Jack Kerouac
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Kerouac, Jack
(John Kerouac) (kĕr`əwăk'), 1922–69, American novelist, b. Lowell, Mass., studied at Columbia. One of the leaders of the beat generationbeat generation,term applied to certain American artists and writers who were popular during the 1950s. Essentially anarchic, members of the beat generation rejected traditional social and artistic forms.
..... Click the link for more information. , a term he is said to have coined, he was the author of the largely autobiographical novel On the Road (1957), widely considered the testament of the beat movement. Frequently employing idiosyncratically lyrical language, Kerouac's writings reflect a frenetic, restless pursuit of new sensation and experience and a disdain for the conventional measures of economic and social success. Among his other works are the novels The Subterraneans (1958), The Dharma Bums (1958), Big Sur (1962), and Desolation Angels (1965); a volume of poetry, Mexico City Blues (1959); and a volume describing his dreams, Book of Dreams (1961). By the time he died of complications of alcoholism he had written more than 25 books.
Bibliography
See H. Cunnell, ed., On the Road: The Original Scroll (2007) and M. Phipps-Kettlewell, ed., Jack Kerouac: Collected Poems (2012); D. Brinkley, ed., Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac, 1947–1954 (2004); A. Charters, ed., Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters, 1940–1956 (1995) and Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters, 1957–1969 (1999) and B. Morgan and D. Stanford, ed., Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: The Letters (2010); H. Weaver, The Awakener: A Memoir of Kerouac and the Fifties (2009); biographies by A. Charters (1973), B. Gifford and L. Lee (1978, repr. 1994), D. McNally (1980), G. Nicosia (1988), and B. Miles (1998); studies by T. Hunt (1981), R. Weinreich (1986), I. Gewirtz (2007), J. Leland (2007), P. Maher, Jr. (2007), and B. Morgan (2010).
Kerouac, Jack
Born Mar. 12, 1922, in Lowell; died Oct. 21, 1969, in St. Petersburg, Fla. American writer.
Kerouac’s novel On the Road (1957) reflects the characteristic features of a certain element of American youth of the 1950’s called beatniks. His novel Big Sur (1962) portrays the crisis of the anarchistic behavior of the beatniks. Kerouac’s novels, such as The Subterraneans (1958) and The Dharma Bums (1958), are loosely composed, characterized by an episodic plot and impressionistic description. Kerouac’s outlook combined irresponsible hedonism with a mixture of Buddhism and Christianity.
WORKS
Doctor Sax. New York, 1959.Lonesome Traveler. New York, 1960.
Desolation Angels. New York, 1965.
Satori in Paris. New York, 1966.
Vanity of Duluoz. New York, 1968.
In Russian translation:
Na Doroge. [Excerpts.] In. Lit-ra, 1960, no. 10.
REFERENCES
Levidova, I. “Neprikaiannye dushi.” Voprosy literatury, 1960, no. 10.Morozova, T. L. Obraz molodogo amerikantsa ν literature SShA. Moscow, 1969.
Charters, A. A Bibliography of Works by Jack Kerouac. New York [1967].