On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Dean is a spell of promise. He lures and seduces everyone into his world, which is never realised in all of it's glory. I had trouble reading this recently and made a thread about it here. Seems you're not the only one, and neither was I.

However, I really got into it after I got over it. I was previously annoyed with dean, annoyed with the fact that they weren't getting anywhere, and annoyed by the language. Not unlike when travelling, you are at first annoyed with the heavy backpack, the mosquito's the relentless sun and foreign tongues. But then you give up, and let everything speak to you. I've known plenty of Moriarities in my life, both male and female. Paradise is at least as interested in being a part of Dean's life as he is to be on the road. I believe in his view, Dean is the epitomy of the careless lifestyle, which in many ways he is. But he is a tragic character, and it is a tragedy refllected in the writing.

Oh gosh, I'm rambling... Time for bed. :)

On The Road is cool. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chava

I had trouble reading this recently and made a thread about it here. Seems you're not the only one, and neither was I.

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Thanks for the link. I had searched for threads with "Jack Kerouac" in the title, which is why I didn't find your more recent thread :blush:

Yes, it is beautiful but as a UK citizen I really can't sympathize with the Beat Generation and to me On the Road was more like a Geography book than a novel.

6/10

On the Road changed my life.

It opened the doors of my mind and gave me a whole new outlook on life and writing, which to people like me are pretty much the same thing. It made me want to adventure, and see into the soul of America that my generation so often wishes to ignore. It also taught me that the best way to write is the pure voice flowing from your mind, body, and soul simultaneously without restrictions.

Pretty much every book I've got into since I've become interested in based on it being mentioned in Kerouac. I finished my last Kerouac book, Lonesome Traveler, earlier tonight. I've dug deep into the other Beats as well, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Cassady, Corso, Snyder, Ferlinghetti, McClure, Rexroth, etc etc.

And, to the poster who stated that the Beats were conformist, this view lacks insight or knowledge into the culture of the group. You could easily say that punk rockers are conformists, but the Beats were Existentialists. They each made their own rules for existence, and respected each other's views. I mean, Kerouac was a Catholic. In the midst of a group like that, that's about as nonconformist as it gets.