Neal Cassady
Neal Cassady was a prominent figure in the Beat generation and is often recognized for his free-spirited lifestyle that influenced American counterculture in the 1950s and 1960s. Born under unconventional circumstances while his family traveled, Cassady's early life was marked by hardship, including time spent in reform schools and juvenile detention due to his involvement in crime. He became a close friend of notable writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, who drew inspiration from his adventurous and spontaneous nature. Together, they formed a bond that significantly impacted the Beat movement, encouraging a departure from traditional societal norms among postwar youth.
Cassady's personal life was complex, involving multiple marriages and a mixture of heterosexual and homosexual relationships. While he never published a book during his lifetime, Cassady's experiences were immortalized through his portrayal in Kerouac's "On the Road" and other Beat literature. His life ended tragically in 1968 in Mexico due to a drug overdose. After his death, his unfinished autobiography, "The First Third," was published, along with a memoir by his wife, Carolyn Cassady, providing further insight into his life and legacy. Cassady remains a symbol of the Beat generation, embodying the spirit of rebellion and exploration that characterized the era.
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Neal Cassady
- Born: February 8, 1926
- Birthplace: Salt Lake City, Utah
- Died: February 4, 1968
- Place of death: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Biography
Neal Cassady, part of the 1950’s and 1960’s Beat culture, was born on the side of the road as his family traveled through Utah on a road trip to Hollywood, California. The unusual circumstance of his birth foreshadowed the adventurous road trips which would one day immortalize his life.
In 1939, at age thirteen, Cassady left his mother and went to live with his alcoholic father in one of Denver’s most crime-ridden and dilapidated slums. He spent his teen years exposed to the unsavory aspects of street life, and eventually became a car thief and a con artist. As a result, he spent most of his adolescence in and out of reform schools and juvenile detention centers.
In 1946, he left Denver to visit a friend attending school in New York City. While there, Cassady met Jack Kerouac, a writer, and Allen Ginsberg, a homosexual poet. Both young writers were inspired by Cassady’s free and uninhibited spirit and quickly formed a companionship that would prove to change the culture of the nation.
Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s these three men became known as the “new American heroes.” Their drug- and sex-filled adventures, documented by Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, inspired many postwar teenagers to break away from their upright middle-class families and follow their own impulses. These young teens were first referred to as the Beat generation and later as hippies.
Cassady was married three times. In 1947, he left his first wife, LuAnne Henderson, and married Carolyn Robinson. They had two children together before Cassady had an affair with Diane Hansen and then bigamously married her. He remained with Diane Hansen for one year before returning to Carolyn Robinson Cassady and fathering a third child. Throughout all of his marriages, Cassady carried on a homosexual affair with his friend Allen Ginsberg as well as numerous heterosexual affairs with other women.
Although Cassady’s life was the inspiration behind the Beat movement, he never actually published a book during his lifetime. However, he did appear as the main character in several noted works of Beat literature. One such work was Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road, which was written about a road trip that he and Cassady took across the United States. Other similar Cassady road trips were also captured in Tom Wolfe’s novel The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
In 1968, Neal Cassady died in Mexico from a drug overdose. An unfinished autobiography written by Cassady titled The First Third, and Other Writings was published posthumously in 1971. Carolyn Cassady, Neal Cassady’s wife, also published Off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac, and Ginsberg. This book was an autobiography of the years she spent with Cassady and his friends, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.