Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist, writer, poet, artist, and one of the most prominent members of the Beat Generation. While enjoying popular but little critical success during his own lifetime, Kerouac is now considered one of America's most important authors. Kerouac's spontaneous, confessional language style inspired other writers, including Tom Robbins, Richard Brautigan, Hunter S. Thompson, Ken Kesey, and Bob Dylan.

Biography

Early years

Born Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac, in Lowell, Massachusetts, to a family of Franco-Americans. His parents, Leo-Alcide Kerouac and Gabrielle-Ange Lévesque, were natives of the province of Quebec in Canada. Like many other Quebecers of their generation, the Lévesques and Kerouacs were part of the Quebec emigration to New England to find employment. Jack didn't start to learn English until the age of six. At home, he and his family spoke Quebec French. At an early age, he was profoundly marked by the death of his elder brother Gérard, later prompting him to write the book Visions of Gerard.

Related Topics:
Lowell, Massachusetts - The province of Quebec - Canada - Quebecers - Quebec emigration - New England - English - Quebec French

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Later, his athletic prowess led him to become a star on his local football team, and this achievement earned him scholarships to Boston College and Columbia University in New York. He entered Columbia University after spending the scholarship's required year at Horace Mann School. It was in New York that Kerouac met the people whom he was to journey around the world with, and return to write about: the so-called Beat Generation, which included people like Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady and William S. Burroughs. After breaking his leg and arguing with his coach, his football scholarship did not pan out, so Kerouac left to join the Merchant Marine in 1942. In 1943, he joined the United States Navy but discharged during World War II on psychiatric grounds.

Related Topics:
Boston College - Columbia University - New York - Horace Mann School - Beat Generation - Allen Ginsberg - Neal Cassady - William S. Burroughs - Merchant Marine - 1942 - 1943 - United States Navy - World War II

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During Kerouac's time at Columbia University, Burroughs and Kerouac got into trouble with the law for failing to report a murder; this incident formed the basis of a mystery novel the two collaborated on in 1945 entitled And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks which was never published (an excerpt from the manuscript would be included in the Burroughs compilation Word Virus).

Related Topics:
Columbia University - And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks

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Later years

In between his sea voyages, Kerouac stayed in New York with his friends from Fordham. He started writing his first novel, called The Town and the City, which was published in 1950 and earned him some respect as a writer.

Related Topics:
New York - Fordham - The Town and the City - 1950

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Kerouac wrote constantly, despite not publishing another novel until 1957 when On the Road, published by Viking Press, finally appeared in print. From the point of view of the character Sal Paradise, this mostly autobiographical work of fiction dealt with his roadtrip adventures across the United States and into Mexico with Neal Cassady (represented as Dean Moriarty). In a way, the story is an offspring of Mark Twain's classic Huckleberry Finn, though in On the Road the narrator (Sal Paradise) is twice Huck's age, and Kerouac's story is set in the America of about a hundred years after. The novel is often described as the defining work of the post-World War II jazz-, poetry-, and drug-affected Beat Generation and earned him the right to be noted as the stereotypical king of the beat generation. Allegedly using Benzedrine and coffee, Kerouac wrote the entire novel in only three weeks in an extended session of spontaneous prose, or stream of consciousness. This style of writing was heavily influenced by Kerouac's appreciation for the improvisational nature of American Jazz music. Kerouac was hailed as a major American writer, and reluctantly as the voice of the Beat Generation.

Related Topics:
1957 - On the Road - Viking Press - United States - Mexico - Neal Cassady - Dean Moriarty - Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn - Jazz - Poetry - Drug - Beat Generation - Benzedrine - Stream of consciousness

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His friendship with Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and George Whitman, among others, defined a generation. Kerouac also wrote and narrated a "Beat" movie titled Pull My Daisy in 1958.

Related Topics:
Allen Ginsberg - William Burroughs - George Whitman - Pull My Daisy - 1958

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In 1954, Kerouac discovered Dwight Goddard's A Buddhist Bible at the San Jose Library, which then marked the beginning of his studies of Buddhism and his own personal quest for enlightenment. He chronicled parts of this, as well as some of his adventures with Gary Snyder, in the book The Dharma Bums, set in Northern California and published in 1958. Kerouac developed something of a friendship with the scholar Alan Watts (cryptically named Arthur Wayne in Kerouac's novel Big Sur, and Alex Aums in Desolation Angels). He also met and had discussions with the famous Japanese Zen Buddhist authority D.T. Suzuki. At some point in his life Kerouac wrote Wake Up, a biography of Siddhartha Gautama (better known as the Buddha) that remains unpublished.

Related Topics:
1954 - San Jose - Buddhism - Enlightenment - Gary Snyder - The Dharma Bums - Northern California - 1958 - Alan Watts - Desolation Angels - Japanese - Zen Buddhist - D.T. Suzuki - Siddhartha Gautama - Buddha

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Kerouac died prior to finishing his "Duluoz Legend" project, which exists only as an incomplete autobiographical manuscript. Shortly prior to his death Kerouac told interviewer Joseph Lelyveld of the New York Times, "I'm not a beatnik. I'm a Catholic." After pointing to a painting of Pope Paul VI, Kerouac noted, "You know who painted that? Me."http://partners.nytimes.com/books/97/09/07/home/kerouac-obit.html

Related Topics:
Joseph Lelyveld - New York Times - Pope Paul VI

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Death and afterwards

He died on October 21, 1969 at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, from an internal hemorrhage at the age of 47, the unfortunate result of a life of heavy drinking. He was living at the time with his third wife Stella, and his mother Gabrielle. He is buried in his home town of Lowell.

Related Topics:
October 21 - 1969 - St. Petersburg - Florida - Hemorrhage - Lowell

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A DVD entitled "Kerouac: King of the Beats" features several minutes of his appearance on Firing Line, William F. Buckley's television show, during Kerouac's later years when alcoholism had taken control. He is seen often incoherent and very drunk.

Related Topics:
DVD - Firing Line - William F. Buckley - Alcoholism

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Books also continue to be published that were written by Kerouac, many unfinished by him. A book of his haikus and dreams also were published, giving interesting insight into how his mind worked.

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In August 2001, most of his letters, journals, notebooks and manuscripts were sold to the New York Public Library for an undisclosed sum. Presently, Douglas Brinkley has exclusive access to parts of this archive until 2005. The first collection of edited journals, Wind Blown World, was published in 2004.

Related Topics:
August 2001 - New York Public Library - Douglas Brinkley - 2005 - Wind Blown World - 2004

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