Happy Birthday, On the Road

[judecorp]

I wanted to sit on the muddy bank and dig the Mississippi River; instead of that I had to look at it with my nose against a wire fence. When you start separating the people from their rivers what have you got? "Bureaucracy!" says Old Bull; he sits with Kafka on his lap, the lamp burns above him, he snuffs, thfump. (page 148)

"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. The bastards right now are only interested in seeing if they can blow up the world." (page 153-154)

Jack, you changed my life.

Comments

[livinginfits.livejournal.com]

<3

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Sean, you changed my life, too.

xoxo

Ahhhhhhh...

[thelastbard.livejournal.com]

Such a good book, such a movement. The Dharma Bums is really the novel that did it for me, but On The Road sealed the deal.

Did I ever tell you that I worked for a guy who was a high school buddy of Kerouac's? He had some great stories about him. Was in touch with him regularly up until he died. He said they regularly went without sleep at Horace Mann just to finish conversations about opera and literature and the latest sports news. Kerouac wrote all of his literature and English and History papers, and this guy did all his math homework.

And to think, the movie might come out next year...

Re: Ahhhhhhh...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I liked Dharma Bums as well. Actually, the book that gets me every time is Visions of Gerard. Have you read it?

Gosh, I wish I'd grown up with Jack. But then I would be even more of a mess than I already am! :)