Jack kerouac, big sur the empty blue sky of space says all this comes back to me, then goes again, and comes back again, then goes again, and i dont care, it still belongs to me. Jack duluoz is the novels standin for kerouac, much like sal paradise is in on the road. Among his many novels are on the road, the dharma bums, big sur, and visions of cody. So odd, the dharma bums and on the road were my first and second kerouac books, and big sur was also my third. Lawrence ferlinghetti lends him the big sur cabin in bixby canyon that should have been his salvation, but instead fuels an alcoholinduced breakdown. Big sur by jack kerouac meet your next favorite book.
We want young jack living his american dream of the road. This is my personal favorite kerouac book and no one reads it better then tom parker. A poignant masterpiece of wrenching personal expression from the author of on the road and the dharma bums in this 1962 novel, kerouacs. It recounts the events surrounding kerouacs three brief sojourns to a cabin in bixby canyon, big sur, owned by. Jack kerouac big sur complete audio book with chapter. Jack duluoz alterago for author jack kerouac is in san francisco, hungover. A true reflection of california ethos, jack kerouac s big sur, captures the disillusionment at the end of the beat movement in northern california. Kerouacs 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 demons that jack kerouac describes in this book will be nothing new to people who have read the previous novels in his autobiographical dulouz saga.
But big sur shows what happens to kerouac as fame and age taint that dream. Jack kerouac 19221969, the central figure of the beat generation, was born in lowell, massachusetts, in 1922 and died in st. Jack kerouacs early novelsparticularly on the road and the dharma bumsare. His worst books particularly on the road are iconic and uncritically adored by teenagers and hippydippy morons, while his best works are overlooked. I grew up in the sf bay area as a kid and heard about beatniks in the late 1950s and early 1960s and have been to big sur and other locations mentioned in the book and i am just now starting to read jack kerouac. It is generally accepted that the book describes the.
He missed his chance to go to big sur and stay at the cabin of his friend and fellow writer lorenzo monsanto alterego for friend, lawrence ferlinghetti. Sitting in the hotel room alone, jack realizes, one fast move or im gone. Before reading the novel, you should take into account that the context for big sur is jack kerouacs life, not just a series of previously released. We all want the freedom of on the road, the craziness of the dharma bums the celebration of the beat lifestyle.
Jack kerouac big sur big sur, unmistakably autobiographical, big sur, jack kerouacs ninth novel, was written as the king of the beats was ap, proaching middleage and re flects his struggle to come to terms with his own myth. Big sur is often ignored by critics and kerouac fans alike. It recounts the events surrounding kerouac s here known by the name of his fictional alterego jack duluoz three brief sojourns to a cabin in bixby canyon, big sur, owned by kerouac s friend and beat poet lawrence ferlinghetti. Big sur trailer jack kerouacs book adaptation youtube. Each book by jack kerouac is unique, a telepathic diamond. The book is best for those readers who are interested in the beat generation writers. Big sur is one of the most harrowing books ever written about alcoholism, mental illness, and fame. Like i feel guilty for being a member of the human race. In big sur, the success of on the road has gotten to. A recounting of jack kerouacs here known by the name of his fictional alterego jack duluoz three sojourns to the cabin in big sur, owned by.
Jack kerouac, big sur the more ups and downs, the more joy i feel. Continuing in the tradition of his successful, semiautobiographical novel, on the road, big sur continues the story of aging beatnik jack duluoz, and his existential battle with depression. The kerouac character is jack duluoz, who appears in several other kerouac novels as well. Im just plumb sick and tiredof the whole nervewracking scene, he says. It recounts the events surrounding kerouacs here known by the name of his fictional alterego jack duluoz three brief sojourns to a cabin in bixby canyon, big sur, owned by kerouacs friend and beat poet lawrence ferlinghetti. Kerouac names his own condition madness, but it is really just a clinical condition almost no one around helps him with, and most just enable him by bringing him boozealcoholismand boom he is dead at 47. Its kerouac at his lowest, having been devoured by fame and digested by the vast chasm that lies between the saint hes imagined to be and the. Big sur is a writers addiction memoir, not cultural history.