On this date in American literary history – September 5,
1957, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road was published.
The novel chronicles the cross-country wanderings of a Kerouac-like hero, Sal
Paradise, and his pal Dean Moriarty, and their free-ranging encounters with
drugs, free love, and the budding counterculture. The book, which Kerouac wrote
in just three weeks, became an instant classic. Although a credo of the
Beat-inspired Hippie movement of the 1960s was "Never trust anyone over
30," Kerouac was 35 when the book came out. He had long been associated
with the Beat movement when On the Road
came out, and the novel is filled with characters based on Beat figures like
Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs. Kerouac was born in March 1922 in Lowell,
Massachusetts. The son of French-Canadian parents, he learned English as a
second language. In high school, Kerouac was a football star and won a scholarship
to Columbia University. In World War II, he served in the Navy but was expelled
for severe personality problems. He then became a merchant seaman. In the late
1940s, he wandered the United States and Mexico and wrote his first novel, The Town and the City. His later novels
included The Dharma Bums (1958), The Subterraneans (1958), and Lonesome Traveler (1960). Kerouac was a
heavy drinker when he died in Florida from an internal hemorrhage, at the age
of 47, on October 21, 1969.
Michael Thomas Barry is the author of numerous award
winning books that includes the soon to be released America’s Literary Legends: The Lives and Burial Places of 50 Great
Writers. For more information visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com. The
book can be purchased from Amazon and other fine book sellers.
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