Sal Paradise: Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Explore Jack's
life novels friends represented in his works poetry
Kerouac's Life
Jack Kerouac was born in 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts. He received a football scholarship to Columbia College in New York where he met the subjects of many of his novels: Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, and William S. Burroughs among others. Kerouac traveled across the United States and abroad. These experiences are chronicled in his works. Kerouac died in 1969 due to complications from alcoholism.
Kerouac's Novels
Some of Jack Kerouac's novel's include Visions of Cody, Dharma Bums, Lonesome Traveler, The Subterraneans, Desolation Angels, and Visions of Gerard. These books are written based on many of Kerouac's life experiences. Visions of Cody is about Neal Cassady. Dharma Bums is a wonderful novel about Kerouac's adventures with naturalist poet Japhy Ryder and there adventures into Budhism. Lonesome Traveler tells the tale of Jack's travels. The Subterraneans is a story of one of Jack's romantic affairs. Desolation Angels discusses his Budhism discovery as a fire lookout atop Desolation Peak in Washington state. Visions of Gerard is his tale of his older brother's death and how it affected him.
Kerouac's Friends Represented in his Works
Kerouac is known for including a number of his friends in his novels under different names. In On the Road these were the names used: Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady), Old Bull Lee (William S. Burroughs), and Carlo Marx (Allen Ginsberg). In Dharma Bums, the famous Gary Snyder was renamed Japhy Ryder.
Kerouac's Poetry
Kerouac, in addition to his many novels has had several poetry books published. His most well known is Mexico City Blues which consists of 242 "choruses" in which Kerouac imagined himself a blues saxophonist. His book "Pomes in All Sizes" is another of his more popular poetry publications.
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