Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters, Vol. 1, 1940-1956

An “exhilarating” (Chicago Tribune) selection of Jack Kerouac’s most personal, truthful, and mesmerizing letters that trace his life and craft—edited by Ann Charters “As we just now begin to map fully the fallout of [the Beat Generation’s] creative explosion, these letters offer an invaluable blueprint to the intricate, high-yield ballistics that went into creating it.”—San Francisco Examiner It was in his letters that Jack Kerouac set down the raw material that he transmuted into his novels, exploring and refining the spontaneous prose style that became his trademark. The letters in this volume, written between 1940, when Kerouac was a freshman at college, and 1956, immediately before his breathless leap into celebrity with the publication of On the Road, offer invaluable insights into Kerouac’s family life, his friendships with Neal and Carolyn Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, and William S. Burroughs, his travels, love affairs, and literary apprenticeships. At once fascinating reading and a major addition to Kerouac scholarship, here is a rare portrait of the writer as a young adventurer of immense talent, energy, and ambition in the midst of writing and living an American legend.
ASIN: 0140234446
VSKU: BVV.0140234446.A
Condition: Acceptable
Author/Artist:Kerouac, Jack|Charters, Ann
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item is very worn but is perfectly usable. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing age related spots and browning . May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.