Jack Kerouac: “On the Road”

Courtesy of one of my favorite websites The Writers’ Almanac, I was reminded that today is the ‘birthday’ of a very famous book:

It was on this day in 1957 that Jack Kerouac’s book On The Road was published. His inspiration for the book came ten years earlier. He was living in New York City with his mother, trying to write his first novel, when he met a drifter named Neal Cassady, an ex-convict from Denver who had actually been born in a car, and who became a car thief when he was fourteen years old. By the time Kerouac met him, Cassady had stolen more than five hundred cars and had been arrested ten times. Kerouac later wrote, “All my other current friends were intellectuals … [but Cassady] was a wild yea-saying overburst of American Joy.”

There are several good sites with information and background on Kerouac including this one, but my favorite has to be “Kerouac Speaks” because you can actually hear recordings of Kerouac talking, even singing.

Speaking of which, do I have a treat for everyone! On New Year’s Eve, I’m going to post some mind-blowing footage. All I’ll say is it’s “Beat” related. Unbelievable!