Follows the counterculture escapades of members of the Beat generation as they seek pleasure and meaning while traveling coast to coast. As he travels across 1950s America, aspiring writer Sal Paradise chronicles his escapades with the charismatic Dean Moriarty. Sal admires Dean's passion for experiencing as much as possible of life and his wild flights of poetic fancy.
Contains essays that explore five topics related to the Beat Generation, providing an overview of the movement, and discussing the Beat scene, publishing, and visual and performing arts. Includes a chronology of key events.
Profiles approximately sixty American Beat Generation writers from the period following the Second World War, presenting primary and secondary bibliographies and illustrated biographical essays that chronicle each writer' career in detail; also includes a chronology and several essays on the period.
Presents the previously unpublished original scroll edition of Jack Kerouac's novel "On the Road" which Kerouac wrote over a three-week period in 1951 on eight sheets of tracing paper that he taped together to form a 120-foot scroll, and includes the real names of the friends that inspired the book's storyline.
Features poetry and fiction written by authors representative of the Beat movement of the 1950s including classic and recent work, short biographies of the contributors, and a bibliography of Beat literature.
Presents a thinly fictionalized autobiography of Jack Kerouac's cross-country adventure across North America on a quest for self-knowledge as experienced by his alter-ego, Sal Paradise and Sal's friend Dean Moriarty.
Composer-performer David Amram chronicles his friendship with author Jack Kerouac, discussing how they helped inspire one another through their friendship and work.
