Dear Beat Generation classic, I can finally state without any fear of being called out on my ignorance that I absolutely hated reading you. Every moment of it. La vie est d'hommage, edition of all previously unpublished French writings, includes some non-fiction (written 1950-1965; published 2016)

Because of the objections of my early publishers I was not allowed to use the same personae names in each work. [3] Real-life personOn the Road influenced an entire generation of musicians, poets, and writers including Allen Ginsberg. Because of Ginsberg's friendship with Kerouac, Ginsberg was written into the novel through the character Carlo Marx. Ginsberg recalled that he was attracted to the beat generation, and Kerouac, because the beats valued "detachment from the existing society," while at the same time calling for an immediate release from a culture in which the most "freely" accessible items—bodies and ideas—seemed restricted. Ginsberg incorporated a sense of freedom of prose and style into his poetry as a result of the influence of Kerouac. [29] Dear Carolyn: Letters to Carolyn Cassady (1983) (1000 copies Edited By Arthur and Kit Knight) ISBN 0-934660-06-9 Rpt. in Lee, Michelle (2009). Poetry Criticism (subscription required). Vol. 95. Detroit: Gale. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. ISBN 9781414451848. He commented on the difficulty he had reading the Beat novels. He had tried but he had been unable to finish any one of them. None of these people have anything interesting to say,” he observed, “and none of them can write, not even Mr. Kerouac.” What they do, he added, “isn’t writing at all—it’s typing.”

And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, with William S. Burroughs (written 1945; published 2008) I'd be lying if I said there aren't parts of this book that're so bad they're good -- good as in morbidly fascinating, in the manner of advanced-stage syphilis slides from seventh-grade health class. Keroac's ode to the sad-eyed Negro is actually an incredible, incredible example of.... something I'm glad has been typed. For the record. So we can all see it clearly, and KNOW. In terms of geographical sweep, the narrative covers nearly the whole of America in the 50s weaving its way in and out of Los Angeles and New York and San Francisco and many other major American cities. Through the eyes of Salvatore 'Sal' Paradise, a professional bum, we are given an extended peek into the lives of a band of merry have-nots, their hapless trysts with women, booze, drugs, homelessness, destitution, jazz as they hitchhike and motor their way through the heart of America. This was a manuscript of the night that we couldn't read." (P. 158) and those that do not share their trip on the road "they stand uncertainly underneath immense skies, and everything about them is drowned." (P. 167)The Sea Is My Brother (written 1942; first published in Slovak translation 2010 Bratislava, Slovakia, European Union: Artfórum) Johnston, Allan (Spring 2005). "Consumption, Addiction, Vision, Energy: Political Economies and Utopian Visions in the Writings of the Beat Generation". College Literature. 32 (2): 103–126. doi: 10.1353/lit.2005.0028. JSTOR 25115269. S2CID 144789716. In terms of a travelogue, this isn’t it. At one point, Sal travels to Detroit, but there aren’t even any details. The book was not a success, and Kerouac complained in a September 1950 letter to a Worcester, Massachusetts reviewer who had praised the book that it was no longer selling. Kerouac made no more money on The Town and the City, as his royalties did not exceed his advance and a movie sale never materialized.

I had been attending school and romancing around with a girl called Lucille, a beautiful Italian honey-haired darling that I actually wanted to marry"

John Leland (2007). Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think). New York: Viking. p. 17.