Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), American writer, who was the first to use the term Beat Generation in reference to the group of American writers, including himself, who rejected mainstream society in the 1950s through their unconventional writings and alternative lifestyles. The word “beat” referred to what these writers saw as the beaten-down state of the individual in postwar society, the state of beatitude or bliss that they sought, and the beat of the jazz music they loved.

Kerouac was born Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac on March 12, 1922, to French-Canadian parents in Lowell, Massachusetts. He won a football scholarship to Columbia College, the undergraduate college of Columbia University, but dropped out during his second year. In New York he befriended several writers, including William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, who also became leading figures of the Beat movement. Kerouac joined the United States Navy in the 1940s, during World War II, but was soon discharged on psychiatric grounds after he refused to take orders.

All of Kerouac’s writings are autobiographical. His first novel, The Town and the City (1950), describes the disintegration of his own family. His best-known novel is On the Road (1957), a loosely structured account of the adventures of several characters, including the author, who travel across the United States and into Mexico by hitchhiking, bus, and rented cars. In search of freedom and enlightenment, they embrace drugs, alcohol, sex, and jazz, especially bebop, during their wanderings. The book’s publication catapulted Kerouac to fame. Although some critics extolled On the Road as defining a new generation, others dismissed or ridiculed the work for glamorizing reckless irresponsibility and for its loose style and structure. Today, On the Road is regarded as a classic work of the Beat Generation.

Kerouac typed the original manuscript of On the Road as a single paragraph over a three-week period in April 1951, fuelled by coffee and the stimulant Benzedrine, on several long sheets of drawing paper. He later taped these together into a single scroll, 36-m (120-ft) long, to approximate a continuous, spontaneous, and uninhibited flow of thought. Kerouac’s technique and rapid production led the novelist Truman Capote to remark: “That’s not writing; it’s typing.”

The manuscript of On the Road failed to interest a publisher until literary critic Malcolm Cowley, then an editor for Viking Press, took it on in 1954. Cowley requested revisions, greatly shortened the manuscript, and changed the names of the original characters. A transcript of the original scroll appeared in 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the book’s publication. It includes Cowley’s deletions and the original names of Kerouac’s characters, who were closely modelled on his friends, including Burroughs and Ginsberg. The character Dean Moriarty is based on Neal Cassady, a rebellious friend who inspired the road trip and accompanied Kerouac on it.

Kerouac’s next novel, The Dharma Bums (1958), is a more conventional work, on the theme of self-fulfilment through Zen Buddhism and the search for dharma, or eternal truth in Buddhism. The novel is set in California. Its main character is based on the poet Gary Snyder, a friend of Kerouac’s who had studied Buddhism. The Subterraneans (1958) takes place in the dark rooms, underground bars, and alleys of San Francisco, and revolves around Kerouac’s short but tempestuous affair with a woman called Mardou Fox. Big Sur (1962), an autobiographical sequel to On the Road, describes the retreat of an alcoholic Beat leader to the California coast, where he attempts to put his life in order. Other novels by Kerouac include Maggie Cassidy (1959), Tristessa (1960), and Desolation Angels (1965). He also wrote poetry, such as Mexico City Blues (1959), and travel pieces, such as Lonesome Traveller (1960).

Uneasy with fame and media hostility, Kerouac turned increasingly to alcohol. He died in St Petersburg, Florida, on October 21, 1969, at the age of 47, of internal haemorrhaging brought on by alcoholism. His posthumously published works include the poetry collection Book of Blues (1995) and two volumes of correspondence, Selected Letters, 1940-1956 (published 1995) and Selected Letters, 1957-1969 (published 1999). Beat Generation, an unpublished play written by Kerouac in 1957, was rediscovered and published in 2005.