On The Road By Jack Kerouac

[stuart]

I bought it today as i have never really read it, think i read a couple of pages years ago but i got it today and will have a read of it.

Read By Morrison And Manzarek

Has anyone here read it and if so what are your views?.

[jym]

GREAT BOOK! Read it today!!!!!!! Kerouac is in the same class as Joyce, Hemingway, Faulkner, etc but he gets overlooked & usually not given his proper due as perhaps the progenitor of modern literature, a lot of books that are published turn out to be variations on the theme of Kerouac's road.

Or people totally don't like him I have these debates with a woman named Sherry who calls him a "typist" after Truman Capote's quote about Kerouac saying On The Road wasn't literature it was typing. Interestingly enough because of Kerouac Capote went on to write In Cold Blood using Kerouac style. Kerouac also influenced Ken Kesey, Hunter Thompson to name exactly a couple.

Kerouac's The Dharma Bums is credited with influencing kids in a 'rucksack revolution'. If you want to check out a magazine on Kerouac & the Beats, Kerouac, Ginzburg, Burroughs, Corso, etc... check out www.beatscene.net the current issue has an article about The Living Theater & Morrison plays a bit part in it, still waiting for my copy, hope it comes today.

[wyldlizardqueen]

Cool, thanks for the heads up!!

[nick]

Classic, but I feel Visions of Cody is his masterpiece.
It covers a lot of the same ground but at a different slant.
There’s some really… really… amazing descriptions there:
Watching a girl in a restaurant, which seems common enough- but tis awwe in the details.
Neal’s youth. A lot of things. Reading On The Road first would definitely be the way to start.
Oh… and check out some of his poetry.
Mexico City Blues and Pomes All sizes are both excellent.

[jym]

Another fan, yeah, Visions of Cody is good but maybe not as accessible as On The Road.

Stuart did you have a chance to read yet?

[stuart]

Not yet Jim, i still have to finish THUS SPOKE ZARAHUSTRA then read a bio of EDIE SEDGEWICK then....... On the road!!.

[weiland]

I love Kerouac... You guys better read "Naked Lunch" by Burroughs too... mind altering

[stuart]

I am more than halfway through ON THE ROAD and this will prolly be sacrelige here but it really does not do anything for me so far, i dont see why it is called a classic book that's for sure, just my opinion.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Maybe its because you are a Brit...I read 'Catcher In The Rye' and thought it was a pile of old toss and thats so well thought its an essential must have for all lone assasins...especially of American Presidents......It made no sense to me as I have never experienced High School...
OTR is an 'American' book and prolly makes a lot more sense to them.......

[jym]

I don't think it's an American thing per se, probably Stuart see's it as old because he has seen Kerouac's effect on the literature of the last 50 years, I can't tell you how many books have the theme of some kind of road trip as the catalyst for some revelation into the human psyche or condition (& I know it can be argued the theme was used before Kerouac a good example would be The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway) I even use it in The Last Stage & a bit in Becoming Angel, & Morrison certainly bought into it almost all his works are a variation on On The Road, HWY & Celebration of the Lizard come right to mind. You kind of have to look at the time On The Road came out & it was kind of a merging of the right theme at the right time & Kerouacs vibrant use of language, you have to remember people like Hemingway & Faulkner were the stylistic leaders of those times with people like Mailer & Nelson Algren were the young lions but their art was influenced by Hemingway & Faulkner, while Kerouac was more a direct descendant of James Joyce, read Algren & Kerouac, I can guarantee you that Algren will seem very old fashioned next to Kerouac while they're contemporaries.

[stuart]

I started the book with the mindset"this is a classic, classic book im going to read" and it really has been a let down to me,im stuggling to actually finish the book to be honest as it's really boring me and each page is a"come on stuart, get through this page" i respect Kerouac's influence and if anybody read OTR for the 1st time and sets them off to read more books in general then great but he does nothing for me im afraid.

[gabrielconroy]

gotta love it !

[ensenada]

been looking into buying this book...its on my list. sounds interesting.