there, there Jack,....

(dramatic sigh)
ya, so Big Sur, changing lives & such. No real talent in writing broke-book reviews, criticism, pish-posh. But deep, meaningful sighs whilst reading this here narrative. Wowsers!

Kerouac
trudges,
trudges,
trudges out into the middle-of-beautiful-no-where, to escape the "whole nerve- racking scene", and write. Oh my, my, the beauty of it all, describing the gut-wrenching pain he's enduring trying to escape the temptations of friends, parasites, and drink. Delirium Tremens sets in like a long winters nap. A pain so intense, just the description of it not wished upon your worst enemy.

Kerouac's journey, like most of his others, entail leaving, staying, coming & going. He leaves the cabin in Bixby Canyon numerous times to pursue the object of his temptations & desires, only to return to the desolate cabin, again searching for some calm & peace in all the madness that his celebrity has brought upon him. Picture a man entering into his later 30's dealing with the all to common "perpetual adolescence" that a young, good-looking, successful writer would experience. (On The Road was written some 7-10 years earlier).

In the end, alcohol ended Kerouac's life at an all too early 47. Many critics & literary wanks overlook Kerouac's later works. Don't know why, Big Sur is a brilliant, honest look at a great American writer during a time in his life when he was searching for reasons behind the loss of his personal dream. Lessons learned, continuing assignments, etc:.....If things don't turn out so well for our heroes, maybe the loss of our dreams will be that much easier to bear.