"My writing is a teaching," Kerouac noted in his journal, and this was the point, even if readers didn't get it at first. "One of the greatest incentives of the writer is the long business of getting his teachings out and accepted." He was twenty-six when he started On the Road, shaking off a brief failed marriage and the dath of his father, embarking on a new life. The new book would teach the way. To prepare he wrote down eleven "true thoughts" about himself, many of them vanities he hoped to overcome along his characters' travels. "I'm ready to grow up if they'll let me," he wrote. The product of his labors, he was sure, would be a "powerful and singularly gloomy book...but good." In due course the narrator learns and dispenses many lessons, often in the form of parables and revelations, providing a guide to alternative adulthood: What would Jack do? Contrary to its rebel rep, On the Road is not about being Peter Pan; it is about becoming an adult. - from Why Kerouac Matters Submit a Review
$ 23.95
Using a number of critical approaches, Skau examines Corso’s complex imagination, his humor and his poetic techniques in dealing with America, the Beat Generation and death. Corso’s complete works are examined in this volume. Hardcover, 272 pages Submit a Review
$ 40.00
In the only critical examination of all of Jack Kerouac's published prose, James T. Jones turns to Freud to show how the great Beat writer used the Oedipus myth to shape not only his individual works but also the entire body of his writing. Jones believes Kerouac developed a plan for his writing which was called the Duluoz legend where family relationships were the focus of his works and the legend itself. Hardcover, 282 pages Submit a Review
$ 40.00
Offering insight into Kerouac's life and writing, Giamo provides a detailed and comprehensive description of Kerouac's search for spiritual salvation. Paperback, 246 pages Submit a Review
$ 27.00
The classic account of three who changed America's literature, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. This book contains a short biography of each, as well as a literary criticism of their works. Paperback, 273 pages Submit a Review
$ 16.95
Blending biography, cultural history and literary criticism, The Bop Apocalypse explores the religious concerns, metaphysical realities, and spiritual pursuits that undergirded the early friendship and literary collaborations of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. Hardcover, 316 pages Submit a Review
$ 44.95
Through careful analysis of Kerouac's On the Road, Swartz sets out to show that Kerouac's influence on American society is largely rhetorical." Swartz applies "fantasy theme analysis" to establish Kerouac's writing "serves as a tool that empowers people to take control of their lives and to reject dominant forces that constrain their thoughts and actions. Hardcover, 192 pages Submit a Review
