Jack
Kerouac (1922-69)
|
Special thanks to the Microsoft Corporation for their contribution to our
site. The following information came from Microsoft Encarta. Here is a hyperlink
to the Microsoft Encarta home page. http://www.encarta.msn.com |
Kerouac, Jack (1922-69), American
writer, the first to use the term Beat Generation in
reference to the group of 1950s American writers,
including himself, who rejected mainstream society
through their unconventional writings and alternative
lifestyles. He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. A
leader of the Beat Generation, Kerouac was noted for On
the Road (1957), a loosely structured and mostly
autobiographical account of the Beat experience in
America. The Dharma Bums (1958) is a more conventional
novel, on the theme of self-fulfillment through Zen
Buddhism. Big Sur (1962), the sequel to On the Road,
describes the retreat of a Beat leader to the California
coast, where he attempts to put his life together.
Kerouac also wrote poetry (Mexico City Blues, 1959) and
travel pieces (Lonesome Traveler, 1960).
|