« The Final One!! | Main | Quote from Chapter One »
January 23, 2006
Literary Hero
Elyse Branam
January 23, 2006
Literary Hero
Webster’s dictionary defines the word “hero” as “A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life.” Jack Kerouac is one of many literary heroes. Even though the Kerouac became a depressed drunk, his literary work and his attitude towards his work was just as intense as the books he has written. His style of writing, before he became a drunk and depressed, was said to be “…beautiful, enrapturing, and original…especially considering the times that he lived.”
One of Kerouac’s most appreciated novels is an autobiography that was published in the year, 1957. “On the Road” seemed to capture the spirit of the citizens in the 1950s. The book reached many people’s homes and became an overnight sensation. Why was it so sensational? The sensation was due to a “semi-fictional exploration of the freedom and longing that is a core part of human nature.” The phrase “Beat Generation” which is a “A group of American writers and artists popular in the 1950s and early 1960s, influenced by Eastern philosophy and religion and known especially for their use of nontraditional forms and their rejection of conventional social values” was coined when the novel was published.
After skimming through the novel, once again for interesting quotes, I found one that really stuck out…
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..."
-- Jack Kerouac, "On The Road”
There is a myth that before the book came out in stores, he spent three weeks typing it non-stop. He used one continuous sheet of paper and went through several drafts after the third week. Many have noted that “The fury of Kerouac’s original typing session can be compared to that of a jazz musician, improvising using the excitement of spontaneous creation as the fuel for his masterpiece.” Personally, I couldn’t agree more!
The novel “On the Road” and Jack’s other novels have made a great impact on America’s literacy. Jack’s “spontaneous prose” explained stories about the Beat Generation. His novels represented him as a talented spokesperson for the youth during the 1950s.
Kerouac’s “On the Road” is a narrative that is told in an ongoing block of text. The “On the Road” scroll was sold at an auction for a whopping $2.4 million dollars. The scroll is currently on a world tour for four years, where it will be visiting different museums and libraries.
Recently, after thirty-seven years of consideration and planning, Francis Ford Coppola has announced that he is ready to bring “On the Road” to theatres. This will allow the citizens to visualize the amazing work of such an intellectual who wrote in-depth novels that came from the mind of “the great Jack Kerouac.”
Posted by ElyseBranam at January 23, 2006 10:49 PM