On the Road

Updated: 7 Sep 2020

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On the Road swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome of Beat. Now recognized as a modern classic, its American Dream is nearer that of Walt Whitman than Scott Fitzgerald, and it goes racing towards the sunset with unforgettable exuberance, poignancy and autobiographical passion.Contains an introduction by Ann Charters, as well as suggestions for further reading of acclaimed criticisms and references.

Quotes

Bob Odenkirk

Actor

3 followers

86 FLIISTs

12 months ago

...shaped my worldview: On The Road by Jack Kerouac inspired and bewitched me for many, many years, it is one of the reasons I took some chances as a young person and those risks turned into this (lucky) career I’ve had. Thanks, Jack!

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David Bowie

Actor, Musician

72 followers

188 FLIISTs

5 years ago

One of the turning points of his life was reading Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac; he said that reading On The Road at 15 was an epiphanous moment, giving him the urge to get out of Bromley.

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Bob Dylan

Musician

35 followers

82 FLIISTs

5 years ago

“On the Road speeds by like a freight train,” Dylan tells me. “It’s all movement and words and lusty instincts that come alive like you’re riding on a train. Kerouac moves so fast with his words. No ambiguity. It was very emblematic of the time. You grabbed a hold of the train, hopped on and went along with him, hanging on for dear life. I think that’s what affected me more than whatever he was writing about. It was his style of writing that affected us in such a virile way. I tried reading some of his books later, but I never felt that movement again.

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