Jack Kerouac Biography

Biography

Type: Novelist, poet, painter

Born: March 12, 1922

Died: October 21, 1969

In 1969, aged 47, Kerouac died from internal bleeding due to long-term alcohol abuse. Since his death, Kerouac's literary prestige has grown, and several previously unseen works have been published. All of his books are in print today, including "The Town and the City", "On the Road", "Doctor Sax", "The Dharma Bums", "Mexico City Blues", "The Subterraneans", "Desolation Angels", "Visions of Cody", "The Sea Is My Brother", and "Big Sur".

Selected bibliography:

  • The Town and the City (1950; written 1946–1949)
  • On the Road (1957; written 1947–1951)
  • The Subterraneans, (1958; written 1953)
  • The Dharma Bums (1958)
  • Doctor Sax (1959; written 1952)
  • Maggie Cassidy (1959; written 1953)
  • Tristessa, (1960; written 1955–1956)
  • Lonesome Traveler, short story collection (1960)
  • Book of Dreams (1960; written 1952–1960)
  • Big Sur (1962)
  • Visions of Gerard (1963; written 1956)
  • Desolation Angels (1965)
  • Satori in Paris (1965)
  • Vanity of Duluoz (1968)
  • Visions of Cody (1972; written 1951–1952)

Jack Kerouac Quotes

One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.

The only truth is music.

Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy

A scene should be selected by the writer for haunted-ness-of-mind interest.
If you're not haunted by something, as by a dream, a vision, or a memory, which are involuntary, you're not interested or even involved.

Man, wow, there's so many things to do, so many things to write! How to even begin to get it all down and without modified restraints and all hung-up on like literary inhibitions and grammatical fears...

Hell man, I know very well you didn't come to me only to want to become a writer, and after all what do I really know about it except that you've got to stick to it with the energy of a benny addict.

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