Jack Kerouac
On the 17th of May 1928, a six-year-old boy named Jack Kerouac knelt in a church pew in Lowell, Massachusetts. He made his first Confession that day and heard a voice tell him he had a good soul. The voice promised suffering and pain but also salvation at the end of life. This moment came just four years after his older brother Gerard died of rheumatic fever at age nine. Jack later said Gerard followed him as a guardian angel throughout his days.
His mother Gabrielle-Ange Lévesque was a devout Catholic who instilled this deep faith into both her sons. She played an important role in his life and became the only woman he ever loved. After Gerard's death, she sought solace in her faith while his father Leo-Alcide Kéroack abandoned it completely. Leo wallowed in drinking, gambling, and smoking until his own death.
Jack spoke French with his family and began learning English around age six. He did not speak English confidently until his late teens. His childhood home at 34 Beaulieu Street in West Centralville was called "sad Beaulieu" by the boy himself. The house stood on the second floor above a corner drug store where he would later write some of his earliest work.
From July to October 1942, Kerouac served as a United States Merchant Mariner aboard the SS Dorchester. A few months later that ship sank during a submarine attack while crossing the Atlantic. Several of his former shipmates were lost in the disaster. In 1943 he joined the United States Navy Reserves but served only eight days before arriving on the sick list.
His medical report stated he asked for aspirin for headaches and received a diagnosis of dementia praecox. The examiner noted poor military adjustment because he liked being alone. Two days later he was honorably discharged on psychiatric grounds labeled as having an indifferent character. During this period he wrote his first novel titled The Sea Is My Brother which remained unpublished for seventy years.
In 1944 Kerouac became a material witness in the murder of David Kammerer who allegedly stalked his friend Lucien Carr since Carr was a teenager. Carr stabbed Kammerer to death in self-defense after the man's homosexual obsession turned aggressive. Carr dumped the body in the Hudson River and sought help from Kerouac who disposed of the weapon and buried Kammerer's eyeglasses.
Kerouac and William Burroughs were arrested as material witnesses. His father refused to pay bail so Kerouac agreed to marry Edie Parker if her parents would pay it. They married on Tuesday the 22nd of August 1944 with two detectives present before Kerouac returned to his cell in Bronx City Prison.
After living with his parents in Queens, Kerouac wrote his first published novel The Town and the City under the name John Kerouac. It appeared in 1950 but sold poorly despite earning some respectable reviews. Heavily influenced by Thomas Wolfe, the book reflected generational epic formulas contrasting small-town life against city complexity.
For the next six years he continued writing regularly while building upon drafts tentatively titled The Beat Generation and Gone on the Road. He completed what is now known as On the Road in April 1951 while living at 454 West 20th Street in Manhattan with his second wife Joan Haverty. The book described road-trip adventures across the United States and Mexico with Neal Cassady during the late forties and early fifties.
Although some of the novel focused on driving, Kerouac did not have a driver's license and Cassady did most of the cross-country driving. He learned to drive at age thirty-four but never held a formal license. During this period he finished drafts of ten more novels including The Subterraneans, Doctor Sax, Tristessa, and Desolation Angels which chronicled many events of these years.
In 1954 Kerouac discovered Dwight Goddard's A Buddhist Bible at the San Jose Library marking the beginning of his study of Buddhism. Between 1955 and 1956 he lived on and off with his sister Nin and her husband Paul Blake outside Rocky Mount North Carolina where he meditated on and studied Buddhism. He wrote Some of the Dharma an imaginative experimental treatise demonstrating wide-ranging engagement with numerous schools of Buddhism.
He referenced figures like Milarepa Sariputa and Zen-master Dogen while reading texts translated by the Pali Text Society. However critics from respected American fields of Buddhism like Ruth Fuller Sasaki and Alan Watts demoralized him with their criticism. He passed up opportunities to reunite with Gary Snyder in California explaining he had become too decadent and drunk to confront them now.
Kerouac used earnings from On the Road to purchase homes in Northport New York where he shared living space with his mother Gabrielle. They moved there in March 1958 and stayed for six years moving twice during that time. Despite being friends, Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg often took opposing sides of electoral politics with Kerouac endorsing Republican Robert Taft while Ginsberg supported Democrat Adlai Stevenson.
In July 1957 Kerouac moved to a small house at 1418½ Clouser Avenue in Orlando Florida to await publication of On the Road. Weeks later a review by Gilbert Millstein appeared in The New York Times proclaiming him voice of a new generation. His friendship with Allen Ginsberg William S. Burroughs and Gregory Corso became notorious representation of the Beat Generation.
The term Beat Generation was invented by Kerouac during conversation with fellow novelist Herbert Huncke who used beat to describe someone with little money and few prospects. His fame came as unmanageable surge that would ultimately be his undoing. He once observed I am not a beatnik but a Catholic showing reporter a painting of Pope Paul VI saying You know who painted that? Me.
After nine months no longer felt safe in public after instant fame from On the Road. He was badly beaten by three men outside San Remo Cafe at 189 Bleecker Street one night. Neal Cassady possibly as result of new notoriety as central character set up and arrested for selling marijuana. In response Kerouac chronicled parts of own experience with Buddhism and adventures with Gary Snyder in The Dharma Bums published 1958.
Kerouac's method heavily influenced by prolific explosion of jazz especially bebop genre established by Charlie Parker Dizzy Gillespie Thelonious Monk and others. Later he included ideas developed from Buddhist studies beginning with Gary Snyder. He often referred to style as spontaneous prose though primarily wrote autobiographical novels based upon actual events from life and people interacted with.
Central features included ideas of breath borrowed from jazz and Buddhist meditation breathing improvising words over inherent structures mind and language limited revision. Connected with idea of breath was elimination period substituting instead long connecting dash. Phrases occurring between dashes might resemble improvisational jazz licks taking on musical rhythm when spoken aloud.
Many books exemplified spontaneous approach including On the Road Visions of Cody Visions of Gerard Big Sur and The Subterraneans. Truman Capote said of it That is not writing it is typing while Carolyn Cassady claimed he constantly rewrote revised work. Some critics argued technique did not produce lively energetic prose but others found energy within its structure.
On morning the 20th of October 1969 in St. Petersburg Florida Kerouac working on book about father's print shop suddenly felt nauseated went bathroom began vomiting blood. Taken to St. Anthony's Hospital suffering esophageal hemorrhage received several transfusions attempt make up loss blood doctors attempted surgery damaged liver prevented blood clotting. Never regained consciousness after operation died hospital at five fifteen following morning age forty-seven.
Cause death listed internal hemorrhage bleeding esophageal varices caused cirrhosis result longtime alcohol abuse possible contributing factor untreated hernia suffered bar fight weeks earlier. Funeral held St. Jean Baptiste Church Lowell Massachusetts buried Edson Cemetery. At time death living third wife Stella Sampas Kerouac mother Gabrielle inherited most estate worth ninety-one dollars then valued ten million by nineteen-ninety-eight.
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Common questions
When was Jack Kerouac born and where did he make his first Confession?
Jack Kerouac was born on the 17th of May 1928 in Lowell, Massachusetts. He made his first Confession on that same date while kneeling in a church pew.
What happened to Jack Kerouac's brother Gerard and how did it affect him?
Jack Kerouac's older brother Gerard died of rheumatic fever at age nine four years before Jack made his first Confession. Jack later said Gerard followed him as a guardian angel throughout his days after his death.
Why was Jack Kerouac discharged from the United States Navy Reserves in 1943?
Jack Kerouac served only eight days in the United States Navy Reserves before arriving on the sick list with headaches. His medical report stated he received a diagnosis of dementia praecox and was honorably discharged on psychiatric grounds labeled as having an indifferent character.
How did Jack Kerouac become involved in the murder of David Kammerer in 1944?
Jack Kerouac became a material witness when Lucien Carr stabbed David Kammerer to death in self-defense. Carr dumped the body in the Hudson River and sought help from Kerouac who disposed of the weapon and buried Kammerer's eyeglasses.
When did Jack Kerouac discover Buddhism and what book did he write about it?
Jack Kerouac discovered Dwight Goddard's A Buddhist Bible at the San Jose Library in 1954 marking the beginning of his study of Buddhism. He wrote Some of the Dharma between 1955 and 1956 while living outside Rocky Mount North Carolina where he meditated on and studied Buddhism.
What caused Jack Kerouac's death and when did it occur?
Jack Kerouac died on the morning of the 20th of October 1969 after suffering an esophageal hemorrhage due to cirrhosis from longtime alcohol abuse. He was taken to St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg Florida where doctors attempted surgery that damaged his liver before he passed away at five fifteen following morning age forty-seven.