Word: kerouacs
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Despite his Ivy-League education and relatively peaceful childhood, it cannot be questioned that Kerouac spoke from experience on the points of adventure and staying in motion. The wild lives of his fictional characters were only surpassed by those of the writer himself and his bohemian friends. Although truth be told, separating these two groups is not so simple—Kerouac’s eclectic friendships were in many cases thinly disguised models for those Sal Paradise found on the road...
Neal Cassady was the inspiration for Dean Moriarty. His wife, Carolyn, was the model for Dean’s first wife, Marylou. Now 78, Carolyn Cassady has published a book, Off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac and Ginsburg, spilling her memories of the wild days that shaped Kerouac’s life and writing. True to “Dean” form, Neal Cassady led a life of drinking and sex. He was recklessly unfaithful, and for a time “loaned” Carolyn out to his pal Kerouac. Apparently Cassady’s sexual...
...sex—with however many people, of whatever gender—was hardly newsworthy within a crowd where anything seemed to go. Kerouac himself was an alcoholic and a Bezedrine addict and died of alcohol-related causes at the age of 47. He faced frequent bouts of depression and spent time in jail, first as an accessory to murder and again for having not paid child support. He was also staunchly racist, according to Beat historian James Cambell...
...Kerouac was the linchpin that held together this strange mix of personalities. On the Road was similarly the central work supporting the movement. Gilbert Millstein wrote prophetically in the New York Times’ first review of the book: “Just as, more than any other novel of the Twenties, The Sun Also Rises came to be regarded as the testament of the Lost Generation, so it seems certain that On the Road will come to be known as that of the Beat Generation.” But true as Millstein’s words are, his predictions...
Beyond establishing the niche that Kerouac has found in modern literary and cultural canons, one must dare to ask why: What is it about our high-speed, jet-plane and bullet-train culture that makes us yearn for something more? What is it about Kerouac’s romanticized journey that fills this void...