What is Big Sur by Jack Kerouac about?
Continuing in the tradition of his successful, semi-autobiographical novel, On the Road, Big Sur continues the story of aging beatnik Jack Duluoz, and his existential battle with depression, nihilism, and alcoholism along the scenic shores of Big Sur California.
Where did Jack Kerouac stay in Big Sur?
Bixby Canyon
In the novel, Kerouac’s fictional alter ego starts out having a fine ol’ time as a “sea beatnik” in Big Sur’s Bixby Canyon (called Raton in the book). He’s staying alone, at first, in the cabin of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, founder of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco.
Why is Jack Kerouac On the Road important?
Jack Kerouac’s On the Road can be considered among the most important novels of the twentieth century. It holds a great deal of historical significance, showing an underbelly of American culture full of sex, drugs, and lost youth, a culture that received little public attention during the 1940s and ’50s.
Is On the Road by Jack Kerouac a true story?
The biggest immediate difference between the first draft and the finished product, though, is that while we know “On the Road” as a novel — the great novel of the Beat Generation — the scroll is essentially nonfiction, a memoir that uses real names and is far less self-consciously literary.
Is Big Sur a true story?
The story is based on the time Kerouac spent in Big Sur, California, and his three brief sojourns to his friend Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s cabin in Bixby Canyon.
Where is Jack Kerouac from?
Lowell, MAJack Kerouac / Place of birth
Who is McLear in Big Sur?
Michael McClure
Character key
| Real-life person | Character name |
|---|---|
| Robert LaVigne | Robert Browning |
| Michael McClure | Pat McLear |
| Jackie Gibson Mercer | Willamine “Billie” Dabney |
| Albert Saijo | George Baso |
Who is Lucille in On the Road?
A woman Sal is thinking of marrying in Part II before Dean shows up and convinces him to go on the road again. She doesn’t like Sal spending time with his wild friends. Also, incidentally, she is married and has a little girl.
When did Jack Kerouac write Big Sur?
1962
Big Sur is a 1962 novel by Jack Kerouac, written in the fall of 1961 over a ten-day period, with Kerouac typewriting onto a teletype roll.
Is big Sur by Jack Kerouac worth reading?
Big Sur isn’t an easy book to read, nor a great one. It was written when Kerouac was at breaking point and it shows; whole passages make no sense at all and his attempts to a prose similar to On the Road ’s are vain. But at the same time, Big Sur is heartbreaking.
Was Jack Kerouac a writer?
Jack Kerouac was a ‘writer,’ as his great peer W.S. Burroughs says, and here at the peak of his suffering humorous genius he wrote through his misery to end with ‘Sea,’ a brilliant poem appended, on the hallucinatory Sounds of the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur.”—Allen Ginsberg 10/10/91 N.Y.C. More Details…
What kind of character is Kerouac in Big Sur?
In Big Sur, however, we see a wiser, more cynical, Kerouac, who’s now lived long enough to see many of those youthful dreams and ideals die. Who’s already been ground through the fame machine and spit out the other end and is hesitant to do anything to bring more fame on, even if it means denying his need to write.
Is big Sur bigger than your problems?
It was meant to happen in Big Sur, where the ocean is bigger than your problems, the redwoods are older than your family, and the mountains are higher than your state of being. It was the perfect time, the perfect visit, the perfect setting for me to finally read Big Sur and to reacquaint myself with Kerouac.