Kerouac: A Biography [Paperback]

Ann Charters (Author), Allen Ginsberg (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1994

Now that Kerouac's major novel, On the Road is accepted as an American classic, academic critics are slowly beginning to catch up with his experimental literary methods and examine the dozen books comprising what he called 'the legend of Duluoz.' Nearly all of his books have been in print internationally since his death in 1969, and his writing has been discovered and enjoyed by new readers throughout the world. Kerouac's view of the promise of America, the seductive and lovely vision of the beckoning open spaces of our continent, has never been expressed better by subsequent writers, perhaps because Kerouac was our last writer to believe in America's promise--and essential innocence--as the legacy he would explore in his autobiographical fiction.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is about men and ideas that changed everything. That's reason enough to read it."--The New York Times

"This biography becomes almost a novel in itself. The darkly intense, handsome young man, the gypsy wanderer, hero and prophet to everyone but himself...Written with a beautiful combination of toughness and love, of daring insight and honesty, it is a worthy monument to a troubled man."--The Los Angeles Times

"Behind the 'crazy rebel' of the novels who inspired a whole generation to go hitchhiking across America in search of 'the myth of the rainy night' lay a life of insecurity and wretched loneliness...a duality perceptively illustrated by Ann Charters in her lucid, well-researched biography."--The Sunday Telegraph

About the Author

Ann Charters received her B.A. at Berkeley and her Ph.D. at Columbia. She first met Kerouac at a poetry reading in Berkeley in 1956, and compiled a comprehensive bibliography of his work in 1967. A professor of English at the University of Connecticut, she is also the editor of Selected Letters of Jack Kerouac and the Portable Kerouac Reader, and the author of Beats and Company: Portrait of a Literary Generation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (October 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312113471
• ISBN-13: 978-0312113476
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #812,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put this down, January 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Kerouac: A Biography (Paperback)

While in college, I had to do a paper on "On The Road" and after reading it, I became absolutely fascinated with Jack Kerouac. I got this book out of the library one day. I think it is excellent. It documents Kerouac's whole life from birth to death and gives the reader a wonderul insight into the "real" Jack Kerouac. I literally could not put this down.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Biography Worth the Read!, January 19, 2002

By 

Patrick Julian Cassidy (San Francisco...Author of "A Journey to Bohemia") - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kerouac: A Biography (Paperback)

Ms. Charters did a commenable job putting together
this book. I would rate it right up there with
Nicosia's bio. The author certainly provided a lot
of background info and did a compelling job of
helping me get a better understanding of the social
climate which Kerouac & friends had to contend with
and conquer. My only complaint is that her writing style
sometimes lapses into a style a little too closely allied
with that of her subject, but given the subject matter, that is

understandable. I would recommend this book for those of
you who have found Kerouac's writings to be enjoyable.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Probably the second best Kerouac bio., June 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Kerouac: A Biography (Paperback)

Next to Greg Nicosia's book, this is probably the best biography we have on Kerouac. I'd recommend that you read both Charter's and Nicosia's.