On The Road

"If you're working with words, it's got to be poetry. I grew up with [the books of Jack] Kerouac. If he hadn't wrote On The Road, the Doors would have never existed. Morrison read On The Road down in Florida, and I read it in Chicago. That sense of freedom, spirituality, and intellectuality in On The Road-that's what I wanted in my own work."

 

read Allen Ginsberg's Howl
Kerouac's The Dharma Bums
Di Prima's, Snyders, Kyger's poems and ramblings

i'm leaving on a road trip in 2 1/2 weeks and am taking on the road as well as mecixo city blues (recommended to me by an older writer friend, cause i haven't read it)...

all books are entirely personal and dependent (like drugs) on state of mind, location, and emotion. read them all i say. read everything you can get your hands on.

 

richard brautigan,
diane de prima
gary synder
allen ginsberg
mark twain is quite 'beaty'
kerouac's visions of cody, maggie cassidy and big sur
lawrence ferlinghetti
ken kesey

these are all great writers,

i love them all
peace
zenry

 

I have to agree with PressedRat. I liked On the Road, but Dharma Bums changed my life. Read Memoirs of a Beatnik by DiPrima to get the perspective of a woman living in the beat scene. Naked Lunch is great...I think you'll enjoy it, although its kind of hard to follow at first. Kerouac's Subterraneans is definitely worthwhile too.

xoxo
cortnee

 

i thought that on the road was genious. kerouac's way of so vividly describing everything in great deatail-but catching the whole escence of it all without it being tedious, i thought it was brilliant. but cassady is what really makes it for me. i love that, how he is just continuously going. you can like get high off this guy almost.

another book that i just finished reading today, and loved was the electric kool-aid acid test by tom wolfe. that was just amazing. the whole prankster life style. it was the perfect world almost. never ceases to amaze me.

 

I'm reading On the Road right now. I love the way Kerouac writes. It's a great read--makes me want to get up & hitchhike!

 

If anyone is interested in reading On the Road, you can do so here:

http://terebess.hu/english/kerouac.html

It also has alot of his poems posted.

 

Totally agree

The Dharma Bums is better, haven't read any of his other stuff.

 

I presume alot of people here have read it, I had it on my 'to read list' for years but only ended up reading it lately, it's a great book, it's a manifesto for travel and to see what goes on away from your humble abode and your town. Go forth as it were and as Dean would've said himself "dig" everything! What did other people make of it?

 

i liked the book for the most part... but i remember occasionally saying to myself "is this ever going to end?" some portions just werent that interesting, but then again there are other portions that were both compelling and amazing..

 

...........................Hi.I am coming....
nice to see everyone here

 

I could never quite get into On The Road, on the other hand the Dharma Bums is a fantastic book.

 

it was a rather interesting book.. an unique concept that i enjoyed, but i did at times get bored.. but in the end, i think i would read that book over again.. definitely an interesting and not too shabby book..

 

I never found it boring, I coulldn't put it down, leant it to a mate to read and when I get it back I'm gonna read it again.

 

I'm with Dylanzepplin on this one

Much prefer the Dharma Bums.

 

EDIT: Merged Threads.

Search the forum before posting...PLEASE.

http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6086

http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55255

http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30762

 

I'm currently reading On The Road, and I have to shout it out to every freakin person here...IT IS AWESOME! I mean i read Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenence, (also awesome!), but it was much more cerebral and less frantic. It took me no less than 6 months to complete. On The Road however grabs you from page one, rocketing you from coast to coast of the U.S. through the mind of Sal Paradise (Kerouac's pseudonym) and his friend Dean Moriarty(Neal Cassady).
I carry the book under my arm as if it were the Bible, and in some ways, this book has had a far greater affect on me than the other. I find myself almost preaching the concepts of this novel to non-hippies. At some point in the future, (I don't know when hopefuly soon) i'm definitley going to take a similar trip across the continent. I was curious,has anyone else taken such trips? What was it like?,what advice should I know? Most important, is anyone planning such a trip, if so where?

 

I always liked Dharma Bums more than On the Road. In fact, I read it again on a hiking trip last summer...just has more staying power for me...

The question remains, is it really true that you can't fall down a mountain? I just remember him writing something about how you can skip down a mountain, but can never actually fall....hmm, maybe not ;p I don't remember..

-M

 

I'm reading Dharma Bums right now, and I honestly feel that it's much more lucid and reflective than OTR.