Jack Kerouac: Collected Poems (The Library of America - 231)

Kerouac, Jack; Phipps-Kettlewell, Marilene (Ed.)

ISBN 10: 159853193X / ISBN 13: 9781598531930

Published by Library of America (Literary Classics of the United States, Inc.), New York, 2012

About this Item

First printing, hardcover, subscription edition in slipcase, has a small skew to the binding with head starting to bow from case, and a hint of shelfwear to spine ends, otherwise a solid, tight, clean VG+ copy in a like slipcase, which has minor bumps to corners, a hint of shelfwear to seams, and some faint rubbing to panels. Seller Inventory # 102751

Bibliographic Details

Title: Jack Kerouac: Collected Poems (The Library ...

Publisher: Library of America (Literary Classics of the United States, Inc.), New York

Publication Date: 2012

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good+

Dust Jacket Condition: Slipcase

Edition: 1st Printing.

About this title

Synopsis:

Poetry was at the center of Jack Kerouac’s sense of mission as a writer. This landmark edition brings together for the first time all Kerouac’s major poetic works—Mexico City Blues, The Scripture of the Golden Eternity, Book of Blues, Pomes All Sizes, Old Angel Midnight, Book of Haikus—along with a rich assortment of his uncollected poems, six published here for the first time. He wrote poetry in every period of his life, in forms as diverse as the classical Japanese haiku, the Buddhist sutra, the spontaneous prose poetry of Old Angel Midnight, and the poetic “blues” he developed in Mexico City Blues and other serial works, seeing himself as “a jazz poet blowing a long blues in an afternoon jam session on Sunday.” Many poets found Kerouac a liberating influence on their work: Robert Creeley called him “a genius at the register of the speaking voice”; for Allen Ginsberg he was “a poetic influence over the entire planet”; and Bob Dylan said that Mexico City Blues was crucial to his own artistic development.

Also available in specially-designed jacket (978-1-59853-194-7)

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

About the Author:

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), the central figure of the Beat Generation, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1922 and died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1969. Among his many novels are On the Road, The Dharma Bums, Big Sur, and Visions of Cody.

Marilène Phipps-Kettlewell, editor, is a poet, painter, and short story writer who was born and grew up in Haiti and France. She has been the recipient of numerous grants and prizes, and is the author of the poetry collection Crossroads and Unholy Water and The Company of Heaven: Stories from Haiti. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.