On the Road

The title On the Road was bounced around a lot during my previous college years. I spent a lot of my time with art majors and literature majors, so I got to learn all sorts of interesting facts and titles of books. One that I have always found intriguing was On the Road, which although character names have been changed was a largely autobiographical work that outlines the road trips Jack Kerouac embarked on. I appreciate this type of work-- traveling memoirs I guess, because there is a gypsy trapped inside of me with so much wanderlust that it hurts. I don't tend to travel to places, I lack the budgeting skills and patience to be able to make a trip, so indulging in the tales of another helps me live vicariously. Due to this, my opinion of the book is biased to be in the like.

As I have made my way through the book, I have noticed a similarity in his writing style to the style of Emma Donoghue in ROOM. His thought processes are expressed as choppy and childish, similar to the five-year old narrator of ROOM. Now, don't get me wrong, Jack Kerouac has a way with words and his prose can be at times melodic and beautiful, it's paired a seemingly immature narrator. This book is recognized as part of the "Beat Generation"; inspired by the usage of drugs and promiscuity. Apparently this was an iconic time period for literature, which is understandable, his free-form style of writing is inspiring enough for myself that I can understand how huge the movement was for literature.

Part two on to the rest of the book it becomes more evident that the characters are neurotic from drug usage. The content is full of jibberish and I began losing my patience and attention to the book here. It was hard to follow. This must be what defined the Beat Generation. Drug usage, confused jumbled paragraphs that are just wild. The men just look for women to make it with, use and leave, while they scour the country looking for trouble. Stealing cars and leaving their bastard children behind. What a puke.

Good to know that men in the 1940s were just a piggist misogynists as they are now.