On the Road (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) | Jack Kerouac

On the Road (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) | Jack Kerouac | A True Classic

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On the Road (Pengu...

	On the Road (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) Jack Kerouac Penguin (Non-Classics), 1999 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 627 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

First published in 1957, this novel epitomized to the world the Beat philosophy. It chronicles a spontaneous and wandering life style founded both on jazz and drug-induced visions.

My perspective

I rather think On The Road is the kind of book that will either appeal to someone or it won't. I guess most books are that way. But I see so many disparaging reviews either here or in the discussion section that I wanted to start by acknowledging that point.

Personally, I loved the book enough to write a companion reader for it (The Beat Handbook: 100 Days of Kerouactions), so right up front I have a bias and thought you should know about that.

Objectively, it's important to note that most scholars agree that - contrary to what many believe - Kerouac did not write On The Road without editing it in a nonstop caffeine-enhanced frenzy. At least one scholar suggests that Kerouac wrote in three phases. First, he captured his experiences as they happened or soon after in notebooks. Second, he wrote about his experiences in letters. Third, he refined it all into his manuscripts. Even the latter he edited multiple times.

Regardless, Kerouac set forth - as he stated in his own letters - to invent a new way of writing. Most agree that he succeeded with his stream-of-consciouness style. Some say he changed the American novel.

In any event, to really enjoy On The Road as Kerouac intended, just read it. Fluently. Don't try to make sense of it intellectually at every turn. Experience the timing of his writing, how it slows down and speeds up and pauses. How it glides and stutters. How it wanders - just like our thoughts! Re-read sections. Much of it is like poetry - it's not just about the meaning but about the sound and the texture of words.

Of course, along the way enjoy the story. Keep in mind that the book involves drug use and sex and petty larceny and a whole host of other behaviors society deems "inappropriate." That was the point! It was the generation that first rebelled against the Ozzie and Harriet culture we'd become. The beat generation experimented with living!

And Kerouac chronicled it. Better than anyone else.

On The Road is required reading for anyone interested in the beat generation.

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A True Classic

It is absolutely amazing that any novel could be written in just three weeks, let alone this defining portrayal of the United States in the early 1950's. This is a true masterpiece.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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