Got in the mood for some Kerouac the other day so I re-read Lonesome Traveler. While I was reading it I learned that a new Kerouac documentary will be released soon. Who knows, maybe I had heard the name in the air and decided to give Jack another read. Lonesome Traveler is a collection of short stories and most are pretty good. I did find one or two kind of tedious. Sometimes stream of consciousness can become a boring mess. But most of the stories are good and fun to read. After finishing I decided to give On The Road another read, for the fifth or sixth time! Been awhile since I've read it so it will be interesting to go through it as a middle-aged adult.
They say not to meet your heroes. In the last several years I've seen some YouTube clips of old interviews or television appearances of Kerouac. He often doesn't come off very well. The most infamous clip is his appearance on Firing Line with William Buckley in 1968. Kerouac is drunk, bitter, rude, reactionary...and just a few months away from an early death at age 47. Despite all that, his intelligence and brilliance appears in quick flashes here and there. There isn't a lot of footage of prime Kerouac. After all, the work that put him on the map was released almost a decade after the events of the story took place.
Most accounts say that Kerouac's last years found him living with his wife and mother in St. Petersburg, Florida. He apparently spent most days watching TV, drinking all day long and becoming more and more embittered as his legacy became hi-jacked by shallow hippies and trendsetters. He had once aspired to be a Bodhisattva or Buddhist saint, helping people in small ways as they make their way through the challenges of life.
Instead, as he spiraled into deeper and deeper drug and alcohol abuse, he reverted to a conservative and reactionary Catholicism. He claimed to be a Republican. He spoke out against Viet Nam war protestors. He seemed a far different man than the beatific traveler of The Dharma Bums. His family said he was in great physical pain in the end as his body failed him due to his alcoholism. He died young, only 47 years old.
Sometimes I wish I hadn't searched for film of Kerouac. The Kerouac Myth is much more appealing than the reality. But I'm going to compartmentalize. For me, Kerouac's works are a mix of fiction and the real and I will enjoy them at face value. I will think of a young Kerouac, imperfect as we all are, making his way through life and observing it's glories with wonderful prose.
