|
Speaking of Stories transforming
short stories from the page to the stage
|
| Next Performance |
JACK KEROUAC Jack Kerouac, the renowned American author, was born in the mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1922. His parents, Leo and Gabrielle Kerouac, were of French-Canadian heritage, and Jack did not learn to speak English until he began school at age six. Jack was a football star at Lowell High School, and his athletic ability allowed him to enter Columbia College in 1940 on a football scholarship. But midway through his first year, Jack broke his leg in a game, and upon returning in the fall, had some heated disagreements with his coach Lou Little about his place on the team. Jack quit college shortly after, packed his bags, and went "On the Road." Signing on as a merchant seaman, he traveled the North Atlantic to Greenland and England, and later continued his journeys on land, crisscrossing the United States, Mexico, North Africa and Europe, often in the company of his friends Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady and William Burroughs. Throughout that time, Jack was writing constantly. In 1951, Kerouac wrote his most famous novel, On the Road, based on his adventures with Neal Cassady. On the Road was a stylistic breakthrough for Kerouac, who had developed a theory of writing he called "spontaneous prose." When On the Road was published in 1957, Jack was instantly hailed as a major American writer, and thrust into the spotlight as the reluctant spokesman for the "Beat Generation." Jack continued to write, and published many more books, including Visions of Gerard, Desolation Angels, Visions of Cody, Satori in Paris, Vanity of Dulouz, The Subterraneans and Doctor Sax. Jack was living in St. Petersburg, Florida with his mother and his wife Stella when he died in 1969. He is buried at Edson Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts.
|