Doctor Sax [Paperback]

Jack Kerouac (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1975

Of all his books, Doctor Sax was the one Jack Kerouac loved the most. He began writing it in 1948, but wrote the greater part of it in 1952, when he was staying in Mexico with William Burroughs. Told through the character of Kerouac's fictional alter ego, Jack Duluoz, the novel tells the story of his extraordinary childhood in Massachusetts. A clever and rebellious boy, playing among the river weeds and railroad tracks, going to the movies, reading pulp comics and watching cartoons, Jack creates an imaginary world of strange, new possibilities. Within this world lies the weird and wonderful Doctor Sax

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Spooky and tender with stretches of sheer phosphorescent fantasy, Doctor Sax has a vigour and thirst for life. A real prize, one of the lost gems of modern literature.' Rolling Stone 'Duluoz is exuberantly profane and comfortably delinquent, and like any right-thinking twelve year old, he is a track addict. On cold winter mornings, he scribbles out racing forms and stages elaborate handicap races with marbles. Full of pinball prose, Doctor Sax is an elegy to the warm, safe smells of a tenement kitchen and the dark mysteries of a city neighbourhood. It is Kerouac's best book.' Time 'Vivid, moving and funny' Guardian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jack Kerouac was born in 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts, the youngest of three children in a French-Canadian family. Having left college, he joined the merchant marines and began the restless wanderings that were to continue for the greater part of his life. His first novel, The Town and the City, was published in 1950. On the Road, although written in 1951 (in a few hectic days on a scroll of newsprint), was not published until 1957 - it made him one of the most controversial and best-known writers of his time. Publication of his many other books, among them The Subterraneans, Doctor Sax and Desolation Angels, followed. Jack Kerouac died in St. Petersburg, Florida at the age of forty-seven. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 245 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press, Inc. (1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394172787
• ISBN-13: 978-0394172781
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,398,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), the central figure of the Beat Generation, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1922 and died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1969. Among his many novels are On the Road, The Dharma Bums, Big Sur, and Visions of Cody.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Divine, April 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dr. Sax (Paperback)

This is kerouac's favourite out of all of his works - and rightly so. It delves into his psyche and provides an almost burroughsesque peice of literature. This book is not for people unused to the writing of kerouac, so if you haven't read any before i recommend that you check out On The Road before embracing this. It begins as a regular peice of kerouac, recounting events of his very early youth in Lowell, Mass. but ascends (or decends depending on your opinion) into a realm of psychedelic, almost biblical dream-hallucination based on a mythical character called Dr. Sax who combats the realms of evil (with the help of young JK/JD) which are personified by the snake, but more supremely by the dove. I wont tell the end 'cause that would piss ev'ryone off but shall finish by saying that Dr. Sax comes highly recommended by me as an 'alternative' kerouac.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars His best, January 23, 2010

By 

B. Wilson "provoked thinker" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dr. Sax (Paperback)

While Kerouac is most known for his popular Beat works such as On the Road, Dharma Bums and Subterraneans, I think the true depth of his creative genius can be found in this phantastic exploration of the rich world of childhood fantasy. The book is not a necessarily easy read. It is filled with the alliterative nonsensical wordplay that Kerouac seemed to delight in. The narrative does not flow in a linear motion. It reads more like the distracted musings of a young boy. The writing is smooth, however, and flows with the jazz-infused seamlessness that Kerouac is known for.

There are several layers to the story. The first is the recounting of Kerouac's childhood in Lowell, Mass. His imagery is bold and imbued with power. Descriptions of the town and his experiences there easily pull the reader in. You can hear the cold rush of the river. You can see the streets, the crooked trees, the gray smoke. You can feel the snowy shadowy dread of winter. You can even feel the childhood excitement of made up games and secret worlds.

The second layer of this story is Kerouac's wildly rich imaganitive world, which plays out in unison with his daily romps with neighborhood friends and family. Here is where the story is truly remarkable. Dr. Sax is a figure of Jack's imagination. He is personal and archetypal, a complex of adolescence and creeping maturity. At once sinister and intriguing, Dr. Sax leaps through the pages like a summoner. You want to rush after him. But childhood distracts and the mundane world draws back both your and Kerouac's attention time and time again. What Kerouac has done is brilliantly bring to life the secret fantasy world of the child. And he has done so without the slightest kitsch or fuzziness. The book is soaked in sentimentality, but it is darkly sentimental, almost mournful. I finished the book with a bit of sadness - sorry the book had ended and also missing my own youthful past.

This is a childhood book for adults. The third layer of the story is Dr. Sax himself. Beyond Jack and his fantasy world, there is Dr. Sax and his own machinations. Like a true archetypal figure from Jack's unconscious, Dr. Sax is working behind the scenes, mysterious, frightenting, mad and misunderstood. He is preparing, ostensibly for Jack's maturation, certainly for dark battles. Dr. Sax could be Kerouac's creative madness, possibly his shadow. In any case, he is a constant flirter of shadows, coloring the gray world of Lowell with something like a deep ocher.

This is Jack Kerouac at his poetic best, in my opinion. At his sentimental best. At his mournful Catholic best. At his imaginative best. Though it is fiction, it is also a great insight into the poetic realm of Kerouac's mind. If this was not his childhood as it truly was, then it was his childhood as he dreamed it to be, which is just as telling. I suspect it is a delicate mixture of both. Fiction or no, the book rings of truth. Dr. Sax resonates deep inside of the reader, tocuhing primal nerves and stirring the many ghosts that roam our collective imaginative pasts.

I highly recommend it.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense Imagery and humorous sketchings, May 18, 2000

By 

Rayv "Dann" (Noho, Ma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dr. Sax (Library Binding)

Another great novel by the master of Beat. In this book Kerouac takes us thru the town of Lowell, centering around Christ-like pneuma Sax as his tutelary spirit. Many biblical symbols often appear, somehow transforming the novel to holy scriptures. When reading Dr. Sax I discover that writing can be comical and at the same time perceptive. A must read.