Kerouac: Selected Letters: Volume 2: 1957-1969 (Paperback)

by Jack Kerouac (Author), Ann Charters (Editor) "By the first week of January 1957, while living at his sister Caroline's new house in Orlando, Florida..." (more)
Key Phrases: beat traveler, henri cru, railroad earth, New York, Sterling Lord, Desolation Angels (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The peripatetic urgency, Buddhist catchphrases and casual prose of On the Road (1957) and Dharma Bums (1958) made Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) the star of the Beat generation. Kerouac's "craft of spontaneous prose" (in Charters's words) let him use his letters as rough drafts for some of his autobiographical fiction. Devotees of those novels can troll for their favorite episodes among Kerouac's complaints, requests, loans, repayments, reports, retorts, rebukes and resolutions. "[W]hen I write a book it's just a chapter in the whole story," a 1960 missive to Neal Cassady explains, "but there wd be no literature in the world safe to say i would rather read than my own remembrance of things." Editor Charters (also Kerouac's biographer) uses her annotations and commentary to make the sometimes hasty, expressive missives cohere as an account of the novelist's life. A first volume of letters appeared in 1995; this second starts with the publication of On the Road and continues almost to the day Kerouac died. The years 1957-1960, the height of Kerouac's career, occupy more than half the volume. Later letters record his struggle to care for his ailing mother, his efforts to finish his later books and his troubles with money and health: "I drink more than ever, my hands tremble, I can't type." Frequent addressees and subjects include Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg ("I still think he's a false prophet, sheep's clothing and ravening wolf"). By turns witty, slovenly and empathetic, the letters provide a look into Kerouac's psyche and into the exhilarating, frustrating, ramshackle milieu he helped create. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Indispensable for the reader who wants most talented writers. -- Chicago Tribune

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Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (November 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140296158
• ISBN-13: 978-0140296150
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #536,521 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kerouac - Selected Letters Review, January 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters: Volume 2 (Hardcover)

Good book. I knew that Jack had his problems later in his life but this book really shows that he got off track in the late 50's rather than the 60's. This book reads real fast in that you can't put it down. It reveals the relationships that Jack had with the other Beat Poets among other people. I recommend this book to all interested in Kerouac and the Beat Generation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended for all Jack Kerouac fans!, March 3, 2000

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters: Volume 2 (Hardcover)

An excellent survey of the writer Jack Kerouac and recommended picks for any collection strong in Kerouac presentations. Ann Charters edits Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters 1957-1969 presenting his late letters. her first volume contributed to a new understanding of Kerouac and his work: this volume also includes the same attention to notes and detail, furthering her goal of presenting his life via his writings.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Literary Document of Great Worth, September 3, 2008

By	C. Middleton (Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters, 1957-1969 (Paperback)

For any biographer or historian the original letters of the subject is a valuable and extremely important source of information in order to gain insight into the time period, and/or the person under study.

In part 2 of Kerouac's Selected Letters, the text truly gives the student or curious, a penetrating look into this enigmatic and ultimately tragic American author. For many, Jack Krerouac represents an important shift in American literature but also a significant historical (literary) mark of an entire generation. Ann Charters, (Kerouac's first biographer) editor of this volume, has done a pain-staking and beautiful job with this book - we come to know him as a man, the artist and his concerns; generosity, relationships; his struggle with the demon drink and, most importantly, the development of his unique prose style, leading to his now iconic status.

The letters begin in the year (1957) when "On the Road" was published. At this stage of Kerouac's life, from the tone and content of his letters, he is excited, finishing incomplete manuscripts, organizing "get- togethers', writing his publisher and working on new projects. As the years progress, sadly, his drinking accelerates, he becomes more and more misanthropic and, in the end, paranoid. It is true - it was the booze that killed his body but it was fame as an author that murdered his soul. More than likely, it was both.

Ann Charters suggests that these letters were experiments in style and possible new ideas for future projects, his friends perhaps 'sounding boards' where the reader can see his development of what is famously known as "spontaneous prose".

Kerouac was also a prolific poet. Some call his "novel", Mexico City Blues, one long, epic poem. This particular book, for me, was difficult to read, until viewing the piece as poetry - it was then the penny dropped and the book became much easier to read.

An example of a little poem written for Stella Sampas to Gary Snyder from Japan:

"A poem to Stella Sampas?"

"After the shower,
Among the drenched roses,
The bird thrashing in the bath

After the shower,
my cat meowing
On the porch"

It has always been my opinion that Jack's poetry is underrated, but that's neither here nor there.

Kerouac wanted his letters to be published thus he kept copies in neat files by year.

Anyone interested in American literature, pursuing a research project or wanting greater insight into the man, these letters are an invaluble historical document revealing the inner workings of the "Beat Generation" that continues to affect most modern writing to present time.