Customer Reviews

Kerouac and the Beats

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Kerouac and the Beats is an enjoyable read. The book (great as it is) centers on several of the main Beat authors and either presents selections of their works or offers extended yet insightful interviews with them. Though the centerpiece here is Jack Kerouac himself ---all right! The king of the beatniks, as he once roared in holy inebriation --- and how each writer was affiliated with him. Arthur and Kit Knight (apparently a journalist couple) did a swell job of giving us each author's experiences with Jack. Mainly, Kerouac and the Beats is a sourcebook which one can then explore other works by all the featured writers.

<I am going to give you an in-depth account of each chapter. It is rather dull and extensive. For those who hate descriptiveness, don't read. For those who want to know about the book read on.>

"Poor God" makes a start, a chapter introducing us to Neal Cassidy and his distinctive letter writing style. Alliterations and uneven structures are overflowing throughout his one-long letter to wife Carolyn, written in his cell because of another misdemeanor. Secondly and thirdly are two enthralling interviews with WS Burroughs and Philip Whalen. In the 1st chapter Burroughs discusses writers, writing, weapons, and such. In the 2nd chapter Whalen (a not-so-well-known Beat author) says a bit about his recently changed-person activities and how Buddhism is abetting his writer's touch. "Guilty of Everything," a short account by Herbert Huncke, proceeds the last two. The tale depicts all the never-ending jaunts Huncke took thru NYC cafeterias, crash pads, surveys with Professor Kinsey, and drugs. <One can find this short, and more, in the recent anthology The Hebert Huncke Reader.>

Yet another interview follows, parleyed with undervalued writer Jan Kerouac, Jack's daughter of course. Jan (who decided to let the "beat" go on) is noted for her novel Baby Driver. Multiple chapters of letters are near: with Ginsberg, JC Holmes, Cassidy, and Jack and Holmes. These four sections of the book are pretty much a barrier, sweat-fest abundance. I put it down for a week because of its bombastic phrases and cryptic dialogue, although that might be gripping for some readers. 2 sections concerning JC Holmes are next. The first (an interview) is an in-depth account of Kerouac's novels. The second (Exiles Journal) is chronicle spanning the Years-of-Hope-Days-of-Rage decade. The last three chapters are the best: 1st an interview with Mike McClure describing his prose; 2nd an excerpt from a story about F. Edith Kerouac Parker, Jack's widow; 3rd (and finishing it off) a lengthy discussion with Allen Ginsberg.

All and all, (is that all?) Kerouac and the Beats is an enjoyment for those inquisitive `bout the Beat Movement and other hep subjects. Furthermore, the sourcebook delves into historical information (chiefly the 1950-70s), ideas and facts regarding jazz, drug related matters, sexual related matters, Eastern philosophy, and much more which might seem mind-boggling for a younger audience. Nonetheless, if you read On the Road or Naked Lunch, and understood most of what those writers were talking about, you may have a chance liking Kerouac and The Beats. That's it.