Review of And the Rivers Thereof: Reflections on Riverine Imagery in the Writing of Jack Kerouac by Gregory Stephenson

 

In the past we have reviewed two different books by Gregory Stephenson: The ragged promised land: Jack Kerouac's America and Is Baseball Holy? Jack Kerouac and the National Pastime. I recommended both and now comes a third recommendation: And the Rivers Thereof: Reflections on Riverine Imagery in the Writing of Jack Kerouac.

As the title suggests, this short piece (44 pages) delves into the actual and metaphorical references to rivers in Jack Kerouac's written works. I had never thought much about this topic, but after reading Stephenson's book, I have a new appreciation for Kerouac's treatment of rivers in his writing.

Stephenson's thesis appears early in the piece:

It is my purpose in the following notes to consider certain of the interpretive dimensions of riverine imagery in Jack Kerouac's writing and to assess the role of rivers in the author's oeuvre. (p. 8)

Of course, references in On The Road are analyzed, but so is imagery found in Jack's August 1950 draft of his most famous novel, titled Gone On The Road. Also represented in Stephenson's work are The Town and the City, Kerouac's journals (e.g., one titled "Rain and Rivers"), Visions of Cody, Book of Sketches, Doctor Sax, Some of the Dharma, Maggie Cassidy, Visions of Gerard, The Dharma Bums, Desolation Angels, Big Sur, pieces from Good Blonde and Others, the introduction Kerouac wrote for Robert Frank's The Americans, short works like "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose" and "Belief & Technique for Modern Prose," and, finally, The Subterraneans.

In each instance above, Stephenson presents Kerouac's own words along with a thoughtful analysis of how the example cited shows how

during more than 20 years of literary writing, Jack Kerouac was repeatedly drawn to riverine imagery as a potent and evocative motif. (p. 41)

Kerouac mentioned many rivers across the above works. I may have missed some but these appear in Stephenson's book: Merrimack, Hudson, Mississippi, Shenandoah, Kanawha, Rio Grande, East River, Red River, Roanoke, Cimarron, Missouri, Fall River, Potomac, Neuse, North River, Wasatch, Yellowstone, Ohio, Orinoco, Ventauri, South Platte, Pajaro, Concord, Skagit, Obi, Amazon, Congo, Ganges, Yangtzes, Plate, Avon, the creek in Bixby Canyon, Guadaloupe, Palajo, Klamath, Columbia, Williamette (pronounced Will am' it - we have friends who live in the area), Snake, Hood, Dalles, Yakima, Madison, Gallatin, Jefferson, Pasco, Rainy, Brazos, Tennessee, Allegheny, and the Mekong.

That's an even 50 rivers by my count. Kerouac mentioning so many rivers in itself supports Stephenson's thesis.

Throughout Stephenson's book, a Kerouac devotee encounters familiar scenarios that become new again because of the emphasis on the river motif. For example, Kerouac's appointed meetings with a girlfriend beneath the clock hanging from the wall of Lowell High School in Maggie Cassidy take on new significance as a counter-example to "the Concord River, which knows another, deeper time" (p. 25). Indeed, in Kerouac's whole approach to prose -- spontaneous prose -- parallels can be seen with the flow of rivers as his sentences, "borne forward by rhythm and sound . . . have their currents and cascades, their rapids and meanders (p. 40). 

I won't take the time to give more examples of Stephenson's analyses, but they're all right on target and well-written. At times I wasn't sure where Kerouac quotes left off and Stephenson's writing began. As Kerouac biographer Gerald Nicosia says in a cover blurb, "the guy can really write." I think you'll find that to be true if you obtain a copy of Stephenson's latest foray into the writings of Jack Kerouac. Plus you'll see Kerouac's writings in a whole new riverine light.