Who's Jack Kerouac?

Jack Kerouac (1922 ~ 1969), an American writer, is a representative of the "Beat Generation" in America. His main works are autobiographical novels On the Road, The Wanderer of Dharma, Lonely Angel, Lonely Traveler and so on.

Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on March 1922. His parents are French Americans, and he is the youngest son. He studied in local Catholic and public schools, entered Columbia University in new york on a rugby scholarship, and met the "Beat Generation" such as allen ginsberg, William Burroughs and neal cassady. Kerouac dropped out of school in the second year to engage in literary creation and moved to the US Navy and commercial shipping companies. /kloc-published the first novel "town" in 0/950. After debuting on the road (1957), he became the spokesperson of the "Beat Generation". He is also the author of Dharma Wanderer, Underground Man, Lonely Traveler and Lonely Angel. 1969101October 2 1 day, Kerouac died in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the age of 47.

Chinese name: Jack Kerouac.

Mbth: Jack Krujak

Nationality: USA

Place of birth: Lowell, Massachusetts, USA

Date of birth: 1922 March 12.

Date of death: 1969 65438+ 10/2/0/.

Occupation: novelist

Graduate school: Columbia University

Representative works: On the Road, Drug Dealer, etc.

Character experience

1March, 92212nd, Jack Jack Krojak was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. He is the second and third son of French immigrants Leo Kerouac and Gabriel. 1939, graduated from Lowell Middle School.

1939- 1940 won a football scholarship from Columbia University and studied at Horace Main Preparatory School in new york. 1940 to 194 1 year, and entered the undergraduate study of Columbia University.

1942 to 1943 served in the U.S. navy and were removed from the list on the grounds of mental illness; After that, he worked as a sailor in a merchant ship and went to Liverpool, England with the fleet.

1944 meet Lucy carr, allen ginsberg and William Burroughs; Suspected of involvement in the murder of Carl; On August 22nd, he married his first wife Eddie Parker.

1946 ~ 1948 wrote the novel towns and cities; I met neal cassady in new york. 1948, he got to know the writer JohnClellonHolmes and put forward the name "Beat Generation".

From 1948 to 1950, he began to write on the road, and Casady (the prototype of Dian, the hero of On the Road) crossed the United States for the first time and finally arrived in Mexico City. Town and City was published in 1950, and he married his second wife Harvey.

195 1 From February to March, I read the manuscripts of Burroughs' novel Drug Dealer and Holmes' novel Go. In April, I wrote "On the Road" on a roll of typing paper in new york apartment. On June+10, 5438, he put forward the method of "spontaneous writing" and began to revise it on the way.

195 1 year ~ 1952 wrote the novel Gaudi's Fantasy in new york and San Francisco. From 65438 to 0952, he wrote the novel Dr. Sachs in Mexico City. From 65438 to 0953, he wrote the novels Maggie Casady and new york Underground Man.

From 65438 to 0954, he began to study Buddhism in new york and California, and wrote a collection of poems "San Francisco Blues" in San Francisco.

From 65438 to 0955, he wrote "Mexico City Blues" and began to write the novel Terri Stesa in Mexico City. On October 3rd, 65438/kloc-0, Ginsburg and others attended a poetry recital in San Francisco's "Six Gallery", and Ginsburg recited Howl, which was a great success.

1956, she finished the novel Terri Stesa in Mexico City, started writing the novel Gerald's Fantasy in North Carolina, and finished her first novel Lonely Angel in Washington State and Mexico City. Ginsberg's poetry collection Howling and Others was published by City Light Publishing House.

1957 In March, I made a short trip to France and England. On the Road was published by new york Viking Publishing House; Started writing the novel Dharma Tramp in Florida. From 1958 to 1960, he wrote the manuscript of the novel Lonely Traveler.

196 1 year, he finished his second novel Lonely Angel in New Mexico City and wrote the novel Big Sur in Florida. Satolli in Paris was written in Florida from 65438 to 0965. 1966 moved to his hometown of Lowell with his mother, 165438+ married his third wife Stella on 10.

1967 wrote the novel vanity of Derouaz in Lowell. Neal cassady died in Mexico on 1968. A short trip to Europe.

1969101October 2 1 died in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Main work

Creative characteristics

Theme of the work

Most of Kerouac's novels truthfully describe the life and mental outlook of small people, highlighting "individual" and "personality", and personal confession is particularly prominent in the novels. For example, On the Road, a novel with rich contents, is full of complex inner feelings of young Americans living in chaotic times: confusion, search, disappointment, short-term excitement, long-term sadness and eternal repentance. Of course, only the confession consciousness contained in this novel is also complicated. Because of the protagonist and his friends, their lives are chaotic and their thoughts are even more chaotic.

Kerouac's characters find ways to redeem themselves through exploration. They wandered on the road, hoping to find new beliefs at the other end of the road. They turned their eyes to the mysterious and ancient eastern Zen Buddhism, hoping to stay away from the secular, get peace and capture the epiphany of the soul in meditation; They are close to nature and experience the true meaning of life in a flower, a grass and a tree. Although their road to self-salvation did not ultimately keep them away from the state of confusion and confusion, nor did they undergo qualitative change and transcendence, they at least dared to be themselves, dared to find their true selves, and paid a hard search process for finding their true selves.

Kerouac, as a representative writer of the "Beat Generation", shows a deep sense of repentance in his works, which represents the inner remorse of the whole "Beat Generation". He once said that they are basically a "religious generation" and just want to find faith on the other side of the road. The reflection, resistance, anger and sadness of Kerouac and his characters all imply a sense of repentance: remorse for oneself, indulgence of one's behavior, evasion of responsibility, ignorance of borrowing, poverty of one's real life, regret of wandering and drifting for half a life; Repentance for one's own group, country and era lies in that it is a group of hopeless and broken young groups, that it is a country without freedom and equality, and that it is a chaotic and unsafe era.

Artistic feature

Kerouac was deeply influenced by surrealism, admired irrationality and subconsciousness, and loved to describe nightmares, hallucinations and illusions. On this basis, he created the technique of "spontaneous writing", which influenced many "beat writers" and "spontaneous writing" became the core principle of beat writers.

Jack Kerouac created a brand-new spontaneous writing technique-"Wild Prose", which subverted the traditional writing style, paid attention to the autobiography of his works, and created a series of "life record" novels with random plots. Novel writing has become a spontaneous war against nothingness and despair. With its eccentric and shocking lifestyle and literary practice, it has brought strong impact and shock to the mainstream American society and culture in the 1950s and 1960s.

Personality assessment

"He's just stating, not conveying, chatting rather than writing. Just like those people who lived a wandering life like them, their creative efforts were spent pretending to be creative. Just like cooking. Cooked food is eaten on the same day, leaving only a faint fragrance. Moreover, they attach importance to nature, which almost destroys the atmosphere of most of Whitman's poems, making serious creation difficult to succeed. Their styles may contribute to the development of American daily language, but they cannot contribute to American literature. This is a personal, rambling, cynical and sentimental style. " (Commentary by American scholar Marcus Canliff)

Personality dispute

After the publication of On the Road, some critics criticized it because of its deviant theme and Kerouac's improvisational writing technique. Kerouac is accused of being a real victim of insanity and syndrome, advocating deception and crime, and his works are meaningless, like garbage, and so on. But with the passage of time, Kerouac, as the "King of the Beat Generation", his works, especially On the Road, got more and more fair evaluation. Because of its spontaneous writing skills, critics are used to classifying On the Road as a modernist work. In fact, it is not important what a literary work belongs to, but its position in the history of literary development. When it comes to the history of American literature in Columbia University, there are Kerouac (as well as Furnali O 'Connor, William Burroughs, john barnes, Nabokov, Malamud, etc.). ). It says: "(They) oppose the traditional culture shocking the world and express a sense of alienation (personal, political, economic, literary, etc.). Contrary to the social norms and social conditions at that time, it weakened the power of language and its richness and appeal. "