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| Alan Harrington (L) and Lew Welch (R) |
Today is a "two-fer" date in history regarding Jack Kerouac. On this date, May 23, novelist Alan Harrington died in 1997; also on this date, in 1971, poet Lew Welch left a suicide note at Gary Snyder's house and walked into the California mountains never to be heard from again. Harrington and Welch appeared in several Kerouac works (Source: Character Key to Jack Kerouac's Duluoz Legend):
Alan Harrington
Kerouac Work Character Name
On The Road Hal Hingham
Book of Dreams Early Wallington
Book of Dreams (expanded edition) Worthington
Lew Welch
Kerouac Work Character Name
Big Sur Dave Wain
Alan Harrington, a young writer on the periphery of the Beat group, introduced Kerouac to John Clellon Holmes at a party in 1948, an obviously important event.
On their road trip from Louisiana to California memorialized in On The Road, Jack & Neal Cassady & LuAnne Henderson visited Harrington in Tucson, AZ in January 1949; Neal flew into a rage when Harrington kissed LuAnne and insisted they leave, borrowing $5 for gas to get as far as Bakersfield, CA (Source: Gerald Nicosia's Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac).
In a letter to Harrington on April 23, 1949, Kerouac said:
I am no longer "beat," I have money, a career. I am more alone than when I lurked on Times Square at 4 A.M., or hitch-hiked penniless down the highways of the night. (Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters 1940-1956, p. 188)
Alan Harrington, Lew Welch, and Jack Kerouac -- connected for eternity. Who knew?
I just purchased a chap book by John Clellon Holmes called, Visitor : Jack Kerouac in Old Saybrook. It has a signed dedication inside - "For Al - whose interest in Jack brought us all together". I was researching, hoping the Al would turn out to be Ginsberg, but this is almost as good. I don't think think the seller realized the significance of the Al. I have got myself a lovely little piece of Beat history. Thank you for leading me down the right path.
ReplyDeleteI have just purchased a little chap book by John Clellon Holmes called, Visitor : Jack Kerouac at Old Saybrook. It has a signed dedication inside, For Al whose interest in Jack brought us all together. I was doing a little research hoping the Al would turn out to be Ginsberg, but this is almost as good. Thanks for solving this little mystery for me. I think I have a nice little piece of Beat history in my hands.
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