Jack Kerouac

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Jack Kerouac Criticism

Jack Kerouac, born Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac in 1922, stands as a central figure in the Beat movement of the 1950s, which emerged as a countercultural response to the conservatism of post-war America. His literature, particularly the seminal novel On the Road, encapsulates the themes of wanderlust, experimentation, and the pursuit of freedom that defined the Beats, as articulated in The Road as Transition. Kerouac's upbringing in a French-Canadian community in Massachusetts, combined with his academic pursuits and bohemian lifestyle, fueled his creative journey, which ultimately led to literary acclaim. However, as explored by Kerouac: Writer without a Home, Kerouac's rise to fame was accompanied by personal struggles, including alcoholism and feelings of alienation from the movement he helped define.

Contents

  • Principal Works
  • Kerouac, Jack (Vol. 2)
  • Kerouac, Jack (Vol. 14)
    • King of the Beats
    • Kerouac's Sound
    • The Beat in the Rise of the Populist Culture
    • Kerouac
    • 1955: The Beginnings of Our Times
    • Off the Road
  • Kerouac, Jack (Vol. 5)
  • Kerouac, Jack (Vol. 1)
  • Kerouac, Jack (Vol. 3)
  • Kerouac, Jack (Vol. 29)
    • Jack Kerouac: Prophet of the New Romanticism
    • The Joy of 'On the Road'
    • Kerouac's Crooked Road: Development of a Fiction
    • Faith on the Run
    • Small Press Review
  • Kerouac, Jack
  • Further Reading