Re: Kerouac
Matthew_Stevenson@baylor.edu
Tue, 03 Nov 1998 09:05:57 -0600
>So if you thought you were in trouble for your response, just guess how
>many retorts this post will generate.
>
how right you are, erin...
>
>I have trouble taking Kerouac seriously. You know he wrote that damn
>book in about a day straight, just typing on this big roll of paper. All
>stream-of-consciousness, all in one spurt of awakeness (not necessarily
>awareness). It stands as a testament to the time in which it was written
>by a guy who was part of a generation. That's pretty much what I see it
>as. He has moments of really writing, but most of his writing sucks.
>
i think you've heard some fairly misinformed things about the writing of this
book. kerouac had written substantial portions of his "traveling" book before
he got disgusted with them and started over. he did type the manuscript of
the book that finally became _on the road_ in three weeks on one giant roll of
paper so that he wouldn't have to stop to reload the typewriter after every
page (an inconvenience we of the word processor generation know little about,
but i can imagine how that might break one's concentration). but what you
failed to mention was the months of revision and editing and rewriting that
went into that manuscript before it became the published _on the road_.--matt
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