The voyage has concluded, and I'll be posting some thoughts and pictures in the next few days. While I collect and sort through all that, here are a few items that caught my eye:
Um ... fact checker? So many differing versions of what Kerouac did to get his unique style on the page. Most accounts say he was a speed freak and a drunk, who finally succumbed to being just plain drunk. Seems to me at least one girlfriend claimed to lay out his benzadrine-sweaty T-shirts on the apartment radiator while Jack typed out On The Road on his infamous scroll. But David Gates says not so: Jack simply drank a lot of coffee.
The bookstores explored on Maude Newton make me wish I'd taken my little camera into some of the shops I visited in Winnipeg. Even McNally Robinson (dubbed "McSurly Robbersons" by my wife) is feted. Mind you, we've yet to see the NYC store.
Original content coming soon.
Like you said, many different versions. I remember reading a couple years ago (don't remember the exact source) that he actually went through several drafts and careful revisions, and the all night speed typing was just an urban myth
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing out the Gates piece -- an excellent summary of why I still love that book, long after 21. :)
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