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Post by admin on Feb 12, 2007 23:15:12 GMT
I believe Josh wants to do some sort of introduction...
Cheerio, Michael. xxx
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Post by blake on Feb 13, 2007 8:27:19 GMT
Yes Yes Yes..
I just wanted to raise a few points before people start reading. Some of these are covered in Ann Charters introduction to the Penguin edition in a slightly different manner.
Structure First of all. The novel is episodic. It's not nearly as plotless as some of my favourite books. But I've heard people complain about a lack of structure or flow to the story. The four parts of the book should be taken as four separate entities. But they all combine to paint a portrait of this time in Jack Kerouac's (Sal Paradise in the novel) life and as an ode to his muse and best friend Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty) Yep as you've probably guessed by that the novel is autobiographical bar a few name and location switch's everything recorded in the novel actually happened.
"philosophy" of the novel.
On The Road was tremendously influential on the development of the counter-culture of the sixties. It's easy to see how this paean to unrestrained freedom would appeal to those in the conservative climate of the 1950's America.
However like much of Kerouac's work many people misunderstand his intentions. Many people have told me the novel glorifies drop outs, druggies, mistreatment of women and so on. The fact is though the novel with written in the early Fifties (not published till 1957) and takes place in the late forties. Back in those pre-rock'n'roll days to see a certain glamour in societies undesirables was no nearly as common in art or life as it is now. While the charterers in On The Road sometimes take part in behavior that why might consider morally questionable. Kerouac's intention was spiritual rather than a thoughtless celebration of debauchery. Kerouac's ethic and philosophy is summed up this passage from his friend and fellow beat writer Allen Ginsberg's Howl (Ginsberg turns up in the novel as Carlo Marx, a rather unsubtle dig as Ginsberg's political affiliation which Kerouac didn't share).
"Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! The world is holy! The soul is holy! The skin is holy! The nose is holy! The tongue and cock and hand and asshole holy! Everything is holy! everybody's holy! everywhere is holy! everyday is in eternity! Every man's an angel! The bum's as holy as the seraphim! the madman is holy as you my soul are holy!"
The novel aims to illuminate the beauty and honour in people who society as a whole might not see as having much in the way of either quality. Kerouac's narrator is utterly nonjudgmental of what he see's. He just reports and soaks up the madness around him. The novel is equal parts macho and tender. Though the camera eye of his prose Kerouac redeems and celebrates the things and people he sees on his travels.
When Kerouac was asked in a television interview with Steve Allen to define The Beat Generation, he answered simply, "sympathetic."
Warning
Finally I'd like to say that modern readers my find certain passages in the novel somewhat homophobic (also somewhat homoerotic, but thats another story..) Myself I've always thought this is about how language changes though the years. Like it was once not only acceptable but the norm to call the mental disabled "spastics" at one point. I'm assuming it was acceptable in the late forties to refer to gay men as "fags" and "queers". If the tone does seem homophobic this is odd, because both Kerouac and Neal Cassady took part in a lot of homosexual experimentation in they're lives and many Beat Generation figures in the novel such as Allen Ginsberg (Carlo Marx) and William Burroughs (Old Bull Lee) where very openly homosexual.
Anyway. I hope people enjoy the novel as much as I've enjoyed typing all that! It's a love it/hate it book and should stimulate a lot of discussion on a lot of different levels.
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Post by charly on Feb 14, 2007 0:38:06 GMT
I read a lot of this about a year ago, but I never got around to finishing it. I guess my obsession with beat literature passed (I've got a pretty short attention span) so it kind of got left behind. Maybe I'll go back to it next week, when I'm travelling across half the country. I do like the idea of it, though, and it's a lot better than the Bukowski book that I've read; I guess it's just Kerouac's style that I grew a bit sick of.
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Post by enfantterrible on Feb 15, 2007 18:15:06 GMT
i bought my copy today
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Post by angelheaded on Feb 16, 2007 19:49:46 GMT
*gasp* You have a book club?
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Post by blake on Feb 16, 2007 20:19:42 GMT
*gasp* You have a book club? We sure do. Not sure if anyones actually reading this though, haha.
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Post by angelheaded on Feb 16, 2007 21:08:28 GMT
Aw. I've been meaning to read On The Road for years; when I've finished my current book I'll move onto it, I think (not least because the idea of a book group inside a PW forum pleases me no end).
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glastra
Libertine
Knitter Extraordinaire
Posts: 139
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Post by glastra on Feb 17, 2007 2:45:51 GMT
I'm just waiting for my copy to arrive...I can't seem to find the one I already own (which is concerning)...I'm actually quite excited to read it again!
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Post by dinaaaa on Feb 17, 2007 19:12:07 GMT
Buying my copy tomorrow!
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Post by AnneYgerne on Feb 17, 2007 19:46:23 GMT
got my copy (in french) and should start reading tomorrow.
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Post by batgirl on Feb 18, 2007 15:55:31 GMT
I saw a copy of 'On the Road' lying around at the Bristol gig, this'll be why!
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Post by frantic on Feb 18, 2007 17:38:48 GMT
I fell in love with this book. Though I found 'Lonesome Traveller' an infuriating read, mainly for the endless beat prose chapters about the general running of trains, that I couldn't quite handle. Has anyone read 'Dharma Bums'? I've been tempted for a while, but would like to know what it is like?
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Post by blake on Feb 18, 2007 17:44:49 GMT
The Dharma Bums is equally as good as On The Road and its in a similar relatively straight forward style so its a decent follow up read.
You should check out Big Sur. That's my favourite Kerouac, it shows a different darker but more human side to the man.
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Post by frantic on Feb 18, 2007 19:57:01 GMT
Thankyou
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Post by pistol on Feb 19, 2007 11:07:28 GMT
i've read this, i'm a great fan of kerouac.
patrick wolf book club, what does this entail, and how does one join?
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Post by sickmouthy on Feb 19, 2007 11:29:22 GMT
I always found most of the actual Beats to be pretty dull and self-important. Hunter S Thompson did, for me, everything I'd wanted the likes of Kerouac to do.
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Post by blake on Feb 19, 2007 13:11:12 GMT
For me Hunter S Thompson though a fantastic writer lacks the soul and compassion of Kerouac's prose. But I guess its all down to personal taste.
You can't come into Kerouac expecting what you get from Thompson's work. He was a journalist and a social commentator remember. Kerouac was political pretty much neutral and was more concerned with spiritual and poetic matters. Though Thompson was influenced by Kerouac, they're poles apart philosophically.
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Post by admin on Feb 19, 2007 13:29:18 GMT
patrick wolf book club, what does this entail, and how does one join? Pretty much reading the book and commenting on it in the appropriate thread... Welcome aboard! Cheerio, Michael. xxx
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Post by sickmouthy on Feb 19, 2007 13:34:16 GMT
True, true, they are very different. I came to Hunter after I'd read Kerouac though, and the hopes I'd had for Kerouac were borne out much more in Hunter. It's a long time since I read On The Road but I don't recall being particularly struck by spiritual or philosophical matters though. I very rarely find things that are meant to be profound, profound though.
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Post by blake on Feb 19, 2007 13:42:56 GMT
True, true, they are very different. I came to Hunter after I'd read Kerouac though, and the hopes I'd had for Kerouac were borne out much more in Hunter. It's a long time since I read On The Road but I don't recall being particularly struck by spiritual or philosophical matters though. I very rarely find things that are meant to be profound, profound though. I dunno perhaps I've made a mistake suggesting On The Road for this book club, because despite being the only book of his you ever find in Waterstones (and being great in its own right in my opinion) it doesn't fully represent everything about Kerouac. But his personal philosophy is very much there in abundance. Read my introduction for more on that..
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