50th Anniversary of Kerouac's "On the Road" [View All]

[RainDog]

NYTimes article on Kerouac

This must surely be the most quoted writing from Kerouac:

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”

Kerouac reading from On the Road via YouTube.

The scroll Kerouac used to write On the Road is traveling the U.S. this year. Here's a museum video of the curators unrolling the scroll (again via YouTube)

Until Feb. 2008, the scroll is on display at the New York Public Library, but will be on tour for two more years.

"And for just a moment I had reached the point of ecstasy that I always wanted to reach, which was the complete step across chronological time into timeless shadows, and wonderment in the bleakness of the mortal realm, and the sensation of death kicking at my heels to move on, with a phantom dogging its own heels..." - - Jack Kerouac, On the Road