Jack Kerouac's unexpected life

Jack Kerouac - Wiki images

We might imagine Jack Kerouac, leading light of the Beat Generation and author of the iconic book, On the Road, as a peripatetic trailblazer. But in fact, the self-identified Catholic spent more than half his ife in his hometown, living with his mother, writes James Keane in America magazine.

The thread of Jack Kerouac’s literary and personal life in the American imagination might be unwound succinctly in the following terms: ambitious and fun-loving young man leaves behind his small-town upbringing to chase heroes and dreams in the American West, finding along the way new paths to enlightenment while blazing a trail for generations of seekers to follow.

It is a theme familiar to most of us, because more than a few of our favorite novels embrace it. It is also, in the case of Kerouac, almost entirely a fiction.

To read Keane's fascinating article in the latest edition of America magazine, see: http://new.americamagazine.org/issue/beat-attitude