Kerouac and the Beats

[Beat Mango]

Is anyone else drawn to Jack Kerouac's writing, in particular On the Road, and beat culture in general? The whole beatnik way of life really resonates with me, and seems to match with the INTP profile, with their love of thought, freedom, music and spontaneity and their disregard of achievement (even though many of the beats seemed to be extroverted, Kerouac himself was no doubt an introvert)

[Ben]

Yeah, I love on the road! Hey, you should also consider reading the book "Motorcycle Diaries". The message is a bit different but the story is very similar to On the Road.

[mikal]

I red The subterraneans and was little bit disappointed with his writing; thats cause I expected a lot. keroauc this, keroauc that..don't know if you'll agree, but I consider his way of writing to 'free' (chaotic sentences without grammatical boundaries) but that was probably part of the beat generation. Chaos, spontaneity, drinking, postdrinking chaos..
I should read On the road (and read it in english) and something from Ginsberg. One book is not enough to judge.

[Beat Mango]

I actually just finished the Subterraneans. The best thing about Kerouac's writing for most is the celebration of the Beat lifestyle and mentality, which can only really be captured with his "free" (spontaneous) writing style. If you don't like that, you probably won't like any of his work, but in saying that, I think the Subterraneans is a bit meh. It is more self-reflective and about one specific relationship, rather than the wildness and adventure of On the Road which is much more about the Beat values: freedom, spontaneity, adventure, etc. Also, spontaneous prose is always a bit hit and miss - some passages are gold, whereas others don't quite work. Definitely read Ginsberg's Howl, it will only take a few minutes and can read for free on the net.

I've seen the Motorcycle Diaries movie, don't know if that counts...

[mikal]

Ah, you know, I find them interesting as the phenomenon: first western subculture. it was way of life. of course the prose was kind of free and unlimited; they wanted it to be that way. it doesn't mean it's bad, I just don't like it (prefer lost generation).
And it had great deal in music. also influenced on subsequent literature (I can't help it, but I always compare The subterraneans with John Fante's Ask the dust, they fell in love with the same type of women)

[Sapphire Harp]

I wound up reading the Dharma Bums first among Kerouac's books and I thought he had some good stuff going there. He seemed a bit full of himself, but whatever. After that I read 'On The Road' and I couldn't begin to relate to the people and situations. It seemed like they were all sensate junkies bingeing on anything they could find...