605 pages
English language
Published Nov. 7, 1979 by Penguin Books.
3 stars
(13 reviews)
Described as everything from a "last gasp" of romantic fiction to a founding text of the Beat Generation movement, this story amounts to a nonfiction novel (as critics were later to describe some works). Unpublished writer buddies wander from coast to coast in search of whatever they find, eager for experience. Kerouac's spokesman is Sal Paradise (himself) and real-life friend Neal Casady appears as Dean Moriarty.
Subjects
- Kerouac, Jack, 1922-1969
- Autobiographical fiction, American -- History and criticism
- Beat generation in literature
- Beat generation -- Fiction