on the road with kerouac
I just finished Jack Kerouac's On the Road, which is one of the books on my massive list. This year the classic is celebrating its 50th anniversary of its first printing. I don't think I liked the book, to be honest, but it has made me think a bit, not because it was a particularly intellectual novel (I don't think it was at all) but more because I'm pondering all the reasons why it was such an influential novel in general.
Basically, the gist of the story, if you haven't read it, is that a guy named Sal (who was basically Jack--it's a mostly autobiographical novel with the names changed) has a friend that he admires a great deal, Dean Moriarty, who is a bit crazy and inspires Sal to take spontaneous road trips all over America and even down into Mexico. I'll let you check out the Wikipedia summary if you want more plot details, but essentially it's a lot of running all over the place, boozing it up, hitting on chicks (and then abandoning those same girls), stealing cars, listening to jazz and trying to figure out where the next few $ to buy more booze and to get to the next city are going to come from.
The book was probably heavily censored-- barely any drugs figure into the book which seems unlikely if it is mostly autobiographical. Plus I imagine much of the sexuality was toned down as well. Viking is apparently thinking of releasing an uncensored version of the book at some point, which I would probably pick up to compare. I'm not sure I would like the book any more or less even with the extra details though.
The book is a signpost for the Beat Generation. Wikipedia describes members of the Beat Generation as:
...new bohemian ecstatic epicureans, who often engaged in spontaneous creativity. The style of their work may seem chaotic, but the chaos was purposeful; it highlighted the primacy of such Beat Generation essentials as spontaneity, open emotion, visceral engagement in often gritty worldly experiences. The Beat writers produced a body of written work controversial both for its advocacy of non-conformity and for its non-conforming style.
On The Road fits the bill, of course, both in how it was created (written in three weeks on one long roll of paper, no margins, single spaced, no paragraphs) and in the content of the story, which is chaotic, rebellious, carefree and in my opinion, very selfish.
At the time, I imagine it was a monumental novel in the sense that it completely defied the reigning moralistic majority in America in the early 50s. This was no Leave It to Beaver -- it was the polar opposite, which was strange and shocking to me when I considered what I thought of the 50s (or even further back, in 1947 when the story supposedly took place).
Dean Moriarty, based on the real life friend of Kerouac, Neal Cassady, is both hero and pathetic fool. He throws away his money, women/wives and children whenever a whim or an itch gets into his head. I think that in many ways, my frustration and anger at this character is because I'm a woman and this is REALLY a man's man book. It's all about hanging out with the guys, finding a fun time, living life in the moment and forgoing all responsibility to anyone if it gets in the way of having that experience. It's probably also hitting a chord with me because my brother-in-law is playing the drunken asshole fool and throwing away his family at the moment--not nearly so drastically as Dean did, but the effect, I imagine, is the same on my sister as it would have been for his two wives and the kids he fathered along the way.
Overall though, boredom started to set in about 30 pages into the book. The story is circular--one crazy trip after another. It's all the same sort of thing, the boozing, the car stealing, the womanizing, just in different places all over the country. And yes, I get it...it was the poetry of living in the moment. But the moments didn't seem very appealing to me. It was dirty, grimy, sad and I couldn't find any joy in the book although over and over Sal seemed to revel in the various little joys of the people he met and admired. In the end, Sal came to a similar revelation, but it took so long to get there that I just didn't care. I found myself scanning a lot of the last half of the book and wishing that I had read it in college so I could have had better perspective from my professors and peers.
I find that I'm more interested in the lives and the influence of the Beat writers than I am overly intrigued by their writing. I'm not a Ginsberg fan (who had the role of Carlo Marx in the book) or Bukowski and while I liked Naked Lunch I think that was more because it was Cronenberg who did the movie, not because I would like Burrough's book (which the movie is only partially based upon). I just don't find the whole pack of sex and drug induced writings to be generally appealing to me. They rely so much on shock value that I find myself uninterested and unimpressed. But the lives those people led and the influence that they have had on overall culture and politics is highly intriguing to me. I find that I want to read the books not because of their own merit but because they may give me a greater understanding of what came as a result of those writings.
I also have to wonder, what sort of impact did the Beat Generation have on things like manners, the idea of keeping families intact, freedom of sexuality (the love 'em and leave 'em attitude becoming more acceptable), etc. I'm not someone who is terribly keen on the institution or the corporation but at the same time, that era was the breaking apart of some things that I wish our society still had. Little things mostly--that guys would take off their damn hats in restaurants, more courting on the dating scene (which IMHO doesn't cut into gender equality or have to cut down on sex--it's more about courtesy and thoughtfulness), families eating at the dinner table instead of in front of the TV, and the like. Hmm. Maybe I'm just getting old.
Coppola bought the movie rights to On the Road 39 years ago and for the last few years there have been reports that he's finally started making the film. A 2001 account mentioned that Brad Pitt had been cast as Sal but a 2005 article I found said that Billy Crudup had been cast with Colin Farrell as Moriarty. But since then? Nothing, nada. I suspect that it has once again fallen by the wayside, which is a bummer. I think I might find more affinity with the story if I could see it on screen.
At some point though, I should take a trip up to Lowell, where he was born, and check out his grave site. I want to collect visits to author birthplaces, houses and grave sites and he's just so darn close that I don't really have an excuses. And if I ever manage to become a runner, I suppose I'll have to run the 5k too...
But mostly, about the book itself, I would tend to agree with Truman Capote, who, on commenting on Kerouac's method of free-flowing writing, said, "That's not writing, it's typing." It was too rambling, too seemingly stream-of-consciousness (even if he was working from notes he took over the previous seven years). I just couldn't see it as a serious or a good novel, but in the end, it doesn't really matter if it was serious. It was influential in so many ways, and for that reason alone, I think that the story of Sal and Dean will sit with me for years to come.
Comments
The bit about writing it in three weeks, though, is a myth. He was working on it for years, even showing the work to several fellow writers. The scroll is around somewhere, though, I think.
Also, though I am now very curious about debunking the myth of the three weeks and the roll of printer's paper, On The Road was primarily about the process and its value is more like the value of a primary source than a novel.
Basically, I'm saying that I have a sort of love-hate thing going on with Kerouac, and it has nothing to do with the locals shouting insults at us when we hopped the fence to go find his grave. Hehe.
The "roll' as Kerouac called it, did make a trip around various libraries and museums recently and originally sold for some exhorbitant amount of money.
You're definitely right--the Beat poets are more accessible when you are hearing them--I never thought to apply that idea to Kerouac's novel. I imagine it may be more interesting aloud but then again, it still has the endless repetitive circles of boozing, womanizing, stealing a car or hopping a bus and then going to the next town. That's what I mostly couldn't get past...it just became boring after awhile. I haven't read any of his other books, perhaps they are more redeeming?
Interestingly, when I apply this rule to situations both before and after she made the claim, it holds true. I mean, of course it does. RUN.
Re the (sc)roll, my neighbor Steve just happened to post a photo of it. Man oh man!
I also found Dean to be foolish, and certainly now worth all the admiration being paid to him. He kept acting like a selfish jerk over and over. It got boring. Since I found him so unlikeable it was hard to get through a whole book exalting his childish, selfish behavior.
Great post!
Remember too that during WWII most of the adult male poplutation was off fighting for half a decade. The vaccuum of paternal authority left Kerouac's generation to find their own values. Kerouac wasn't inventing this figure of a rambling man, he was glorifying it.
"It was dirty, grimy, sad and I couldn't find any joy in the book although over and over Sal seemed to revel in the various little joys of the people he met and admired." Exactly the difference literature made for these men, making joy from madness.
I don't think "On The Road" is for everyone, but it is for some of us. Make no mistake about it: Kerouac isn't inspiring anyone to do anything they don't allready want to. He is, hopefully, showing us beauty in experiences that most people consider ugly.
As Ginsberg said: "All is holy."