On the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac‘s “On the Road,” longtime roadie Dave Hoekstra of the Chicago Sun-Times takes a look at “On the Road: The Original Scroll,” which contains the original text Kerouac typed during a caffeine-fueled marathon session.
The never-before-published scroll anchors the second half of the book in one long narrative without paragraphs. It is more sexual than the published novel; the other best-selling novel of 1957 was Peyton Place.
The scroll also uses the real names of Kerouac’s compatriots Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty in the book), Allen Ginsberg (Carlo Marx) and his fellow cut-and-paster William Burroughs (Bull Lee). Kerouac was the searching Sal Paradise in On The Road. […]
The first half of the book consists of essays that debunk and interpret On The Road mythology. For example, Kerouac is shown on the back cover examining the scroll. It looks like a bathroom towel dispenser. Legend has it Kerouac wrote the stream of consciousness work between April 2-22, 1951, on one long roll of paper while hopped up on Benzedrine in the Chelsea section of New York City. Cunnell argues that Kerouac knew exactly what he was doing. Kerouac cut paper into eight pieces of assorted length and shaped it to fit his typewriter. He then taped the pieces together to form the 120-foot long scroll.
Cunnell also reports that Kerouac told Cassady, “I wrote that book on COFFEE, remember said rule. Benny, tea, anything I KNOW none as good as coffee for real mental power kicks.” Kerouac would fit in real well at this newspaper. […]
On The Road is about coming of age, a process as fleeting as fame. Roads like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66 (name-checked in On The Road) are lined with history and a sense of permanence. You begin to find yourself the moment you make connections in these wide open landscapes. During the early 1950s no one captured those dusty glories better than Jack Kerouac.
Noted historian Douglas Brinkley also is writing a biography on Kerouac. The Library of America is publishing the 800-plus-page “Jack Kerouac Road Novels.” Hoekstra also reviews “You’ll be Okay: My Life With Jack Kerouac” (written by his ex-wife) and the analytic “Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of ‘On the Road’ (They’re Not What You Think),” which Hoekstra dismisses: “If you need this book, you just don’t get it.”
There will be a slew of Kerouac volumes coming out this year. But it sounds like “The Original Scroll” is the one to get.