Jack Kerouac's On the Road Is Published
Jack Kerouac's *On the Road* was published on September 5, 1957, and is widely regarded as a seminal work of the Beat Generation, which emerged in the post-World War II era as a response to societal pressures and materialism. The book is a semiautobiographical narrative that chronicles the adventures of young characters who travel across the United States seeking freedom and self-discovery through unconventional experiences, including drug use, music, and mysticism. Kerouac wrote the novel in a groundbreaking spontaneous style, completing it in a single, long, unpunctuated paragraph on a scroll of drafting paper, which presented challenges in publishing.
After years of rejections due to its unorthodox format and content, *On the Road* finally found a publisher willing to work with Kerouac, leading to his rise to fame despite mixed critical reception. The novel not only captivated readers but also solidified Kerouac's status as a leading figure of the Beat Generation, a movement characterized by its rejection of materialism and exploration of alternative lifestyles. Over time, Kerouac faced struggles with alcoholism and criticism of his work, yet he continued to write and engage with the public through various media. His original manuscript was later sold at auction for $2.2 million, underscoring its lasting cultural significance.
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Jack Kerouac's On the Road Is Published
Jack Kerouac's On the Road Is Published
Jack Kerouac, an American poet and novelist, had his best known novel On the Road published on September 5, 1957. He was a leader of the Beat movement of the 1950s.
The post–World War II desire for material goods and the pressure to conform to society's norms caused some writers to express their alienation of these expectations and their desire to live an alternative lifestyle. The term Beat Generation was used to describe these writers and those who followed their call to renounce materialism and find themselves through nature, drugs, music, sex, and, in some cases, Zen Buddhism. The poetry of Walt Whitman and jazz music were just two sources of inspiration for the Beat Generation.
One of the most famous of the Beat writers was Jean-Louis “Jack” Kerouac, born on March 12, 1922, in Lowell, Massachusetts, of French-Canadian ancestry. Kerouac went to Columbia University but dropped out when he could not get along with a football coach. During World War II he was discharged from the navy and eventually joined the merchant marines. When he was not aboard a ship, he stayed in New York City with friends, one of whom—Allen Ginsberg—helped him to publish his first book, The Town and the City (1950). While it garnered him some respect and recognition, fame would not come for another seven years.
As Kerouac roamed the United States, he wrote about his travels, using a more spontaneous form of writing than was typical for that day and age. He eventually assembled these narratives into the book On the Road, a semiautobiographical account of a group of young people who hitchhike around the United States, indulging in sex, drugs, music, and mysticism while eschewing the more conventional ways of living. The road in the title meant more than the physical roads the characters travel; it symbolized the emotional journey that the narrator takes, for in the end he retreats from excess so he can achieve enough stability to write.
On the Road, which took 20 days to write, was completed on April 22, 1951, in one long, unpunctuated paragraph, typed in single-space format on a roll of paper that was 9 inches wide and 119 feet, 8 inches long. It is believed that the paper was actually architectural drafting paper found by Kerouac and his second wife, Joan Haverty, when they moved into their Manhattan loft. Kerouac taped the pages together in sections of about 12 feet so that they formed one long scroll. Partly because of this format, which made the manuscript very difficult to edit and print, it took six years for Kerouac to find a publisher for the book. Also making it tough to sell to publishers were the unorthodox style in which it was written and the perception that it glorified con men, prostitutes, car thieves, and other disreputable types. Viking finally agreed to publish it once Kerouac made some revisions—including the addition of punctuation and the substitution of aliases for the names of his friends Neal Cassady, Ginsberg, and others—and retyped the text onto standard, letter-sized paper. It caught the attention of the public and made Kerouac famous, despite some strongly negative reviews. He was quickly considered to be a representative of the Beat Generation and its lifestyle, but years of rejection made it difficult for him to accept that mantle.
Kerouac was also hurt by those literary critics who saw the Beat movement as a fad and therefore refused to take his writings seriously. He began to turn to alcohol to deal with the problems in his life, but he continued to write and publish novels, including a sequel to On the Road, entitled Big Sur. Kerouac also appeared on a variety of television shows, wrote several magazine articles, and recorded three spoken-word albums. He retired to St. Petersburg, Florida, and died on October 21, 1969, at the age of 47. On May 22, 2001, Kerouac's scroll of On the Road— complete with the author's handwritten revisions—sold at Christie's auction house in New York City for $2.2 million. It was bought by Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts football team, who wanted to ensure that the manuscript remained in the United States.