University of Virginia Library

Kerouac's Legacy
Captivates Youth

By Carl Erickson
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Last week via a long distance
telephone conversation I discovered
that Jack Kerouac had died. The
following day I checked the New
York Times obituaries and sure
enough there was the brief
summarization, complete with
picture: "Father of the beat
generation, author of 'On the
Road,' rejected middle-class values,
died... of massive abdominal
hemorrhaging."

Alas, the story failed to grasp
the essence of the man.

Unfortunately this article is
doomed to the same failure. It is
nearly impossible to convey the
zaniness, melancholy, and sheer
joy which one finds in reading the
"Dharma Bums," "On the
Road,and "The Town and the
City." It is in these works that one
understands Jack Kerouac, the man
and the writer.

I only wish it were possible to
fit the manuscript of "On the
Road" on the four pages of the
newsprint which makes up this
newspaper.

Experiences In Living

Jack Kerouac's books are not
merely experiences in reading, but
rather in living. When Kerouac
writes hitch-hiking on a road upon
which no one travels, you are there
with him, getting drenched in the
rain. When he writes of sitting on a
mountain top doing nothing but
breathing the fresh air and gazing at
magnificent world above and
below, you too marvel at Northern
Lights. When he describes the aura
of a crowd in Times Square, you
too recognize an old friend.

Then suddenly you put down
the book, and California doesn't
seem so far away, and that trip you
wanted to take well, why not?
Somehow, Jack Kerouac's books
make you feel more alive. And,
there is nothing of more
importance which an author can
convey to a reader.

Kerouac also succeeded in
capturing the frenetic pace of that
part of young America which drops
everything and just goes. From New
York, to Colorado, to California,
down to New Orleans, and then to
Mexico the never-ending string of
travels is excitingly conveyed
through the fast-moving stream of
words, sentences, and paragraphs
which is Kerouac's style. Kerouac's
society is made up of speed freaks
who are involved a constant search
for pleasure whether it be through
sex, booze, drugs, or music. The
search never ends until one day
"massive abdominal
hemorrhaging" marks the end of
the road.

Epitome Of Madness

It is impossible to describe the
excitement and exuberance of Jack
Kerouac and his writings without
mentioning the epitome of
madness. Neal Cassady. Those of
you who have read Tom Wolfe's
"Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" will
recognize Cassady as the one who
drives the busload of Merry
Pranksters from coast to coast and
back again flipping his
sledgehammer and indulging in long
soliloquies frequently punctuated
with the strange phrase "you
understand."

True Name

In "On the Road" Cassady is
known as Dean Moriarty. For me
this is his true name, perhaps this is
because the name Moriarty (
remember Professor Moriarty, the
evil genius in the Sherlock Holmes
stories) better evokes the image of
madness which is an intrinsic part
of Cassady's character. It is through
Moriarty (or Cassady) that Kerouac
expresses the franticness which
dominates the lives of youths. His
belief that George Shearing was
God, his maniacal plea, and his
fast-loving (backseat style) all make
up this wildly humorous character.
His vitality leaps at the reader:

(from "On the Road")

The day I found out Kerouac
had died, I also discovered that
Dean Moriarty was also dead. This
seems fitting to me. The two went
hand and hand. One could not
really exist without the other.

So Jack Kerouac is dead. I read
where his wife described him as
being a "very lonely man." I believe
her, but I also remember what he
wrote. "But let the mind beware
that though the flesh be bugged the
circumstances of existence are
pretty glorious."