More on Kerouac from his agent Sterling Lord

by jota

Posted to Utterances on 2002-06-09 14:24:00

Parent message is 203363
He thought of me as a desk bum office worker.

When I first read On the Road I knew it was obviously a fresh voice and had a wonderful poesy, a rhythm that was extraordinary and you knew you were dealing with a strong, new voice.

I have some rather vivid rejection letters in my files from various editors.

One said: ‘Discipline! Discipline! When will Kerouac ever learn discipline!

The publisher, Viking Press finally bought it. They had seen the manuscript but the chief editors at the house were much older…one advisory editor knew what it was, knew he couldn’t get the support and waited for about four years when finally a couple of young editors had gained enough prominence so that now he had his support.

The amount of the offer? Well I got this speech from this Viking editor about how good the manuscript was and then he offered me $900 which I turned down. Later I got $1000 for it.

That book now sells 200,000 copies a year in the U.S. and Canada alone.

It has been continually in print since it was first published.

Jack was essentially a shy man and the impact of the book, well, he was not prepared to deal with the accolades and the public response because instant success interferes with creavity. He drank a lot to help him deal with it.

I think he was basically unswayed, though, because he always felt certain things about his work and I don’t think those things changed even with the public reception.

He was very well read and he already knew who he was…

On the Road reflected the times and struck a nerve ending with the generation that read it. I remember all sorts of things happened in response to the book…after Jack died, the number of writers who came forth and announced their debt to Jack was astounding.

On the Road tapped into the desire for release from the system of convention. It is the celebration of a free spirit.

The book came out at just the right time. After the initial reaction wore off and years passed, during the campus riots, the sales dropped off because these kids were a different generation and they considered Kerouac a comic character but now enough time has passed that he was resurfaced as a romantic writer.

He made a dent in our culture.