Jack Kerouac's On The Road: The Bible of the Beat Generation

The front cover of my new (old) 1957 copyright softcover of Jack Kerouac's On The Road proclaims it "THE WORLD FAMOUS NOVEL THAT BECAME THE BIBLE OF THE BEAT GENERATION." Faithful readers will know that I snagged this particular copy of OTR on ebay. Here's a picture with the book it inspired me to write:



Jack's book: inspired, perfect, hard-lived.
My book: derivative, quirky, obsessed.

Here's the back cover:



It says:

ON THE ROAD captures--as no other novel has ever done--youth's frenetic search for Experience and Sensation.

     Wild drives across America, buying cars, wrecking cars, stealing cars, dumping cars, picking up girls, making love, all-night drinking bouts, jazz joints, wild parties, hot spots

Most of that sounds tame in 2009. Most of that sounds like a typical Friday night in Hallowell to Crystal and me.

The cover announces the price: 75 cents.

I guess that's what they call inflation.