Big Sur - Softcover

Jack Kerouac

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141198257 ISBN 13: 9780141198255

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2012

Synopsis

In 1960 Jack Kerouac was near breaking point. Driven mad by constant press attention in the wake of the publication of On the Road, he needed to 'get away to solitude again or die', so he withdrew to a cabin in Big Sur on the Californian coast. The resulting novel, in which his autobiographical hero Jack Duluoz wrestles with doubt, alcohol dependency and his urge towards self-destruction, is one of Kerouac's most personal and searingly honest works. Ending with the poem 'Sea: Sounds of the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur', it shows a man coming down from his hedonistic youth and trying to come to terms with fame, the world and himself.

About this title

About the Author:

Jack Kerouac (1922-69) was an American novelist, poet, artist and part of the Beat Generation. Most of his life was spent in the vast landscapes of America or living with his mother. Kerouac's best known works are On the Road and The Dharma Bums.

From AudioFile:

This autobiographical novel continues the adventures of the (older but certainly not mellower) wandering beatnik from ON THE ROAD. For a narrator it contains extraordinary difficulties, for the writing flies off into inebriated, overly long sentences that reflect, describe or just babble forward in a kind of free association. To keep such passages flowing while making sense out of them is no mean feat. Tom Parker pulls it off, erring only infrequently in his interpretation. He even manages to sound as if he were enjoying himself. The production is clean but tinny, possibly dampening the pleasure of home listeners, but hardly bothering drivers listening over traffic noise. Y.R. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0141198257
• ISBN 13: 9780141198255
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192