My Account Wish List
Advanced Search
Print - Close Window
www.praeger.com/catalog/GR2836.aspx
All Greenwood Products
Jack Kerouac A Biography
Michael J. Dittman
Book Code: GR2836
ISBN: 0-313-32836-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-32836-7
152 pages, photos
Greenwood Press
Publication: 8/30/2004
List Price: $38.95 (UK Sterling Price: £21.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Series Title: Greenwood Biographies
Reviews:
  • [F]ulfils the premise of the Greenwood Biogrpahy Series - to provide "challenging yet accessible" biogrpehies of individuals who have influenced American and/or global culture ...a reader-friendly introduction to Kerouac's interconnected life and writing.
    —Journal of American Studies     2005
  • [A] top pick for high school to college-level collections....Michael Dittman focuses on the facts surrounding his life and literature and provides many alternative views of these events which students should find intriguing.
    —MBR Internet Bookwatch/The Bookwatch     May 2005
Description: From relative obscurity, even at the time of his death in 1969, Jack Kerouac has risen to icon status with invigorated interest at all levels of scholarship and readership. This biography serves an important purpose in cutting through both the hagiography and the critical backlash that still surrounds the figure most closely identified with the Beat movement. Using the same structure--the events of his life-- that Kerouac himself utilized in writing his roman a clef novels such as On the Road, this biography provides an accessible alternative to current studies that will help readers, particularly students understand the creative legacy left by Kerouac. Readers will be able to draw their own insights and conclusions from this well drawn account that traces the historical and personal events that moved his career along uncharted paths. Sixteen chapters piece together his troubled ties with family, friends, lovers, and the literary establishment. This study carefully examines the philosophy of the writer and the psychology of the man with his many contradictions and complexities. Interest in Kerouac's life has never been stronger. This concise biography draws on both new and established research on Kerouac to lay out the facts and distinguish the man from the myth. A Timeline of Events will help readers understand the important occurrences in Kerouac's life, his travels, his writings, involvement in the Beat movement, and the larger context of literary and political events of his time. A complete bibliography of works by Kerouac includes important posthumous publications. A select bibliography of biographical and critical works, including electronic sources, will guide readers with further personal interests or research projects on Kerouac.
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • Timeline of Events in the Life of Jack Kerouac
  • Youth
  • Horace Mann and Columbia
  • On the Sea and On the Road
  • Bebop and Benzedrine
  • The Town and the City
  • Neal Cassidy
  • The Railroad
  • The Subterraneans and Spontaneous Prose
  • Mexico City
  • The West Coast Revolution
  • Africa
  • Fame
  • The Beatnik Backlash
LC Card Number: 2004009233
LCC Class: PS3521
Dewey Class: 813
PDF Catalogs:
Sale Catalog 2008.pdf
All rights reserved. Copyright © 1999-2009 Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
88 Post Road West, Westport CT 06881, (203) 226-3571