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| Jack Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1960: On the Road / The Dharma Bums / The Subterraneans / Tristessa / Lonesome Traveler / Journal Selections (Library of America) | 
 enlarge | Author: Jack Kerouac
Creator: Douglas G. Brinkley
Publisher: Library of America
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $20.53
You Save: $14.47 (41%)
Buy New/Used from $20.53
Avg. Customer Rating:  (11 reviews)
Sales Rank: 22816
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 900
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 1598530127
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781598530124
ASIN: 1598530127
Publication Date: September 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The raucous, exuberant, often wildly funny account of a journey through America and Mexico, Jack Kerouac's On the Road instantly defined a generation upon its publication in 1957: it was, in the words of a New York Times reviewer, "the clearest and most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat.'" Written in the mode of ecstatic improvisation that Allen Ginsberg described as "spontaneous bop prosody," Kerouac's novel remains electrifying in its thirst for experience and its defiant rebuke of American conformity.
In his portrayal of the fervent relationship between the writer Sal Paradise and his outrageous, exasperating, and inimitable friend Dean Moriarty, Kerouac created one of the great friendships in American literature; and his rendering of the cities and highways and wildernesses that his characters restlessly explore are a hallucinatory travelogue of a nation he both mourns and celebrates. Now, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Kerouac's landmark novel, The Library of America collects On the Road together with four other autobiographical "road books" published in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The Dharma Bums (1958), at once an exploration of Buddhist spirituality and an account of the Bay Area poetry scene, is notable for its thinly veiled portraits of Kerouac's acquaintances, including Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, and Kenneth Rexroth. The Subterraneans (1958) recounts a love affair set amid the bars and bohemian haunts of San Francisco. Tristessa (1960) is a melancholy novella describing a relationship with a prostitute in Mexico City. Lonesome Traveler (1960) collects travel essays that evoke journeys in Mexico and Europe, and concludes with an elegiac lament for the lost world of the American hobo. Also included in Road Novels are selections from Kerouac's journal, which provide a fascinating perspective on his early impressions of material eventually incorporated into On the Road.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Awesome book November 16, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
On the Road is one of the best books I've read. Glad I finally picked up this copy. Some really good works all in one.
Jack Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1960 October 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a great read if you want a great escape from your day! You will visit all the places along with Jack and with his superb descriptive talent, you can picture yourself being there, smell and taste what he is describing. On the Road is superb and is a classic....the others, are just okay, in my opinion.
A Must Read! July 28, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" was the inspiration for much of the early Beat movement and gained literary respectability for Beat literature. The other novels in this collection, all part of Kerouac's semi-autobiographical tales of wandering in search of self, are more than just good reads, but shed light on much that has happened in American culture and society since the end of World War II.
If you want to understand the counter-culture movement that came to prominence in the 1960s, then you have to understand its origins in the Beat movement, and there is no better introduction to the Beats than Kerouac's "On the Road." This anthology is highly recommended.
 An excellent collection. February 26, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
An excellent collection of Kerouac novels. It is worth buying for On the Road & The Dharma Bums alone. Good for keeping your book collection compact. Definitely buy it if you are thinking about it.
All My Favorite Books November 24, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
What a wonderful collection! My copies of these books keep magically walking out the door.
On The Road was the first book I finished and immediately began to read again.
Should be on everyone's must read list!
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