Gifford, Barry; Lee, Lawrence (Kerouac, Jack)

Jack's Book: An Oral Biography of Jack Kerouac

ISBN: 0312439423
New York, NY, USA: St. Martin's Press, 1978. First Edition. Hardcover. “To the rebels and drop-outs who crowned him “the King of the Beats,” Jack Keroac’s eighteen novels and memoirs were the testament of a generation in search of a patron saint; the author himself, however, regarded them as integral pacers of “one vast book” teeming with people he actually met during the course of his spiritual odyssey through mid-century America.” (from front flap) Presented here is 1978’s “Jack’s Book: An Oral Biography of Jack Kerouac,” an incredibly interesting but oft-overlooked contribution to the canon of Kerouac scholarship. Perhaps this is because it’s easy to assume from the title that it will lack in the structure and organization required of great biography; that it will be merely a disconnected assembly of anecdotes—the biographical equivalent of a hairnet lunch lady remorselessly ladling prison slop onto the pages. The facts of the matter could not be any more different; the composition alone is unique, as it’s divided into six primary sections (“The Town”; “The City”; “The Road”; “The City Revisited”; “Big Sur”; “A Gloomy Bookmovie”) and the sort of explanatory hand-holding native to detail-laden biography is woven throughout the text—they don’t just drop you off in Anecdote Land and expect you to figure it out. These six sections are rounded out by an informative, if biting Prologue which precedes them and followed by an “Epilogue” (which isn’t actually an epilogue but a set of “Last Words on the Subject”-of sorts from a few of the interviewees Gifford & Lee consulted while creating “Jack’s Book”). In the Prologue, Gifford & Lee stake out a position in direct opposition to the one established in John Tytell’s 1976 masterwork “Naked Angles: The Lives and Literature of the Beat Generation” (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1976). Tytell, for his part, does much to prove that The Beat Generation was, in fact, a “generation:” that the subject matter and emotions represented by characters and narrators which populate Beat novels and poetry did in fact match the energies of the cultural zeitgeist. In contrast, Gifford & Lee go as far as to proclaim that there is no such thing as The Beat Generation—that any use of the term as it pertains to sociological observations, cultural currents, or the milieu in which Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, & William S. Burroughs lived and worked is invalid. They claim the only valid use of the term is in relation to the writing, philosophy, and creative or intellectual products of Ginsberg, Kerouac & Burroughs. We’re not sure if Gifford & Lee ever expounded upon this thesis more fully, but the reader of Jack’s Book will be happy that they didn’t here—because this book is an Emperor’s Buffet of Anecdotes. The interviewees range from every period of Jack’s life, from high school girlfriends like Mary Carney to key associates that personally witnessed and aided his literary-philosophical development (John Clellon Holmes, Lucien Carr, etc.)—and of course, we mustn’t forget to include the invaluable additions to the book provided by those who Gifford & Lee claim to be his only equals: Allen Ginsberg and the great William S. Burroughs. The recollections of Carolyn Cassady & Luanne Henderson are also a fun, Page Six-gossipy touch—by turns cringing and laughing at the adolescent instability of these Men of Genius. The final distinguishing feature of “Jack’s Book” is the “Character Key to the Duluoz Legend” supplied at the back of the book—an indispensable resource for the Beat scholar as they probe the life, work, and “lonely victory” of Jack Kerouac. This book is also featured in another listing as part of a bundle (see our item #4572)! Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket: First Edition & First Printing though neither are explicated at copyright page. Book is in Very Fine condition with minor fading along edges of front and back bookboards, minor creasing/bumping at lower left corner of back cover. Some brown spotting on top of page block. Dust jacket is Very Fine with minor scratching & rubbing, and a minor crease near spine of front cover. Minor scratching & rubbing, and minor crease at lower left corner of back cover. Very minor bumping at top and bottom of spine. Minor signs of rubbing along edges of back flap. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #6568]

Price: $70.00