Jack Kerouac Novelist
- Gender: Male
- Citizenship: United States
- Born: Mar 12, 1922
- Died: Oct 21, 1969
Jack Kerouac 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 method of spontaneous prose. Thematically, his work covers topics such as Catholic spirituality, jazz, promiscuity, Buddhism, drugs, poverty, and travel. He 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-term alcohol abuse. 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: The Town and the City, On the Road, Doctor Sax, The Dharma Bums, Mexico City Blues, The Subterraneans, Desolation Angels, Visions of Cody, The Sea Is My Brother, and Big Sur.
A pain stabbed my heart as it did every time I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite direction in this too-big world.
time
Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?
cars
Write in recollection and amazement for yourself.
amazing
Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.
greatness
All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together.
dreams
My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.
failure