British blogger Martin Huxter aka Hurlyburly on Kerouac's American experience. Perhaps nothing is so distinctly American as Kerouac's autobiographical road trip experience. It chronicles the Beat Generation of the 1950s era. Martin grew up in England, which lacks the vast expansive miles and miles of land which make on the road a peculiarly American saga. It is interesting to see one removed from Kerouac by national experience and by several generations critique this work:
I finished "On the road" a day or so ago. I really enjoyed it and can see why people were so enthusiastic about it's ability to capture a particularly era of adventure, freedom and search for meaning. The style of writing, although almost tedious at times, really allows the imagination to explore the adventure with Sal and Dean. I think I enjoyed part two the most, I'm positive another read of this at a later date would be complimentary to it's brilliance.
There were actually a few rather ITLADian quotes to enjoy - *
"Mankind will someday realize that we are actually in contact with the dead and with the other world, whatever it is; right now we could predict, if we only exerted enough mental will, what is going to happen within the next hundred years and be able to take steps to avoid all kinds of catastrophes. When a man dies he undergoes a mutation in his brain that we know nothing about now but which will be very clear someday if scientists get on the ball."
* ITLAD (IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH - PHYSICS AUTHOR ANTHONY PEAKE - SEE LINKS ON SIDE AND BOTTOM OF THE PAGE)
Incidentally, I find a striking similarity between the picture here and the rather famous shot of Marlon Brando? Anyone else?
1 comment:
Thank you for posting this, Martin. It has been years since I read it, but I do recall from college the importance of the text in terms of the American experience. Is that quote from the text? It is Itladian! And I do indeed see the Brando look.
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