Kerouac
Posted to WritersAndGenres
by gruffalo on 2004-01-29 02:46:00
You are not alone. Some people can't understand why
Kerouac is interesting at all. Paul Goodman, the
hippie theorist of the 60's, and author of "Growing Up
Absurd" cites a passage in 'On the Road,' where Kerouac
says 'then all held broke loose,' and goes on to
describe a scene in which he and his compatriots order shrimp in a restaurant.
I think Kerouac appeals to a certain kind of
personality at a certain stage of immaturity.
That's not necessarily bad. Substitute 'innocence'
for maturity. Then you get the idea. You have to
come to Kerouac with a lot of your own baggage, or
at least the sense that your baggage is similar to
his. That makes Kerouac a congenial travel companion.
