com/books/97/09/07/home/kerouac-conference.html

|title=Beat Generation Elders Meet to Praise Kerouac

|accessdate=2008-12-16

|publisher=The New York Times

|work=}}</ref> a term that he never felt comfortable with. He once observed, "I'm not a beatnik, I'm a Catholic", showing the reporter a painting of [[Pope Paul VI]] and saying, "You know who painted that? Me."<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/07/home/kerouac-obit.html |title=Jack Kerouac Obituary |work=The New York Times}}</ref>


The success of ''On the Road'' brought Kerouac instant fame. His celebrity status brought publishers desiring unwanted manuscripts that were previously rejected before its publication.<ref name="beatmuseum.org"/> After nine months, he no longer felt safe in public. He was badly beaten by three men outside the [[San Remo Cafe]] at 189 [[Bleecker Street]] in New York City one night. [[Neal Cassady]], possibly as a result of his new notoriety as the central character of the book, was set up and arrested for selling marijuana.<ref>{{harvnb|Suiter|2002|p=237}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Berrigan|1968|pp=19–20}}</ref>


In response, Kerouac chronicled parts of his own experience with Buddhism, as well as some of his adventures with [[Gary Snyder]] and other [[San Francisco]]-area poets, in ''[[The Dharma Bums]]'', set in [[California]] and [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and published in 1958. It was written in Orlando between November 26<ref name="suiter">{{harvnb|Suiter|2002|p=229}}</ref>  and December 7, 1957.<ref>{{harvnb|Suiter|2002|p=233}}</ref>  To begin writing ''Dharma Bums'', Kerouac typed onto a ten-foot length of teleprinter paper, to avoid interrupting his flow for paper changes, as he had done six years previously for ''On the Road''.<ref name="suiter"/>


Kerouac was demoralized by criticism of ''Dharma Bums'' from such respected figures in the American field of Buddhism as Zen teachers [[Ruth Fuller Sasaki]] and [[Alan Watts]].  He wrote to Snyder, referring to a meeting with [[D. T. Suzuki]], that "even Suzuki was looking at me through slitted eyes as though I was a monstrous imposter."  He passed up the opportunity to reunite with Snyder in California, and explained to [[Philip Whalen]], "I'd be ashamed to confront you and Gary now I've become so decadent and drunk and don't give a shit.  I'm not a Buddhist any more."<ref>{{harvnb|Suiter|2002|pp=242–243}}</ref> In further reaction to their criticism, he quoted part of Abe Green's cafe recitation, ''Thrasonical Yawning in the Abattoir of the Soul'': "A gaping, rabid congregation, eager to bathe, are washed over by the Font of Euphoria, and bask like protozoans in the celebrated light." Many consider that this clearly indicated Kerouac's journey on an emotional roller coaster of unprecedented adulation and spiritual demoralization.


Kerouac also wrote and narrated a "Beat" movie titled ''[[Pull My Daisy]]'' (1959), directed by [[Robert Frank]] and [[Alfred Leslie]]. It starred  poets [[Allen Ginsberg]] and [[Gregory Corso]], musician [[David Amram]] and painter [[Larry Rivers]] among others.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.photoeye.com/magazine/reviews/2008/05_21_pull_my_daisy.cfm|title=Is Pull My Daisy Holy?|date=8 August 2008|accessdate=13 September 2013|first=John|last=Cohen|publisher=photo-eye Magazine}}</ref> Originally to be called ''The Beat Generation'', the title was changed at the last moment when [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] released a [[The Beat Generation|film by the same name]] in July 1959 that sensationalized "beatnik" culture.


The [[CBS|CBS Television]] series ''[[Route 66 (TV series)|Route 66]]'' (1960–1964), featuring two untethered young men "on the road" in a [[Chevrolet Corvette|Corvette]] seeking adventure and fueling their travels by apparently plentiful temporary jobs in the various U.S. locales framing the anthology styled stories, gave the impression of being a commercially sanitized misappropriation of Kerouac's "On The Road" story model. Even the leads, Buz and Todd, bore a resemblance to the dark, athletic Kerouac  and the blonde Cassady/Moriarty, respectively. Kerouac felt he'd been conspicuously ripped off by ''Route 66'' creator [[Stirling Silliphant]] and sought to sue him, CBS, the [[Screen Gems]] TV production company, and sponsor Chevrolet, but was somehow counseled against proceeding with what looked like a very potent cause of action.


John Antonelli's 1985 documentary ''Kerouac, the Movie'' begins and ends with footage of Kerouac reading from ''[[On the Road]]'' and ''[[Visions of Cody]]'' on ''The [[Steve Allen]] Plymouth Show'' in November 1959.  Kerouac appears intelligent but shy. "Are you nervous?" asks Steve Allen. "Naw," says Kerouac, sweating and fidgeting.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzCF6hgEfto|title=Jack Kerouac on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1959)|date=13 November 2008|accessdate=4 January 2014}}</ref>


Kerouac developed something of a friendship with the scholar [[Alan Watts]] (renamed Arthur Wayne in Kerouac's novel ''[[Big Sur (novel)|Big Sur]]'', and Alex Aums in ''[[Desolation Angels (novel)|Desolation Angels]]''). Kerouac moved to [[Northport, New York]] in March 1958, six months after releasing ''On the Road'', to care for his aging mother Gabrielle and to hide from his newfound celebrity status.{{citation needed|date=February 2013}}


In 1965, he met the poet [[Youenn Gwernig]] who was a [[Breton American]] like him in New York, and they became friends. Youenn Gwernig used to translate his Breton language poems in English in order to make Kerouac read and understand them : ''"Meeting with Jack Kerouac in 1965, for instance, was a decisive turn. Since he could not speak Breton he asked me : "Would you not write some of your poems in English, I'd really like to read them !..." So I wrote an Diri Dir - Stairs of Steel for him, and kept on doing so. That's why I often write my poems in Breton, French and English."''<ref>''Un dornad plu'', Youenn Gwernig, Al Liamm, 1997, page 10.</ref>


In the following years, Kerouac suffered the loss of his older sister to a heart attack in 1964 and his mother suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1966. In 1968, [[Neal Cassady]] also died while in Mexico.<ref>[[Douglas Brinkley|Brinkley, Douglas]], ed. "Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1690." New York: The Library of America, 2007. p. 844-45</ref>


Also in 1968, he appeared on the television show ''[[Firing Line]]'' produced and hosted by [[William F. Buckley, Jr.]]. The visibly drunk Kerouac talked about the [[counterculture of the 1960s]] in what would be his last appearance on television.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://faculty.uml.edu/sgallagher/Buckley.html |title=Digital Beats : Jack Kerouac |publisher=Faculty.uml.edu |accessdate=2013-11-21}}</ref>


===Death===

On October 20, 1969, around 11 in the morning, Kerouac was sitting in his favorite chair, drinking whiskey and malt liquor, trying to scribble notes for a book about his father's print shop in Lowell, Mass. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach, which was nothing unusual, and headed for the bathroom. He began to throw up large amounts of blood, and yelled to his wife, "Stella, I'm bleeding." Eventually he was persuaded to go to the hospital and was taken by ambulance to St. Anthony's in St. Petersburg. Blood continued to pour from his mouth and he underwent several transfusions. That evening he underwent surgery in an attempt to tie off all the burst blood vessels, but his damaged liver prevented his blood from clotting. Kerouac died at 5:15 the following morning, October 21, 1969, never having regained consciousness after the operation.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}}

[[File:JackKerouacGravestone.JPG|thumb|Grave in [[Edson Cemetery]]]]

His death, at the age of 47, was determined to be due to an internal hemorrhage (bleeding [[esophageal varices]]) caused by [[cirrhosis]], the result of a lifetime of heavy drinking, along with complications from an untreated hernia and a bar fight he had been involved in several weeks prior to his death.<ref name="collegian">{{cite web|url=http://digitalnewspapers.libraries.psu.edu/Default/Skins/BasicArch/Client.asp?Skin=BasicArch&&AppName=2&enter=true&BaseHref=DCG/1969/10/22&EntityId=Ar00402|title=Author Kerouac Dies; Led 'Beat Generation'|work=[[The Daily Collegian]]|date=October 22, 1969|accessdate=2008-04-29}}</ref><ref name="NYTimes">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/nyregion/31kerouac.html|title=For Kerouac, Off the Road and Deep Into the Bottle, a Rest Stop on the Long Island Shore|work=The New York Times|date=December 31, 2006|accessdate=2008-12-23 | first=Corey | last=Kilgannon}}</ref><ref name="Free Articles Directory">{{cite web|url=http://articlime.com/article135145-investigating-death-jack-kerouac.html#comment-9250|title=Investigating the Death of Jack Kerouac|date=May 13, 2011|accessdate=2012-02-16}}</ref>  Kerouac is buried at [[Edson Cemetery]] in his hometown of [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]] and was honored posthumously with a Doctor of Letters degree from his hometown University of Massachusetts Lowell on June 2, 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jack Kerouac Receives Posthumous Honorary Degree |url=http://www.uml.edu/News/press-releases/2007/med_advis_on_commencement_07.aspx |date=31 May 2007 |publisher=UMass Lowell |accessdate=13 March 2015}}</ref>


At the time of his death, he was living with his third wife, Stella Sampas Kerouac, and his mother, Gabrielle. Kerouac's mother inherited most of his estate and when she died in 1973, Stella inherited the rights to his works under a will purportedly signed by Gabrielle. Family members challenged the will and, on July 24, 2009, a judge in [[Pinellas County, Florida]] ruled that the will of Gabrielle Kerouac was fake, citing that Gabrielle Kerouac would not have been physically capable of providing her own signature on the date of the signing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/article1022779.ece |title=Pinellas judge rules will for Jack Kerouac's estate is a forgery - St. Petersburg Times |publisher=Tampabay.com |date= |accessdate=2011-04-23}}</ref> However, such ruling had no effect on the copyright ownership of Jack's literary works, since in 2004 a Florida Probate Court ruled that "any claim against any assets or property which were inherited or received by any of the SAMPAS respondents through the Estate of Stella Sampas Kerouac, Deceased, is barred by reason of the provisions of Florida Statute §733.710(1989)."{{citation needed|date = March 2015}}


===Posthumous editions===

In 2007, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of ''On the Road'''s publishing, Viking issued two new editions: ''On the Road: The Original Scroll,'' and ''On the Road: 50th Anniversary Edition''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14045410/|title=Uncensored 'On the Road' to be published|work=[[MSNBC]]|date=July 26, 2006|accessdate=2008-04-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Bignell, Paul & Johnson, Andrew |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/on-the-road-uncensored-discovered-kerouac-cuts-459446.html|title=On the Road (uncensored). Discovered: Kerouac 'cuts'|work=[[The Independent]]|date=July 29, 2007|accessdate=2008-04-29 | location=London}}</ref> By far the more significant is ''Scroll,'' a transcription of the original draft typed as one long paragraph on sheets of tracing paper which Kerouac taped together to form a {{convert|120|ft|m|sing=on}} scroll. The text is more sexually explicit than Viking allowed to be published in 1957, and also uses the real names of Kerouac's friends rather than the fictional names he later substituted. [[Indianapolis Colts]] owner [[Jim Irsay]] paid $2.43 million for the original scroll and allowed an exhibition tour that concluded at the end of 2009. The other new issue, ''50th Anniversary Edition,'' is a reissue of the 40th anniversary issue under an updated title.


The Kerouac/Burroughs manuscript, ''[[And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks]]'' was published for the first time on November 1, 2008 by [[Grove Press]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Entertainment/2008/03/02/new_kerouac-burroughs_book_due_out/2264/|title=New Kerouac-Burroughs book due out|work=[[United Press International]]|date=March 2, 2008|accessdate=2008-04-29}}</ref> Previously, a fragment of the manuscript had been published in the Burroughs compendium, ''Word Virus''.<ref name="virus">{{cite book  | last =Burroughs  | first =William   | authorlink =William S. Burroughs  | title =Word virus  | publisher =Grove Press  | year= 1998  | page =576  | isbn =0-8021-1629-9 }}</ref>


Les Éditions du Boréal, a Montreal-based publishing house, obtained rights from Kerouac's estate to publish a collection of works titled ''La vie est d’hommage'', for release in the spring of 2016. It includes previously unpublished works, in French, including a novella, ''Sur le chemin'', and the beginning of ''La Nuit est ma femme''. The works will be released in French and translated to English by [[University of Pennsylvania]] professor, Jean-Christophe Cloutier.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/jack-kerouac-s-rare-french-novels-to-be-released-by-canadian-publishers-1.2953512 | title=Jack Kerouac's rare French novels to be released by Canadian publishers | work=CBC.ca | date=February 11, 2015 | agency=CBC/Radio-Canada | accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/unpublished-jack-kerouac-writings-to-be-released-1.2230909 | title=Unpublished Jack Kerouac writings to be released | work=Relaxnews | date=February 11, 2015 | agency=CTV News | accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>


==Works==

{{Main|Jack Kerouac bibliography}}


===Style===

Kerouac is generally considered to be the father of the Beat movement, although he actively disliked such labels. Kerouac's method was heavily influenced by the prolific explosion of

[[Jazz]], especially the [[Bebop]] genre established by [[Charlie Parker]], [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Thelonious Monk]], and others. Later, Kerouac included ideas he developed from his [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] studies that began with [[Gary Snyder]]. He often referred to his style as ''spontaneous prose''{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}. Although Kerouac’s prose was spontaneous and purportedly without edits, he primarily wrote [[autobiographical novel]]s (or [[Roman à clef]]) based upon actual events from his life and the people with whom he interacted.


[[Image:TheAirWasSoftTheStarsSoFineThePromiseOfEveryCobbledAlleySoGreatByJackKerouacInJackKerouacAlley.jpg|thumb|''On the Road'' excerpt in the center of [[Jack Kerouac Alley]] ]]

Many of his books exemplified this spontaneous approach, including  ''On the Road'', ''Visions of Cody'', ''Visions of Gerard'', ''Big Sur'', and ''The Subterraneans''. The central features of this writing method were the ideas of breath (borrowed from Jazz and from Buddhist meditation breathing), improvising words over the inherent structures of mind and language, and not editing a single word (much of his work was edited by Donald Merriam Allen, a major figure in Beat Generation poetry who edited some of Ginsberg's work as well). Connected with his idea of breath was the elimination of the [[Full stop|period]], preferring to use a long, connecting dash instead. As such, the phrases occurring between dashes might resemble [[improvisation|improvisational jazz]] licks. When spoken, the words might take on a certain kind of rhythm, though none of it pre-meditated.


Kerouac greatly admired Snyder, many of whose ideas influenced him.  ''[[The Dharma Bums]]'' contains accounts of a mountain climbing trip Kerouac took with Snyder, and also whole paragraphs from letters Snyder had written to Kerouac.<ref>{{harvnb|Suiter| 2002|p=186}}</ref>  While living with Snyder outside [[Mill Valley, California]] in 1956, Kerouac worked on a book about him, which he considered calling ''Visions of Gary''.<ref>{{harvnb|Suiter| 2002|p=189}}</ref>  (This eventually became ''Dharma Bums'', which Kerouac described as "mostly about [Snyder].")<ref>{{harvnb|Suiter| 2002|p=228}}</ref>  That summer, Kerouac took a job as a [[fire lookout]] on [[Desolation Peak (Washington)|Desolation Peak]] in the [[North Cascades]] in Washington, after hearing Snyder's and Whalen's accounts of their own lookout stints. Kerouac described the experience in his novel ''Desolation Angels''.


He would go on for hours, often drunk, to friends and strangers about his method.  Allen Ginsberg, initially unimpressed,  would later be one of its great proponents, and indeed, he was apparently influenced by Kerouac's free-flowing prose method of writing in the composition of his masterpiece "[[Howl]]". It was at about the time that Kerouac wrote ''The Subterraneans'' that he was approached by Ginsberg and others to formally explicate his style. Among the writings he set down specifically about his Spontaneous Prose method, the most concise would be ''Belief and Technique for Modern Prose'', a list of 30 "essentials".

{{Quote box|

width=45%

|align=right

|fontsize=12

|quote=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, and in the middle, you see the blue center-light pop, and everybody goes ahh...

|source=''[[On the Road]]''

|quoted=1

}}


Some believed that at times Kerouac's writing technique did not produce lively or energetic prose. [[Truman Capote]] famously said about Kerouac's work, "That's not writing, it's typing".<ref>{{cite book | title = Conversations with Capote | first = Lawrence | last = Grobel | publisher = Da Capo Press | page = 32 | isbn =  0-306-80944-3 | year = 2000 }}</ref> According to [[Carolyn Cassady]], and other people who knew him, he rewrote and rewrote.{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}}


Although the body of Kerouac's work has been published in English, recent research has suggested that, aside from already known correspondence and letters written to friends and family, he also wrote unpublished works of fiction in French.  A manuscript entitled ''Sur le Chemin'' (''On the Road'') was discovered in 2008 by Québécois journalist Gabriel Anctil.<ref>{{cite web |last=Anctil |first=Gabriel |title=Sur le chemin -Découverte d'un deuxième roman en français de Jack Kerouac |url= http://www.ledevoir.com/culture/livres/203916/sur-le-chemin.html |publisher=''Le Devoir'' |date=September 4, 2008}}</ref> The novella, completed in five days in Mexico during December 1952, is a telling example of Kerouac's attempts at writing in [[Joual]],<ref group=note>He refers to it in a letter addressed to Neil Cassady (who is commonly known as his inspiration for the character of Dean Moriarty) written on January 10, 1953</ref> a dialect typical of the French Canadian working class of the time. It can be summarized as a form of expression utilizing both old [[patois]] and modern French mixed with modern English words (''windshield'' being a modern English expression used casually by some French Canadians even today).  Set in 1935, mostly on the American east coast, the short manuscript (50 pages) explores some of the recurring themes of Kerouac's literature by way of a narrative very close to, if not identical to, the spoken word.  It tells the story of a group of men who agree to meet in New York, including a 13-year-old Kerouac refers to as "Ti-Jean".  Ti-Jean and his father Leo (Kerouac's father's real name) leave Boston by car, traveling to assist friends looking for a place to stay in the city.  The story actually follows two cars and their passengers, one driving out of Denver and the other from Boston, until they eventually meet in a dingy bar in New York's Chinatown. In it, Kerouac's "French" is written in a form  which has little regard for grammar or spelling,  relying often on phonetics in order to render an authentic reproduction of his French-Canadian vernacular. The novel starts: ''Dans l'mois d'Octobre 1935, y'arriva une machine du West, de Denver, sur le chemin pour New York.  Dans la machine était Dean Pomeray, un soûlon; Dean Pomeray Jr., son ti fils de 9 ans et Rolfe Glendiver, son step son, 24.  C'était un vieille Model T Ford, toutes les trois avaient leux yeux attachez sur le chemin dans la nuit à travers la windshield.''<ref>{{cite web |last=Anctil |first=Gabriel|title=Sur le chemin - Découverte d'un deuxième roman en français de Jack Kerouac |url=http://www.ledevoir.com/culture/livres/203916/sur-le-chemin.html |publisher=''Le Devoir'' |date=September 4, 2008}}</ref> Even though this work shares the same title as one of his best known English novels, it is rather the original French version of a short text that would later become ''Old bull in the Bowery'' (also unpublished) once translated to English prose by Kerouac himself. ''Sur le Chemin'' is Kerouac's second known French manuscript, the first being ''La nuit est ma Femme'' written in early 1951 and completed a few days before he began the original English version of ''On the Road'', as revealed by journalist Gabriel Anctil in the Montreal daily ''[[Le Devoir]]''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Anctil, Gabriel |url=http://www.ledevoir.com/2007/09/05/155613.html|title=Les 50 ans d'On the Road - Kerouac voulait écrire en français|work=[[Le Devoir]]|date=September 5, 2007|accessdate=2008-04-29}}</ref>


==Influences==

Kerouac's early writing, particularly his first novel ''[[The Town and the City]]'', was more conventional, and bore the strong influence of [[Thomas Wolfe]].  The technique Kerouac developed that later made him famous was heavily influenced by [[Jazz]], especially [[Bebop]], and later, [[Buddhism]], as well as the famous [[Neal Cassady#Joan Anderson|"Joan Anderson letter" authored by Neal Cassady]].<ref>{{cite book  | last =Cassady  | first =Neal  | authorlink =Neal Cassady  | title =The First Third  | publisher =Underground Press  | year= 1964  | page =387   | oclc =42789161}}</ref> The [[Diamond Sutra]] was the most important Buddhist text for Kerouac, and "probably one of the three or four most influential things he ever read".<ref>{{harvnb|Suiter| 2002|p=191}}</ref> In 1955, he began an intensive study of this sutra, in a repeating weekly cycle, devoting one day to each of the six [[Pāramitā]]s, and the seventh to the concluding passage on  [[Samādhi]].  This was his sole reading on Desolation Peak, and he hoped by this means to condition his mind to  [[Śūnyatā|emptiness]], and possibly to have a vision.<ref>{{harvnb|Suiter| 2002|p=210}}</ref>


However, often overlooked<ref>''To Be An Irishman Too: Kerouac's Irish Connection'', p. 371, Studies: an Irish quarterly review, Volume 92, Talbot Press., 2003</ref> but perhaps his greatest literary influence may be that of [[James Joyce]] whose work he alludes to, by far, more than any other author.<ref name="findarticles.com">Begnal, Michael, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3362/is_2_77/ai_n28721379/ "I Dig Joyce": Jack Kerouac and Finnegans Wake], Philological Quarterly, Spring 1998</ref> Kerouac had the highest esteem for Joyce, emulated and expanded on his techniques.<ref name="findarticles.com"/><ref name="Encyclopedia of Beat Literature">Hemmer, Kurt,  [http://books.google.com/books?id=yzVV1Hl1NvAC&dq Encyclopedia of Beat Literature], p. 244, Infobase Publishing, 2007</ref> Regarding ''On the Road'', he wrote in a letter to Ginsberg, "I can tell you now as I look back on the flood of language. It is like ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'' and should be treated with the same gravity."<ref>Kerouac, Jack and Allen Ginsberg, [http://books.google.com/books?id=N5FN49R58-gC&pg=PT163&dq=I+can+tell+as+I+look+back+on+the+flood+of+language+it+is+like+Ulysses+and+should+be+treated+with+the+same+gravity&hl=en&ei=1MXtTMvjLc2gnwe3hqGjCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=I%20can%20tell%20as%20I%20look%20back%20on%20the%20flood%20of%20language%20it%20is%20like%20Ulysses%20and%20should%20be%20treated%20with%20the%20same%20gravity&f=false Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: The Letters], Penguin, 2010</ref>  Indeed, ''[[Old Angel Midnight]]'' has been called "the closest thing to ''[[Finnegans Wake]]'' in American literature."<ref name="Encyclopedia of Beat Literature"/>


Jack Kerouac and his literary works had a major impact on the popular rock music of the 1960s. Artists including the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, and the Doors all credit Kerouac as a significant influence on their music and lifestyles. This is especially so with members of the band the Doors, Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek who quote Jack Kerouac and his novel On the Road as one of the bands greatest influences.<ref>"Jack Kerouac Biography | Jack Kerouac." Jack Kerouac. UMass Lowell, 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.</ref> In his book ''Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors'', [[Ray Manzarek]] (keyboard player of [[The Doors]]) wrote "I suppose if Jack Kerouac had never written ''On the Road'', The Doors would never have existed."


In 1974 the [[Jack Kerouac School|Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics]] was opened in his honor by Allen Ginsberg and [[Anne Waldman]] at [[Naropa University]], a private Buddhist university in [[Boulder, Colorado]].  The school offers a BA in Writing and Literature, MFAs in Writing & Poetics and Creative Writing, and a summer writing program.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.naropa.edu/academics/graduate/writingpoetics/index.cfm|title=The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics|work=[[Naropa University]]|accessdate=2008-05-10}}</ref>


From 1978 to 1992, Joy Walsh published 28 issues of a magazine devoted to Kerouac, ''[[Moody Street Irregulars]]''.


Kerouac's French Canadian origins inspired a 1987 [[National Film Board of Canada]] [[docudrama]] ''Jack Kerouac's Road: A Franco-American Odyssey'', directed by [[Acadians|Acadian]] poet [[Herménégilde Chiasson]].<ref name="William Lawlor">{{cite book|last=Lawlor|first=William|title=Beat Culture: Lifestyles, Icons, and Impact|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|isbn=978-1-85109-400-4|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MMZqLXP01e4C&pg=PA109&dq=Jack+Kerouac%27s+Road+-+A+Franco-American+Odyssey&hl=en&ei=GsKmTo2CHOLl0QHX9JiGDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Jack%20Kerouac%27s%20Road%20-%20A%20Franco-American%20Odyssey&f=false|page=109|date=20 May 2005}}</ref>


In 1987, a song written by Marc Chabot and featured on a popular music album released in Quebec by [[Richard Séguin]], song titled ''L'ange vagabond'', explores some aspects of Kerouac's life. Chabot associates Kerouac's incessant mobility to a quest for identity and respect from others, among other topics.


In 1997, the house on Clouser Avenue where ''[[The Dharma Bums]]'' was written was purchased by a newly formed non-profit group, [[The Jack Kerouac Writers in Residence Project of Orlando, Inc.]]  This group provides opportunities for aspiring writers to live in the same house in which Kerouac was inspired, with room and board covered for three months.


In 2007, Kerouac was awarded a posthumous [[honorary degree]] from the [[University of Massachusetts Lowell]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uml.edu/Media/PressReleases/Commencement_2007.html|title=UMass Lowell Honors Jack Kerouac, U.S. Rep. John Lewis|work=[[University of Massachusetts Lowell|University of Massachusetts]]|date=May 23, 2007|accessdate=2008-04-29}}</ref>


In 2009, the movie ''One Fast Move or I'm Gone - Kerouac's Big Sur'' was released. It chronicles the time in Kerouac's life that led to his novel ''[[Big Sur (novel)|Big Sur]]'', with actors, writers, artists, and close friends giving their insight into the book. The movie also describes  the people and places on which Kerouac based his characters and settings, including the cabin in Bixby Canyon. An album released to accompany the movie, "One Fast Move or I'm Gone", features Benjamin Gibbard ([[Death Cab for Cutie]]) and Jay Farrar ([[Son Volt]]) performing songs based on Kerouac's ''Big Sur''.


In 2010, during the first weekend of October, the 25th anniversary of the literary festival "Lowell Celebrates Kerouac" was held in Kerouac's birthplace of [[Lowell, Massachusetts]]. It featured walking tours, literary seminars, and musical performances focused on Kerouac's work and that of the Beat Generation.


In the 2010s there has been a surge in films based on the [[Beat Generation]].  Kerouac has been depicted in the films ''[[Howl (film)|Howl]]'' and ''[[Kill Your Darlings (2013 film)|Kill Your Darlings]]''.  A feature film version of Kerouac's seminal novel ''[[On the Road (film)|On the Road]]'' was released internationally in 2012, and was directed by [[Walter Salles]], while being produced by [[Francis Ford Coppola]].  Independent filmmaker [[Polish brothers|Michael Polish]] directed ''[[Big Sur (film)|Big Sur]]'', based on the novel, with [[Jean-Marc Barr]] cast as Kerouac. Filming was done in and around Big Sur. The film was released in 2013.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/apr/18/jack-kerouac-big-sur | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Xan | last=Brooks | title=Jack Kerouac's Big Sur heads to the big screen | date=2011-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Thornton |first=Stuart |url=http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/2011/jun/16/silver-screen-sur/ |title=Jack Kerouac’s 'Big Sur' gets the Hollywood treatment from Kate Bosworth and company. - Monterey County Weekly: Movies |publisher=Monterey County Weekly |date=2011-06-16 |accessdate=2013-11-21}}</ref>


In 2012, ''What Happened to Kerouac?'', a re-mastered DVD of the acclaimed 1986 documentary, is being rereleased with a feature-length disc of new material from the original interviews. Those extras, called ''The Beat Goes On'', include rare and unseen footage of [[Abbie Hoffman]], [[Timothy Leary]], [[Paul Krassner]], [[Allen Ginsberg]], [[William S. Burroughs]], [[Gregory Corso]], [[Gary Snyder]], [[Steve Allen]], [[Ann Charters]], [[Michael McClure]], [[Robert Creeley]], [[Herbert Huncke]], [[Carolyn Cassady]], [[Paul Gleason]], [[John Clellon Holmes]], Edie Kerouac Parker, [[Jan Kerouac]], [[William F. Buckley, Jr.]], and Father Spike Morissette. In June 2013 ''American Road'', which features a substantial section on Kerouac, won the Best Documentary award at the AMFM Festival in Palm Springs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/Desert-Guide/June-2013/AMFM-Fest-Bestows-Awards-on-First-Class-of-Films |title=AMFM Fest Bestows Awards on First Class of Films - Desert Guide - June 2013 - Palm Springs, California |publisher=Palmspringslife.com |date= |accessdate=2013-11-21}}</ref>


==Poetry==

While he is best known for his novels, Kerouac is also noted for his poetry written during the Beat movement. Kerouac stated that he wanted "to be considered as a jazz poet blowing a long blues in an afternoon jazz session on Sunday.".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/1016 |title=Jack Kerouac- Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More |publisher=Poets.org |date= |accessdate=2013-11-21}}</ref> Many of Kerouac's poems follow the style of his free-flowing, uninhibited prose, also incorporating elements of jazz and Buddhism.  "Mexico City Blues" a poem published by Kerouac in 1959 is made up of over 200 choruses following the rhythms of jazz music. In much of his poetry, to achieve a jazz-like rhythm, Kerouac made use of the long dash in place of a period. Several examples of this can be seen throughout "Mexico City Blues":


<blockquote><poem>

Everything

Is Ignorant of its own emptiness—

Anger

Doesn't like to be reminded of fits— <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21799 |title=Mexico City Blues [113th Chorus&#93;- Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More |publisher=Poets.org |date= |accessdate=2013-11-21}}</ref>

</poem></blockquote>


Other well-known poems by Kerouac, such as "Bowery Blues" incorporate jazz rhythm with Buddhist themes of [[Saṃsāra]], the cycle of life and subsequent death, and [[Samadhi]], the concentration of composing the mind.<ref name="poemhunter.com">{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/bowery-blues-2/ |title=Bowery Blues by Jack Kerouac |publisher=Poemhunter.com |date=2012-05-04 |accessdate=2013-11-21}}</ref> Also, following the jazz/blues tradition Kerouac's poetry features repetition and overall themes of the troubles or sense of loss experienced in life.


<blockquote><poem>

The story of man

Makes me sick

Inside, outside,

I don't know why

Something so conditional

And all talk

Should hurt me so.


I am hurt

I am scared

I want to live

I want to die

I don't know

Where to turn

In the Void

And when

To cut

Out<ref name="poemhunter.com"/>

</poem></blockquote>


==Bibliography==

{{Main|Jack Kerouac bibliography}}


==Discography==

'''Studio albums'''

* ''[[Poetry for the Beat Generation]]'' (with [[Steve Allen]])  (1959)

* ''[[Blues and Haikus]]'' (with [[Al Cohn]] and [[Zoot Sims]]) (1959)

* ''[[Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat Generation]]'' (1960)


'''Compilation albums'''

* ''[[The Jack Kerouac Collection]]'' (1990) [Box] (Audio CD collection of three studio albums)

* ''[[Jack Kerouac Reads On the Road]]'' (1999)


==Footnotes==

{{Portal|Franco-Americans}}

{{reflist|group=note}}


==References==


===Notes===

{{Reflist|30em}}


===Sources===

{{Refbegin|30em}}

  • {{cite journal| url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4260/the-art-of-fiction-no-41-jack-kerouac| title=Jack Kerouac, The Art of Fiction No. 41| work=The Paris Review| date=Summer 1968| last=Berrigan |first=Ted|ref=harv}}
  • {{cite book|last=Dagier|first=Patricia|title=Jack Kerouac, Breton d'Amérique|publisher=Editions Le Télégramme|year=2009|ref=harv}}
  • {{Cite book|last=Knight|first=Brenda|title=Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution| work=Conari Press|year=1996|isbn=1-57324-138-5|ref=harv}}
  • {{cite book|last=Miles|first=Barry|title=Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats|publisher=Virgin|year=1998|ref=harv}}
  • {{cite book|last=Nicosia|first=Gerald|title=Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac|publisher=Berkeley: U of Cal P|year=1994|isbn=0-520-08569-8|ref=harv}}
  • {{cite book|last=Sandison|first=David|title=Jack Kerouac|publisher=Hamlyn|year=1999|ref=harv}}
  • {{cite book | author = Suiter, John | title =Poets on the Peaks Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Jack Kerouac in the North Cascades | publisher =Counterpoint | year= 2002 | isbn =1-58243-148-5|ref=harv}}

{{Refend}}


===Further reading===

{{Refbegin|30em}}

* Amburm, Ellis. ''Subterranean Kerouac: The Hidden Life of Jack Kerouac''. [[St. Martin's Press]], 1999. ISBN 0-312-20677-1

* Amram, David. ''Offbeat: Collaborating with Kerouac''. Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002.ISBN 1-56025-362-2

* Bartlett, Lee (ed.) ''The Beats: Essays in Criticism''. London: McFarland, 1981.

* Beaulieu, Victor-Lévy. ''Jack Kerouac: A Chicken Essay''. Coach House Press, 1975.

* Brooks, Ken. ''The Jack Kerouac Digest''. Agenda, 2001.

* Cassady, Carolyn. ''Neal Cassady Collected Letters, 1944–1967''. Penguin, 2004. ISBN 0-14-200217-8

* Cassady, Carolyn. ''[[Off the Road|Off the Road: Twenty Years with Cassady, Kerouac and Ginsberg]]''. [[Black Spring Press]], 1990.

* Challis, Chris. ''Quest for Kerouac''. Faber & Faber, 1984.

* [[Ann Charters|Charters, Ann]]. ''Kerouac''. San Francisco: [[Straight Arrow Press|Straight Arrow Books]], 1973.

* Charters, Ann (ed.) ''The Portable Beat Reader''. New York: Penguin, 1992.

* Charters, Ann (ed.) ''The Portable Jack Kerouac''. New York: Penguin, 1995.

* Christy, Jim. ''The Long Slow Death of Jack Kerouac''. ECW Press, 1998.

  • {{cite web|last=Chiasson|first=Herménégilde|title=Jack Kerouac's Road - A Franco-American Odyssey|url=http://www.nfb.ca/film/jack_kerouacs_road_francoamerican_odyssey/|work=Online documentary|publisher=[[National Film Board of Canada]]|accessdate=25 October 2011|year=1987}}

* [[Tom Clark (poet)|Clark, Tom]]. ''Jack Kerouac''. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1984.

* [[Clark Coolidge|Coolidge, Clark]]. ''Now It's Jazz: Writings on Kerouac & the Sounds''. Living Batch, 1999.

* Collins, Ronald & Skover, David.  ''Mania: The Story of the Outraged & Outrageous Lives that Launched a Cultural Revolution'' (Top-Five Books, March 2013)

* Cook, Bruce. ''The Beat Generation''. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971. ISBN 0-684-12371-1

  • {{cite book|last=Dagier|first=Patricia|title=Jack Kerouac: Au Bout de la Route ... La Bretagne|publisher=An Here|year=1999}}

* Dale, Rick. ''The Beat Handbook: 100 Days of Kerouactions''. Booksurge, 2008.

* Edington, Stephen. ''Kerouac's Nashua Roots''. Transition, 1999.

* Ellis, R.J., ''Liar! Liar! Jack Kerouac - Novelist''. Greenwich Exchange, 1999.

* French, Warren. ''Jack Kerouac''. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1986.

* Gaffié, Luc. ''Jack Kerouac: The New Picaroon''. Postillion Press, 1975.

* Giamo, Ben. ''Kerouac, The Word and The Way''. Southern Illinois University Press, 2000.

* Gifford, Barry. "''Kerouac's Town''". Creative Arts, 1977.

* Gifford, Barry; Lee, Lawrence. "''Jack's Book: An Oral Biography of Jack Kerouac''". St. Martin's Press, 1978. ISBN 0-14-005269-0

* Grace, Nancy M. Jack Kerouac and the Literary Imagination. Palgrave-macmillan, 2007.

* Goldstein, N.W., "Kerouac's On the Road." Explicator 50.1. 1991.

* Haynes, Sarah, [http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Miscellaneous/KerouacBuddhism.html "An Exploration of Jack Kerouac's Buddhism:Text and Life"]

* Hemmer, Kurt. ''Encyclopedia of Beat Literature: The Essential Guide to the Lives and Works of the Beat Writers''.  Facts on File, Inc., 2007.

* Hipkiss, Robert A., ''Jack Kerouac: Prophet of the New Romanticism''. Regents Press, 1976.

* Holmes, John Clellon. ''Visitor: Jack Kerouac in Old Saybrook''. tuvoti, 1981.

* Holmes, John Clellon. ''Gone In October: Last Reflections on Jack Kerouac''. Limberlost, 1985.

* Holton, Robert. ''On the Road: Kerouac's Ragged American Journey''. Twayne, 1999.

* Hrebeniak, Michael. ''Action Writing: Jack Kerouac"s Wild Form''. Carbondale IL., Southern Illinois UP, 2006.

* Huebel, Harry Russell. ''Jack Kerouac''. [[Boise State University]], 1979.  [http://digital.boisestate.edu/u?/western,31 available online]

* Hunt, Tim. ''Kerouac's Crooked Road''. Hamden: Archon Books, 1981.

* Jarvis, Charles. ''Visions of Kerouac''. Ithaca Press, 1973.

* Johnson, Joyce. ''Minor Characters: A Young Woman's Coming-Of-Age in the Beat Orbit of Jack Kerouac''. Penguin Books, 1999.

* Johnson, Joyce. ''Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair in Letters, 1957-1958''. Viking, 2000.

* Johnson, Ronna C., "You're Putting Me On: Jack Kerouac and the Postmodern Emergence". College Literature. 27.1 2000.

* Jones, James T., ''A Map of Mexico City Blues: Jack Kerouac as Poet''. [[Southern Illinois University Press]], 1992.

* Jones, James T., ''Jack Kerouac's Duluoz Legend''. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1999.

* Jones, Jim. ''Use My Name: Kerouac's Forgotten Families''. ECW Press, 1999.

* Jones, Jim. ''Jack Kerouac's Nine Lives''. Elbow/Cityful Press, 2001.

* Kealing, Bob. ''Kerouac in Florida: Where the Road Ends''. Arbiter Press, 2004.

* Kerouac, Joan Haverty. ''Nobody's Wife: The Smart Aleck and the King of the Beats''. Creative Arts, 2000.

* Landefeld, Kurt. ''Jack's Memoirs: Off the Road, A Novel''. Bottom Dog Press, 2014.

* [[John Leland (journalist)|Leland, John]]. ''Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think)''. New York: [[Viking Press]], 2007. ISBN 978-0-670-06325-3

* [[Paul Maher, Jr.|Maher Jr., Paul]]. ''Kerouac: The Definitive Biography''. Lanham: Taylor Trade P, July 2004 ISBN 0-87833-305-3

* Maher, Paul, Jr. We Know Time: The Literary Cosmos of Jack Kerouac (unpublished work-in-progress)

* McNally, Dennis. ''Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation, and America''. Da Capo Press, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81222-3

* Montgomery, John. ''Jack Kerouac: A Memoir...'' Giligia Press, 1970.

* Montgomery, John. ''Kerouac West Coast''. Fels & Firn Press, 1976.

* Montgomery, John. ''The Kerouac We Knew''. Fels & Firn Press, 1982.

* Montgomery, John. ''Kerouac at the Wild Boar''. Fels & Firn Press, 1986.

* Mortenson, Erik R., "Beating Time: Configurations of Temporality in Jack Kerouac's On the Road". College Literature 28.3. 2001.

* Motier, Donald. ''Gerard: The Influence of Jack Kerouac's Brother on his Life and Writing''. Beaulieu Street Press, 1991.

* Nelson, Victoria. "Dark Journey into Light: On the Road with Jack Kerouac". ''Saint Austin Review'' (November/December 2014).

* Parker, Brad. "''Jack Kerouac: An Introduction''". Lowell Corporation for the Humanities, 1989.

* Swick, Thomas. ''South Florida Sun Sentinel''. February 22, 2004. Article: "Jack Kerouac in Orlando".

* Theado, Matt. ''Understanding Jack Kerouac''. Columbia: [[University of South Carolina]], 2000.

* Turner, Steve. ''Angelheaded Hipster: A Life of Jack Kerouac''. Viking Books, 1996. ISBN 0-670-87038-2

* Walsh, Joy, editor. ''[[Moody Street Irregulars|Moody Street Irregulars: A Jack Kerouac Newsletter]]''

* Weinreich, Regina. ''The Spontaneous Poetics of Jack Kerouac''. Southern Illinois University Press, 1987.

* Wills, David, editor. ''Beatdom'' Magazine. Mauling Press, 2007.

{{Refend}}


==External links==

{{Library resources box

 |onlinebooks=yes

 |by=yes

 |viaf= 27066713

 |label=Jack Kerouac}}

{{Wikiquote}}

{{Commons|Jack Kerouac}}

* [http://kerouac.net/ Kerouac.net] - An introduction to the life and work of Jack Kerouac, and the deep impact he had on our society and culture.

  • {{isfdb name|id=15979|name=Jack Kerouac}}
  • {{dmoz|Arts/Literature/Authors/K/Kerouac,_Jack}}

* [http://findingaids.cul.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4078982/ Jack Kerouac Papers] at the [[Rare Book & Manuscript Library]] at [[Columbia University]]

* [http://archives.nypl.org/brg/19343 Jack Kerouac Papers, 1920-1977], held by the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, [[New York Public Library]]

* [http://www.americanwriters.org/writers/kerouac.asp Jack Kerouac] at [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[American Writers: A Journey Through History]]''

* [http://www.beatbookcovers.com/kercomp/index.htm The Kerouac Companion] — The definitive key to the 600+ characters in Kerouac's novels.

* [http://whathappenedtokerouac.com WhatHappenedToKerouac.com] — A new remastered DVD

  • {{Find a Grave|577}}


{{Kerouac}}

{{Allen Ginsberg}}

{{William S. Burroughs}}

{{Poets in The New American Poetry 1945–1960}}

{{Authority control|VIAF=27066713}}


{{Persondata 

|NAME              = Kerouac, Jack

|ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Jean Louis Kirouac (birth name); Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac

|SHORT DESCRIPTION = American novelist and poet

|DATE OF BIRTH     = 1922-03-12

|PLACE OF BIRTH    = Lowell, Massachusetts, United States

|DATE OF DEATH     = 1969-10-21

|PLACE OF DEATH    = St. Petersburg, Florida, United States

}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerouac, Jack}}

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