Spring Break
Charters Celebrates 50th Anniversary Of Kerouac's Classic 'On The Road'
Ashley McGown
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: Focus
Ann Charters, the author of "Kerouac: A Biography," visited the UConn Co-op yesterday afternoon to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's classic, "On The Road."
Charters, who is a professor at UConn, first met Kerouac in 1965 at Berkley during a recitation of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl." Before long, she became fascinated by him and his work. Eventually, Charters went on to publish Kerouac's biography, bibliography, a portable reader and two volumes of his personal letters.
At yesterday's gathering, Charters began by briefing everyone on the history of "On The Road."
Kerouac first began working on this book several years before it was published. All of his ideas came from various road trips he went on, centered mainly around Neal Cassady. On April 2, 1951, he sat down to write what would become the published version. Kerouac finished the book in less than three weeks, on April 20. Despite completing the narrative in such a short amount of time, he was not able to get it published until November 1957.
For anyone who has read this classic, it is obvious that its plot is untraditional. As Charters said yesterday, it's the narrator's excited tone and beautiful use of language that shines through in this book, not its plot. The reason for this becomes more obvious when one discovers Kerouac's writing process.
To write the book, Kerouac taped several sheets of 8-by-10 inch paper together. This enabled him to keep writing in a fluent stream, instead of having to change the paper every time his work reached the bottom of a page. Interestingly enough, after Keroauc had taped the papers together, he realized that the pages he used were not compatible with a typewriter. The pages were too wide. Kerouac persevered, however, and used a Swiss army knife to cut a margin off the scroll.
This beat up, 120-foot scroll confused editors of the time but is now a cherished item. The original scroll was on exhibit in Kerouac's hometown of Lowell, MA this past summer and it will be on exhibit in New York this upcoming November, for three months.
For the book's 50th anniversary, Penguin Books has released a new edition, which differs from any other published version of the book because it's the original scroll in its entirety. This version contains all of the original names Kerouac referred to, which include Neal Cassady (later published as Dean), Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs.
After Charters' short lecture, she read the first few pages of "On the Road" aloud. She was followed by five students who read their favorite passages aloud. Throughout the readings, Charters grinned and giggled, making it clear that her avid enthusiasm for this book, and Kerouac himself, is still alive today, despite that fact that he is no longer with us.
Charters, who is a professor at UConn, first met Kerouac in 1965 at Berkley during a recitation of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl." Before long, she became fascinated by him and his work. Eventually, Charters went on to publish Kerouac's biography, bibliography, a portable reader and two volumes of his personal letters.
At yesterday's gathering, Charters began by briefing everyone on the history of "On The Road."
Kerouac first began working on this book several years before it was published. All of his ideas came from various road trips he went on, centered mainly around Neal Cassady. On April 2, 1951, he sat down to write what would become the published version. Kerouac finished the book in less than three weeks, on April 20. Despite completing the narrative in such a short amount of time, he was not able to get it published until November 1957.
For anyone who has read this classic, it is obvious that its plot is untraditional. As Charters said yesterday, it's the narrator's excited tone and beautiful use of language that shines through in this book, not its plot. The reason for this becomes more obvious when one discovers Kerouac's writing process.
To write the book, Kerouac taped several sheets of 8-by-10 inch paper together. This enabled him to keep writing in a fluent stream, instead of having to change the paper every time his work reached the bottom of a page. Interestingly enough, after Keroauc had taped the papers together, he realized that the pages he used were not compatible with a typewriter. The pages were too wide. Kerouac persevered, however, and used a Swiss army knife to cut a margin off the scroll.
This beat up, 120-foot scroll confused editors of the time but is now a cherished item. The original scroll was on exhibit in Kerouac's hometown of Lowell, MA this past summer and it will be on exhibit in New York this upcoming November, for three months.
For the book's 50th anniversary, Penguin Books has released a new edition, which differs from any other published version of the book because it's the original scroll in its entirety. This version contains all of the original names Kerouac referred to, which include Neal Cassady (later published as Dean), Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs.
After Charters' short lecture, she read the first few pages of "On the Road" aloud. She was followed by five students who read their favorite passages aloud. Throughout the readings, Charters grinned and giggled, making it clear that her avid enthusiasm for this book, and Kerouac himself, is still alive today, despite that fact that he is no longer with us.
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