The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Jack Kerouac‘s first draft of his famed book, “On the Road,” will be on display in the San Francisco Public Library for the next three months. A small part of the book supposedly took place on Route 66, although this has been disputed.
Here’s why the draft was on a scroll:
Kerouac wrote “On the Road,” during a 20-day amphetamine-fueled typing frenzy in April 1951. To keep the rhythm rolling, he fed the long and winding scroll into his typewriter to avoid changing paper and not disrupt the fast-paced, single-spaced story of two friends on the road to becoming iconic rebels by way of cross-country escapades, Mexican whorehouses and Frisco’s Skid Row.
That draft must’ve been hell on his editor.
Kerouac’s not my bag. I always was far more road-influenced by Michael Wallis’ “Route 66: The Mother Road” and William Least Heat-Moon’s “Blue Highways.”
Still, this book influenced many Americans to hit the open road and seek whatever adventures lurked around the bend. Route 66 became a beneficiary of this wanderlust.