About
Jack Kerouac, born Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac in 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts, to French-Canadian immigrant parents, was an American novelist and poet. After attending Columbia University, he served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II. In New York, he met Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Neal Cassady, forming the core of the Beat Generation, a term Kerouac coined. His iconic novel On the Road (1957), written in three weeks on a single scroll, became the defining work of the Beat movement. He developed a spontaneous prose style influenced by bebop jazz and explored themes of spiritual quest, freedom, and wandering. He died in 1969 in St. Petersburg, Florida, from a stomach hemorrhage caused by chronic alcoholism.
* 1922-03-12 — † 1969-10-21
Major works
- On the Road (1957)novel
- The Dharma Bums (1958)novel
- Big Sur (1962)novel
- Mexico City Blues (1959)poetry
- Visions of Cody (1973)novel
Key milestones
- 1951Wrote On the Road in three weeks on a 120-foot scroll of paper.
- 1957Publication of On the Road, which became the defining novel of the Beat Generation.
- 1969Died in St. Petersburg, Florida, of a stomach hemorrhage caused by alcoholism.
Themes
Freedom and wanderingSpirituality and search for meaningFriendship and marginalityJazz and improvisationMemory and autobiography
Sources: britannica.com · poetryfoundation.org · id.loc.gov
