Big Sur is a humane, precise account of the extraordinary ravages of alcohol delirium tremens on Kerouac....At the peak of his suffering humorous genius, he wrote through his misery to end with Sea, a brilliant poem appended on the hallucinatory sounds of the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur. --Allen Ginsberg
For a narrator [this book] contains extraordinary difficulties, for the writing flies off into inebriated, overly long sentences that reflect, describe, or just babble forward in a kind of free association. To keep such passages flowing while making sense out of them is no mean feat. Tom Parker [Grover Gardner] pulls it off....He even manages to sound as if he were enjoying himself. AudioFile
Big Sur is so devastatingly honest and painful and yet so beautifully written....He was sharing his pain and suffering with the reader in the same way Dostoyevsky did, with the idea of salvation through suffering.'-- David Amram
Critic Richard Meltzer referred to Big Sur as Kerouac's 'masterpiece, and one of the great, great works of the English language.'
His grittiest book...sensual and uninhibited. --New York Times --.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
"In many ways, particularly in the lyrical immediacy that is his distinctive glory, this is Kerouac's best book . . . certainly, he has never displayed more 'gentle sweetness.'"
--San Francisco Chronicle "Kerouac's grittiest novel to date and the one which will be read with most respect by those skeptical of all the Beat business in the first place."
--The New York Times Book Review "
Big Sur is so devastatingly honest and painful and yet so beautifully written....He was sharing his pain and suffering with the reader in the same way Dostoyevsky did, with the idea of salvation through suffering."
--David Amram
--This text refers to an alternate
kindle_edition edition.
This autobiographical novel continues the adventures of the (older but certainly not mellower) wandering beatnik from ON THE ROAD. For a narrator it contains extraordinary difficulties, for the writing flies off into inebriated, overly long sentences that reflect, describe or just babble forward in a kind of free association. To keep such passages flowing while making sense out of them is no mean feat. Tom Parker pulls it off, erring only infrequently in his interpretation. He even manages to sound as if he were enjoying himself. The production is clean but tinny, possibly dampening the pleasure of home listeners, but hardly bothering drivers listening over traffic noise. Y.R. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to an alternate
kindle_edition edition.
About the Author
Jean-Louis "Jack" Kerouac (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic spirituality, jazz, promiscuity, Buddhism, drugs, poverty, and travel. His writings have inspired other writers, including Ken Kesey, Bob Dylan, Eddie Vedder, Richard Brautigan, Curtis Meanor, Thomas Pynchon, Lester Bangs, Tom Robbins, Will Clarke, Ben Gibbard, Haruki Murakami, Jacquelyn Landgraf. Kerouac became an underground celebrity and, with other beats, a progenitor of the hippie movement, although he remained antagonistic toward some of its politically radical elements. In 1969, at age 47, Kerouac died from internal bleeding due to long-standing abuse of alcohol. Since his death Kerouac's literary prestige has grown and several previously unseen works have been published. All of his books are in print today, among them: On the Road, Doctor Sax, The Dharma Bums, Mexico City Blues, The Subterraneans, Desolation Angels, Visions of Cody and Big Sur.
--This text refers to an alternate
kindle_edition edition.
![Big Sur by [Jack Kerouac]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41DKS6vP9dL._SY346_.jpg)
