Beat Angel

JACK KEROUAC
(Mar 12, 1922 – Oct 21, 1969)
drawing by Laurel Burke

PROSE:

..Atop an Underwood: Early Stories and Other Writings..
An anthology of Kerouac's early work, published by Viking Press in 1991. Includes writings from Kerouac's high school years, poetry, short stories, essays and other previously unpublished works, plus an introduction by its editor Paul Marion with notes on the stories in the book. ISBN 0670888222

..Visions of Gerard..
1963 novel. Unique among Kerouac's novels, Visions of Gerard focuses on the scenes and sensations of childhood as evidenced in the tragically short yet happy life of his older brother, Set in Kerouac's hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts, it is a beautiful but unsettling exploration of the meaning and precariousness of existence. ISBN 0140144528

..Doctor Sax..
(Doctor Sax: Faust Part Three)
Novel published in 1959. Kerouac wrote it in 1952 while living with William S. Burroughs in Mexico City. ISBN 0802130496

..The Town and the City..
Novel published by Harcourt Brace in 1950, Kerouac's first major work. Less directly autobiographical than most of his other works. Written in a conventional manner before Kerouac had developed his own style, and heavily influenced by Thomas Wolfe. ISBN 0156907909

..Maggie Cassidy..
1959 novel written about his times in Lowell, MA from 1938 to 1939. Chronicles Jack's real life relationship with teen age heart-throb Mary Carney. ISBN 0140179062

..Vanity of Duluoz..
(full title Vanity of Duluoz: An Adventurous Education, 1935-46)
1968 autobiographical novel describing the adventures of Kerouac's alter ego, Jack Duluoz, covering the period 1935 to 1946. Includes his high school experiences in Lowell, education at Columbia University, WW II naval service, and culminating with the beginnings of the Beat movement. ISBN 0140236392

..On the Road..
Novel published by Viking Press in 1957, a largely autobiographical work written as a stream of consciousness and based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America. Considered the defining work of the postwar Beat Generation. ISBN 0140042598

..Visions of Cody..
Perhaps Kerouac's most stylistically free and varied novel. Written in 1951-1952 and not published in its entirety until 1973; by then it had achieved an underground reputation. Since its first printing, Visions of Cody has been published with an introduction by Allen Ginsberg titled The Visions of the Great Rememberer. ISBN 0140179070

..The Subterraneans..
1958 novel, a semi-fictional account of Kerouac's short romance with an African American woman named Alene Lee in New York in 1953. In the novel she is renamed Mardou Fox, a carefree spirit who frequents the jazz clubs and bars of the budding Beat scene of San Francisco. Other well-known personalities and friends from the author's life also appear thinly disguised in the novel. ISBN 0802131867

..Tristessa..
A 1960 short novel set in Mexico City, based on Kerouac's relationship with a Mexican prostitute named Esperanza ("hope" in Spanish); he changed her name to Tristessa ("tristeza" means sadness in Spanish). ISBN 0140168117

..The Dharma Bums..
1958 novel semi-fictional accounts based on events occurring years after On the Road. The main characters are the narrator Ray Smith, based on Kerouac, and Japhy Ryder, based on the poet, essayist and Buddhist Gary Snyder. Largely examining a duality in Kerouac's life and ideals: the relationship of the outdoors, mountaineering and hitchhiking, with his "city life" of jazz clubs, poetry readings and drunken parties. Ends on Desolation Peak. ISBN 0140042520

..Lonesome Traveler..
1960 compilation of Kerouac's journal entries about traveling America and various exploits. ISBN 0802130747

..Desolation Angels..
Published in 1965, written years earlier, one of Kerouac's most autobiographical novels. Picks up where The Dharma Bums leaves off. The opening section is taken almost directly from the journal he kept when he was a fire lookout on Desolation Peak in the North Cascade mountains of Washington state. ISBN 1573225053

..Big Sur..
1962 novel recounting the tale of a writer who borrows the cabin of a friend for a while, struggling to get over what might be a nervous breakdown, or alcoholism, or both. The writer lives a happy, contemplative life of simple pleasures until his craving for company drives him back to the city. An extremely dark book, and deals very directly and explicitly with Delerium Tremens. ISBN 0140168125

..Satori in Paris..
A short, semi-autobiographical 1966 novel of a man who travels to Paris, then Brittany, to do research on his genealogy. Relates his trip in a tumbledown fashion as a lonesome traveler. Little is said about the research that he does, and much more about his interactions with the French people he meets. ISBN 0394174372 (1966), ISBN 0802130615 (1988)

..Pic..
1971 novel written in a black dialect, the story of a small child from North Carolina. Pic's grandfather dies and his older brother appears and plucks him from his aunt's disfunctional home. They journey north to New York City, where Pic witnesses his brother's hard times, and they eventually try to hitchhike their way across the country. ISBN 0704311224 (1971), Satori in Paris & Pic, ISBN 0802130615 (1988)

..Old Angel Midnight..
Assembled from five notebooks, published in 1959. Called "a continuous prose poem," spanning 1956-59 when Kerouac immersed himself in Buddhism. ISBN 0912516966

..Book of Dreams..
A 2001 edition of Kerouac's "private dream diaries" presents the entire original manuscript, including some 200-odd dreams not published in the first 1961 selection. "In the Book of Dreams I just continue the same story but in the dreams I had of the real-life characters I always write about." ISBN 0872863808

..Good Blonde & Others..
Collection of writings published in 1993: Kerouac hitches a ride to San Francisco with a blonde, travels with Beat photographer Robert Frank, takes bus through the Northwest and Montana, discusses the beginnings of the Beats, "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose" etc. ISBN 0912516224

..Orpheus Emerged..
Novella written in 1945 while Kerouac was at Columbia University; not published until its discovery by the Kerouac estate in 2002. Chronicles the passions, conflicts, and dreams of a group of NY Bohemians--Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Lucien Carr, et. al.--searching for truth. ISBN 0743475143

..Book of Sketches..
Collection of poems transcribed from journals Kerouac kept between 1952 and 1954, puiblished by Penguin in 2006. ISBN 0142002151

..And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks..
Unpublished 1945 work written with William S. Burroughs. Intended to be a mystery novel, Burroughs later dismissed it as "not a distinguished work." Kerouac and Burroughs were unable to get the book published, and only fragments exist today, some of which were published in the Burroughs compilation Word Virus (ISBN 080213694X).

POETRY, LETTERS, AUDIO RECORDINGS and other writings:

..Mexico City Blues..
(1959) A poem composed of 242 "choruses" or stanzas. With this book Kerouac sought to write in a way consistent with how a musician would play jazz. Kerouac attempts to use all of his methods for creating spontaneous works and is highly successful. ISBN 0802130607

..Scattered Poems..
(1971) Published by City Lights. ISBN 0872860647

..Heaven and Other Poems..
Publisher by Grey Fox Press in 1981. ISBN 0912516313

..Trip Trap: Haiku on the Road from SF to NY..
(1998) Grey Fox Press. With Albert Saijo and Lew Welch. Haiku composed by Kerouac, Albert Saijo, and Lew Welch as they traveled from San Francisco to New York in 1959. ISBN 0912516046

..Pomes All Sizes..
(1992) City Lights. A fun body of poems: Mexican Loneliness, How to Meditate, The Moon, Skid Row Wine, Long Island Chinese Poem Rain, Silly Goofball Pomes, God, Bowery Blues, etc. ISBN 0872862690

..San Francisco Blues..
(1995) Penguin. Poetry, as only Kerouac conceived. ISBN 0146001184

..Book of Blues..
(1995) Penguin. With Robert Creeley. Eight long, previously unpublished poems written between 1954 and 1961, "limited by the small page of the breastpocket notebook in which they were written." ISBN 0140587004

..Book of Haikus..
(2003) Penguin. Over 500 poems, including an incomplete draft of a haiku manuscript found in Kerouac's archives supplemented by Regina Weinreich. ISBN 014200264X

..The Scripture of the Golden Eternity..
(1994) City Lights. Meditations, koans, poems. ISBN 0872862917

..Wake Up..
Unpublished 1955 biography of Siddhartha Gautama.

..Some of the Dharma..
(1999) Penguin. Large tome (432 pages) started by Kerouac in 1951 as a journal of his Buddhist studies. Posthumously published. ISBN 0140287078

..Beat Generation..
A play written in 1957 but not discovered or published until 2005, in which year it was first produced, in England. (2005) Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1560257423

..Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters, 1940-1956..
(1996) Penguin. A prolific correspondent, Kerouac's letters fill 656 pages in the first volume. ISBN 0140234446

..Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters, 1957-1969..
(2000) Penguin. Second volume, 656 pages. ISBN 0140296158

..Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac..
(2004) Viking Adult. From Kerouac's journals recording his progress on "The Town and the City," 1947 to September 1948. ISBN 0670033413

..Safe In Heaven Dead..
(1990) Hanuman Books. "Hanuman Book No. 42" -- Fragmentsof interviews with Kerouac. ISBN 0937815446

..Conversations with Jack Kerouac..
(2005) University Press of Mississippi. Includes interview segments from The Paris Review, The Village Voice, and a confrontation with Mike Wallace. ISBN 1578067553, ISBN 1578067561

..Empty Phantoms..
(2005) Thunder's Mouth Press, by Paul Maher. Transcriptions of printed, recorded, and filmed interviews of Kerouac, including ones by Mike Wallace and William F. Buckley. ISBN 1560256583

..Departed Angels: The Lost Paintings..
(2004) Thunder's Mouth Press. Fascinating reproductions of 50 paintings in color and 50 sketchbook pages by Kerouac, with text by Ed Adler and an introduction by historian Douglas Brinkley. Illuminates Kerouac's preoccupation with Catholic and Buddhist themes. ISBN 1560256214

..Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat Generation..
(first issued 1959) Audio CD, Polygram Records. Kerouac reading his own words casts new light on his writings, from: San Francisco Scene, San Francisco Blues, Lucien Midnight: The Sounds Of The Universe In My Window, History Of Bop, The Subterraneans, Visions Of Neal (Neal And The Three Stooges). ASIN B0000047EY

..The Jack Kerouac Collection..
(1990) Audio CD (3 discs), Rhino / Wea. Extensive audio collection of Kerouac reading his work. Disc 1 contains 15 selections of the famous sessions with piano accompaniment by Steve Allen . ASIN B0000032RQ

..Reads On The Road..
(1990/1999) Audio CD, Rykodisc. Kerouac reads selections from On the Road. Some selections include musical accompaniment by his friend and collaborator, composer David Amram. ASIN B00001IVLG

..Poetry For The Beat Generation..
(first issued 1959) Hanover (LP #5000). Kerouac's debut spoken word album. Accompanied by Steve Allen on the piano. Recorded in 1958 and first released in 1959.

..Blues And Haikus..
(first issued 1960) Hanover (LP #5006) and (1990 re-issue) Rhino (Audio CD 3-disc Box Set, Selection # 70939). Kerouac reads more of his work: American Haikus, Hard Hearted Old Farmer, The Last Hotel/Some Of The Dharma, Poems From The Unpublished "Book Of Blues." Includes musical accompaniment by Steve Allen, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, and liner notes by numerous Kerouac associates including Wm. S Burroughs. Rhino UPC 081227093921

..Doctor Sax & Great World Snake..
(2003) Gallery Six. Illustrated Play Adaptation with Audio CD (2 discs). Based on the novel Doctor Sax. Voice acting: Robert Creeley: narration; Jim Carroll: Jackie Duluoz, Count Condu: Robert Hunter: Doctor Sax; Lawrence Ferlinghetti: the Wizard; Kate Pierson: Vamp Contessa; Graham Parker: Baroque; score by John Medeski. ISBN 0972973303

ISBN numbers usually represent a specific edition; other editions may exist.

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