Before I address Kerouac-olutions for the New Year, here is an update on how I did with 2022's.
Before I address Kerouac-olutions for the New Year, here is an update on how I did with 2022's.
We are leaving Monday for a multiple month trip in our RV across the United States. While I'll have my computer with me, I don't anticipate using it daily or checking for Kerouac-related birth and death dates often enough that I wouldn't miss some. Rather than miss some dates, I am going to suspend posting about such dates until such time as I return home and have more of a routine. Hopefully, this doesn't bum any readers out too badly. I may still post from time-to-time as we hit Kerouac-related places along the way or the muse strikes me for some reason.
If you're really into knowing what Kerouac-related character was born or died on a given date, you can check the archives (over there on the right ----> -- you might have to scroll down) for past entries on that date.
Sorry for any inconvenience, but I think it's best to set low expectations for the next few months. May we get what we desire and never what we deserve.
"On the road" we go . . . .
Joyce Johnson was born this date -- September 27 -- in 1935, making her 87 years old today. She is a noted and award-winning author and appeared as Alyce Newman in Jack Kerouac's Desolation Angels. Joyce wrote about her firsthand knowledge of Kerouac in Minor Characters and in The Voice is All, both mandatory reads for any true Kerouac fan. She was there when big Beat things went down, so her point of view is firsthand.
In an undated 1957 letter to Johnson (then Glassman), Jack describes the time he was on a Yugoslavian freighter on the way to Tangier and experienced a big storm:
During this ordeal I heard the words: EVERYTHING IS GOD, NOTHING EVER HAPPEND EXCEPT GOD -- and I believed and still do. (Jack Kerouac Selected Letters 1957-1969, 1999, Penguin Books, p. 11)
Happy Birthday, Ms. Johnson.
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Carolyn Cassady (left) and Edie Parker |
On this date -- September 20 -- Carolyn Cassady died in 2013 and Edie Parker was born in 1922. Cassady appeared in several of Jack Kerouac's works: as Camille in On The Road; Evelyn Pomeray in Book of Dreams, Big Sur, Desolation Angels, and Visions of Cody; and, Cora in Beat Generation. Edie also appeared in several of Jack Kerouac's works: as Marie in The Subterraneans; as Elly in Visions of Cody; as Edna in Book of Dreams; as Edna (Johnnie) Palmer in Vanity of Duluoz; and as Judie Smith in The Town and the City.
Don't fall into the trap of marginalizing these two influential Beat Generation women as being merely Neal's and Jack's wives. As we have said repeatedly in past posts, they were forces to be reckoned with on their own terms. Both left behind required-reading memoirs: Cassady: Off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac. and Ginsberg); Parker: You'll Be Okay: My Life with Jack Kerouac.
RIP, Ms. Cassady and Happy Heavenly Birthday, Ms. Parker.
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Caroline with her brother, Jack |
Yes, it's weird. Both names are used in MC. In the first part, Jack wrote about his sister Nin, but later, when he's writing about the surprise birthday party, Nin is described as arranging it, but the hosts are described as Jeannette and Jimmy Bisssonette. (Nin married Charles Morisette in 1937.)When I think of Nin, I always think of Jack's descriptions in The Dharma Bums (my favorite Kerouac novel) of staying with her and her husband and child at their house in Big Easonburg Woods near Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Which, of course, reminds me of the excellent book by John J. Dorfner, Kerouac: Visions of Rocky Mount (that you can purchase by contacting the author at johnjdorfner@gmail.com).
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Dr. William Carlos Williams |