
All of Life Is Creation: Jack Kerouac’s Art - samclemens
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/all-of-life-is-creation-jack-kerouacs-art/
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keiferski
For anyone who’s read Kerouac and didn’t quite “get it”: try listening to it
as an audiobook. His work takes on an entirely different flavor when heard
aloud. Akin to listening to a jazz recording vs. seeing it played
improvisationally live.

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVPg69sblWk](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVPg69sblWk)
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H7aHumxaQ4A](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H7aHumxaQ4A)

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Loughla
100% spot on. Kerouac is one of the few authors who need to be read out loud
(preferably by someone on speed) to be appreciated the way I assume he wanted
it to be.

Not to get too far afield, but I would put Ginsberg on the same list. Howl is
a great epic poem, until you hear it screamed out loud over a crowd by someone
with an attention disorder. Then it's transcendental.

To get even further removed, if you struggled with the translation of The
Canterbury Tales, read the Middle English translation, but read it out loud at
80-120 beats a minute. The words you don't know suddenly become clear, and the
entire thing makes sense.

I find it fascinating that some works are seemingly intended to be read out
loud and 'performed', but we force people to hear it in their internal voice
alone. And then we wonder why folks hate 'classics' of literature or poetry.

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rmason
I'm a serious fan of Jack Kerouac and I knew he dabbled at painting having
read all the biographies written about him.

Someone, might have been his Mother, was quoted as saying that nothing he ever
painted was good enough to hang in her house.

So I'm a bit gobsmacked that he was actually regarded as a good artist. I can
only hope that someone organizes a travelling collection of his work because I
want to decide for myself.

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LandR
I read and loved "On The Road" but had to give up on Desolation Angels it just
read like an incoherent stream of consciousness and felt like such hard going.

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brother-seamus
That was exactly my take as well. Absolutely loved On the road, found Dharma
Bums to be too incoherent.

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mruts
I think On the Road and Big Sur are his strongest works.

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jddj
I agree 100%. Reading On The Road first is essential, but Big Sur for me was
the best example of that sharp, cynical ennui which for whatever reason was
exactly what I was looking for during that period of my life when I read as
much Kerouac as I could find.

Great book.

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creep
Interesting article, but I'm disappointed with the lack of photographs of the
paintings in question. You would expect to see at least one, considering the
detailed description of each. It's difficult to follow such descriptions
having never seen the object.

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redwood
On The Road helped kick start the 60s revolution. Great read

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mruts
I don't think the beats actually shared much with the hippies that came after.
Certainly Kerouac himself didn't, he hated hippies.

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jim_bailie
So true. Kerouac was actually <gasp> conservative and quite religious.

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ArrayList
I'm from Lowell. Good to see Jack on the front page of HN.

