Dec 28, 2009
It is likely that as a very young boy Jack Kerouac spoke only French, and certainly he was immersed in his French Canadian heritage. His father died in his arms in 1946 and he adored his mother, but rebelled against his Catholic upbringing. The death in 1926 of his revered older brother, Gerard, may have heightened an early sense of disconnection. The twin brothers in Kerouac’s first novel, The Town and the City (1950), are fictional alter egos. His nonfiction Book of Dreams (1961) reveals his awareness of his own divided personality. Thematically...
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