3 Kerouac-related events happened on this date

 

Gore Vidal, Elise Cowen, and Ruth Weiss (L-R)

Writer and bon vivant Gore Vidal died on this date -- July 31-- in 2012, Beat poet Elise Cowen was born on this date in 1933, and Beat poet Ruth Weiss (<---link includes details on how Jack Kerouac and Ms. Weiss met) died on this date in 2020. Vidal appeared in Kerouac's The Subterraneans as Arial Lavalina and in Old Angel Midnight as Gore Bedavalled. Cowen appeared as Barbara Lipp in Desolation Angels. I could not verify that Weiss appeared in any of Kerouac's works.

One can read various versions of Kerouac's and Vidal's alleged sexual liaison at the Chelsea Hotel in 1953 in NYC. Something happened that night, but it's unclear to me whether it was full-on sex, just oral sex, or a failed attempt at intercourse (in Memory Babe, Kerouac biographer Gerald Nicosia states that Jack proved impotent during that hook-up). More on this encounter can be found HERE.

Given my personal history with depression, I should note here that Cowen ended her own life (not dissimilarly to Natalie Jackson) by throwing herself out of her parents' 7th floor window. Tragically, the bulk of her work was discarded after she took her own life (click HERE).

If you are thinking about suicide or just need someone to talk to about emotional distress in your life, you can text Crisis Text Line at 741741 or call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. And please share these resources with friends who seem at risk.

RIP, Mr.* Vidal and Ms.* Weiss, and Happy Birthday, Ms.* Cowen.



*These are guesses at preferred salutations. If I'm wrong, let me know.