Jack Kerouac, On the Road

I picked Jack Kerouac, On the Road up because it was highly recommended to me by a friend. There was nothing of particular interest in the first pages which for me, is a must. There was no instant bite to the writing, and it began at the same level at which it ended. There is no crescendo, and although Kerouac adequately conveys the concept of a free spirit through his alter ego (Salvatore Paradise) or 'Sal', and also the character of 'Dean Moriarty', he over-does this, and creates characters which are more fantastical than out and out adventurers and thrill seekers.

Paradise appears to have a homoerotic desire to be 'Dean' or at least be WITH Dean, and every other sentence is Dean this, or Dean that. There is little subtlety, and Sal's idolisation of this 'crazy' Dean Moriarty ends up becoming the focus of the book, as oppose to the travels and experiences along the way. Kerouac focusses too much on trying to show the eccentricity of Moriarty, rather than developing the plot to be of sufficient interest to me.

I'm glad I read this book, but I struggle to see why there is so much hype around it, or why indeed it is hailed as a modern classic. I can understand how it 'sent countless kids on the road' (William Burroughs), but if asked the question 'Was I inspired by it', then the answer would probably be 'no'.

Just a little lack lustre, considering the kudos it has been given on many fronts.

Kerouac was one of the original "Beatniks" associated with San Francisco in the 50's. Names that pop up alongside Kerouac's are Neal Cassady (who later was Ken Kesey's sidekick), Allen Ginsberg (author of "Howl"), Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, and William S. Burroughs (author of Naked Lunch), to name those who first come to mind.

I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 50's when the "beat generation" started. In junior college I chose Kerouac as the subject for a research paper. I normally avoided the library like the plague, choosing to write "analytical" papers which could be based on nothing more than the work itself. I made an exception for Kerouac.

The first thing I learned in the library was that Kerouac had started out as an eastern academic from New England. I found a photo of him in this early period in a jacket and tie looking anything but "beat." He wrote a book then called The Town and the City, which received some small critical notice.

On the Road, a cross country journey on the roads and through the mind, signaled his turn away from Eastern intellectualism to California bohemianism. He wrote in a "stream of consciousness" style, recognizable by its lack of paragraphing and generally by its lack of obvious structure. He wrote On the Road on a continuous roll of paper. That roll was reportedly sold recently for a couple of million dollars.

The alter ego for Jack in the novel is Sal Paradise, and his main character is Neal Moriarty, modeled after Neal Cassady. Cassady later played a similar role with Ken Kesey, who arrived with a splash on the literary scene with One Flew Over the Cuckoos' Nest. First Kerouac and then Kesey traveled with Cassady and incorporated him into their writing.

I met Cassady in the 60's in Aptos, California. That is another story which you can find at a site run by Professor Ralph Abraham, UC Santa Cruz, at http://www.ralph-abraham.org/1960s/ under Edward Brooks.

On the Road will attract you or turn you off depending on your orientation, whether tending toward or away from self-control. The novel is about spontaneity above all. Ironically, the reaction I would predict that a present day reader would have to the novel would imitate or reject the reaction Kerouac himself was said to have had when Kesey's Merry Pranksters arrived in the East for a planned meeting between Kerouac and Kesey. The Merry Pranksters, no doubt stoned on acid, acted up with an American flag. Kerouac reacted solemnly, so it is said, rescued the flag, and folded it.

That might be considered the closing of the circle for Kerouac, beginning with his Northeast academic writer persona and ending in a similar proper and correct way. Kerouac had gone into a decline and reputedly drank heavily. He depended on his mother and other supporters. He died at 47. Cassady died at 42.

Jack Kerouac, On the Road is the novel that inspired the Beat Generation and thereby kickstarted an entire literary movement. It also spawned the whole idea of the rebel road movie - Easy Rider in particular. Kerouac wrote the novel about his travels around America with his friend Neil Cassidy (also known for his role in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test and from his own novel The First Third) as they looked for sex, drugs and rock n roll and wreaked havoc across the nation. It's an interesting account of an attitude and an age and is written in Kerouac's unusual stream of consciousness style. It's all about following your heart and foresaking adult responsibility to live life to the full. It's also full of descriptions of drug use, crime and sexual situations so is not for the kiddies.

Personally, I'm of 2 minds about this book. It's an American classic and has inspired many people, parituclarly other writers, actors and musicians, but I can't say I enjoyed it that much. I don't think Kerouac has a particularly brilliant command of language, he's devoid of morality and frankly is selfish and thoughtless. His actions are amusing, but have a negative impact on just about everybody around him, which seems to matter very little to our hero.

Having said that, I'm giving this a good rating because it's an important part of the literary canon and people should read it and judge it for themselves.