Hunt, Tim (Kerouac, Jack)

Kerouac's Crooked Road: The Development of a Fiction

ISBN: 0520207564
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996. First Softcover Edition. Softcover. "Tim Hunt's study of Jack Kerouac's writing is the first, best - and only indispensible - guide that explains this American author's achievement as an important and original prose stylist..." (Ann Charters, Foreword, pg ix). First published in 1981 & now a classic, Kerouac’s Crooked Road by American author Tim Hunt, was one of the first critical works on the legendary Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) to analyze his work as serious literary art, placing it in the broader American literary tradition with canonical writers like Herman Melville (1819-1891) and Mark Twain (1835-1910). Hunt explores Kerouac’s creative process and puts his work in conversation with classic American literature and with critical theory. Hunt moves beyond the mythos surrounding the “spontaneous creation” of On the Road, which upholds Kerouac’s reputation as a cultural icon, to look more closely at an innovative writer who wanted to bridge the gap between the luscious, talk-filled world of real life and the sterilized version of that world circumscribed by overly intellectualized, literary texts, through the use of written language driven by effusive passion rather than sober reflection. With close, erudite readings of Kerouac’s major and minor works, from On the Road (See Item No.s 3337, 4712 & 8334) to Visions of Cody (See Item No. 3405). Hunt draws on Kerouac’s letters, novels, poetry, and experimental drafts to position Kerouac in both historical and literary contexts, emphasizing the influence of writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Virginia Wolfe (1882-1941), and Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) on his provocative work. With a foreword by fellow Kerouac biographer & Beat Generation aficianado Ann Charters (b. 1936). From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK who managed the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England for founder Bill Butler (1934-1977, the famed American-expatriate bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see for example our Item No.s 8217 & 8366). After prevailing against censorious harassment efforts, Unicorn closed & Butler died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been honored to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining treasures of Unicorn & Public House, some of which have become the stuff of myth. Trade-Format Softcover: First Softcover Edition, first paperback printing per copyright page. A most crucial & collectible Kerouac biography with utmost relevant association & very distinguished provenance. In relatively fine-to-very fine condition with mild rubbing & scratching to front, back covers & spine; very slight wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; mild-to-moderate age-toning to edges of text block; an occasion of spot-staining to side of same; Interior fine-to-very fine with mild-to-moderate age-toning mostly to blank margins & fine edges of page leaves. Fine-Very Fine. [Item #8644]

Price: $40.00