Re: Kerouac

Matthew_Stevenson@baylor.edu
Thu, 05 Nov 1998 10:46:15 -0600 

which is why i intentionally refrained from responding to your opinion, and
instead limited my reply to your misinformation.  and as for opinions that
don't matter much, mine is that kerouac remains an important author and on the
road in particular is some fabulous writing...matt

On Wed, 04 Nov 1998 17:22:03 -0800 (PST) erinseyes@hotmail.com (Erin
McLaughlin) wrote:

>ok, so I stand corrected in that regard, but, despite the revisions and
>the rare moments of great writing, his writing still sucks, I think.
>Misinformed? Perhaps. But that's the nice thing about opinions. They
>really don't matter much.
>
>----Original Message Follows----
>Date: Tue, 03 Nov 1998 09:05:57 -0600
>From: Matthew_Stevenson@baylor.edu
>Subject: Re: Kerouac
>To: bananafish@lists.nyu.edu
>Reply-to: bananafish@lists.nyu.edu
>
>>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
>>______________________________________________________
>>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>
>
>
>
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com