The fourth in the on-going series of posthumous Jack Kerouac books, published by Rare Bird Books in conjunction with the Kerouac Estate – The Buddhist Years – Collected Writings
(edited by Charles Shuttleworth), was recently announced.
See Dalya Alberge’s sneak preview of it in last Sunday’s Observer – here
(The previous titles, Desolation Peak , Self Portrait and Truth and Beautiful Meaningful Lies
(a collection of Kerouac quotations), have been elsewhere noted
– here on The Allen Ginsberg Project – (see here, here and here))
From Rare Bird, the publishers’ announcement:
“From a young age Kerouac was a spiritual thinker and questioner, and he always considered himself a spiritual writer. Buddhism gave more meaning to Jack’s work as a writer – he was working not for personal accomplishment and glory but for human betterment. And Buddhism justified his lifestyle – with its vision of the material world as empty and illusory, he was free to do what he wanted.”
and it goes on:
“This collection shows Jack at his earnest, soulful best. The writing is consistently and wonderfully Kerouacian: it is honest, reflective, heartfelt, and revealing, with great characterizations amid his self-exploration as he wrestles with his consciousness, desperate for belief.”
Alberge gives an indication, quoting this little snippet (from an untitled piece):
“I was born into the fault sour sea of suffering at five o’clock in the afternoon when the sun was blood red on the rooftops of Centralville, March, snow thawing, whoever I was, coming prepared and freighted with brain body, moist eyeballs fresh for sight, mouth & nose, & butter flesh made to melt in the transient forge of life time, and family name, Kerouac, and equipment for defense, aggression, withdrawal, & grave, wondering instantly on sight of the grainy makeup of the portals of the world: why? WHY is the only question.”
The book, scheduled for publication, March 25th, consists, we’re told, of “about 30 semi-autobiographical spiritual and soulful stories, musings and poems…. All but two short snippets are previously unpublished.”
“This is a trove of fascinating material that takes readers ever deeper into Kerouac’s psyche”, , the publishers write, “all written in his free-flowing, expressive style… The writing is earnest and full of yearning – desires for understanding and transcendence, his wish to be a better person.”
Shuttleworth notes that “When he (Jack) talked about Buddhism” (back in the early ‘Fifties), “few people listened” – (Allen listened to him and was profoundly influenced by him) – but “the irony (was) that, in the long term… he was unable to live up to Buddhist precepts, (he) re-embraced Christianity, and died alcoholic.”
Jack – the focus is on Jack now – Jack in 2025. We noted a couple of weeks back the newly-released volume of Kerouac studies, Rethinking Kerouac: Afterlives, Continuities, Reappraisals, edited by Erik Mortenson and Tomasz Sawczuk. The two editors are interviewed this week in Simon Warner’s Rock and The Beat Generation
SW: Is Kerouac’s reputation secure in 2025?
EM & TS: This is a tricky one, but we believe it is. Kerouac’s work certainly raises problems in terms of its misogyny and occasional naïve racism. As critics, we would do well to meet these issues head on, as such criticism is indeed legitimate, and ignoring these fraught issues is not a long-term solution.
But we think it is also true that Kerouac will always appeal to readers looking for innovative work that questions the status quo. Kerouac offers a rawness and soulful vulnerability. Readers are invited to grapple with the full weight of his complexities, as a sort of Rorschach test, offering an opportunity to self-reflect and see what exactly Kerouac’s work means to them today. We believe he will be continually rediscovered, which means his work will live on, as long as there are discontented young readers out there. Thus, his work should remain relevant for some time to come!”
Did you know Kerouac visited London in April of ’57, writing about it in Lonesome Traveler – (“Paris is a woman but London is an independent man puffing his pipe in a pub”)? – John Rogers follows his steps in this informative video.
““Thou Shalt Not Howl” – Allen Ginsberg and Kenneth Rexroth” – Announcing another of those invaluable in-depth examinations by David S Wills. If his magazine (and publishing house), Beatdom, hadn’t already proved itself over the years to be an essential resource
(and it most certainly has), there’s now this – and the repository for analysis like this –
the Beatdom Sub-stack
“This essay”, Wills writes,” will look at these two poems (Rexroth’s “Thou Shalt Not Kill” and Ginsberg’s “Howl”), and highlight a few connections, showing that Ginsberg clearly borrowed something from it even though – for many years, at least – he did not acknowledge having done so. It will then look at Ginsberg’s changing stance on this issue.”
“..A part of me wonders if (he) felt some degree of guilt for having used Rexroth’s work without attribution. In the mid-fifties, he was consuming a vast amount of poetry and studying it intently. He was borrowing from various sources, constantly trying to create his own voice. Had he perhaps realised at some point that he had taken a little more from Rexroth than he should have done? Had he perhaps felt that the “Moloch” connection was too obvious?…”
“…All artists take influence from other artists and from the world around them, with the best of them using a wide range of sources, melding it with their own life, and producing something new. Ginsberg made something entirely original with “Howl” and he was quite open about having taken inspiration and borrowed ideas from a great many sources. It is a shame that he did not credit Rexroth but then I don’t think he took much more than a few words and points of reference from the older poet’s work..”
& speaking of magpie intelligence…
Last week’s Bob Dylan auction. Well, of course the items sold for considerably more than expected. His hand-written note on Allen (estimated price $800-$1200) sold for $25,400! The fragmented letter to Ferlinghetti (also featured here last week) (estimated price between $1000 and $1500) made $3900