Today I bought a cheap spiral bound notebook (80 pages) that is flexible and light enough to carry with me all the time, just like Jack Kerouac did. That way, when the muse strikes, I am ready. I'm already in the habit of never going anywhere without a pen, so this is just the next logical step. I'm never far from my planner/journal, but there are plenty of times when I wish I had a way to write down a particularly good phrase and, while I have a pen, I don't have paper at my fingertips. Now I will.
carried these again in my backpack...and pocket (in high school...i drew also... before ever hearing of Kerouac. of course, right? just like 'the road' hitched 5000 miles before the name KEROUAC was shone to me.
ReplyDeleteso... i see jack differently.
just got in the habit of carrying these around with me too. I'm reading Kerouac's Book of Sketches and already read Book of Haikus—all of these were written in little pocket notebooks
ReplyDeleteI once saw a picture of one of his notebooks where he makes a list of all the books in the "Duluoz Legend" - he lists Visions of Gerard, Doctor Sax, Maggie Cassidy, On the Road, Visions of Cody, "Railroad Earth," The Subterraneans, Dharma Bums, Desolation Angels, Tristessa, Book of Dreams and Lonesome Traveler as already written. He also lists five books he will write "later:" Memory Babe (unfinished, published in Unknown Kerouac), Vanity of Duluoz, Visions of Julien (probably eventually published as the last part of Vanity of Duluoz), a novel whose title I can't decipher and a "Hollywood Novel" covering the year 1959 (probably about the adaptation of The Subterraneans in a horrible movie). It doesn't look like a hoax, but I'm wondering if the last two books ever made it into any of his other works. I have read very few of his posthumous publications so that is why I am asking you.
ReplyDeleteAndy, I don't know the answer to your question, but it would be a good one for the Jack Kerouac Facebook group! Someone there probably knows right off the top of their head. If you're not a member and want me to post it, let me know....Rick
ReplyDelete