Jack. Vita e leggenda di Kerouac

by Tom Clark, Claudia Molinari (Translator)

All the components of the Jack Kerouac legend are here: the excesses of alcohol and drugs; the soul-searching; the characters - Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Lucien Carr, John Clellon Holmes and William Burroughs, Jack's mother, Gabrielle, and the other women in Kerouac's life. There is also a record of the travels that became the basis for On the Road and Visions of Cody, the death-shrouded childhood that became Mexico City Blues and Tristessa, and the stupor of fame that weighed on him as he tried to articulate his torments in Big Sur.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

233 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Clark was an American poet, editor and biographer. Clark was educated at the University of Michigan and served as poetry editor of "The Paris Review" from 1963 to 1973 and published numerous volumes of poetry with Black Sparrow Press. His literary essays and reviews have appeared in "The New York Times," "Times Literary Supplement," and many other journals.

Reviews

[Mat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice short biography on Kerouac which gives you the 'highlights' of his meteoric ascent to fame and headlong plunge into oblivion. This is the second biography I have read on Kerouac, the other one being Memory Babe by Gerald Nicosia. Memory Babe is obviously much more thoroughly researched but it is almost too much in depth.
Jack Kerouac: A Biography by Tom Clark was in some ways a more interesting read and it is very engaging.
Like Carolyn Cassady, I couldn't put this book down. It just flowed marvelously and Clark's prose is very, very easy to read. The final poem of Clark's at the conclusion of the novel is a nice 'ode' to Jack as well I thought.

Now why did I only give this three stars? Well, for a few reasons, some of which may be unfair. You be the judge. There are a few things that Clark says in the book which conflict with what other biographers have said. I'm not sure whether he is right or wrong. Just to give you a few examples...

1) Clark like some other writers claims that Kerouac wrote the On the Road scroll (Viking) on benzedrine and coffee. However, in the 2007 release of the The Scroll, one of the introductory authors says that the benzedrine story is a myth and that Kerouac composed the mammoth manuscript only on coffee. Not sure who is right here but someone has to get their story straight.
2) Clark says that Atop an Underwood remains unpublished! Maybe at the time he wrote the first version of the book, it was still unpublished. Hopefully he corrects this in his later version. I'll have to read the 2001 version to find out.
3) This book like Nicosia's book is in bad need of some updating. As all you Kerouackians out there may know, there have been a slew of Kerouac releases in the past few years including the publication of the 1) On the Road Scroll, 2) Atop an Underwood (a while ago now), 3) Orpheus Emerged (arguably not one of Jack's great early attempts at writing but something which should at least by analyzed in a biography), 4) The Beat Generation play (very briefly mentioned in this book in reference to the final act which was used for the film Pull My Daisy) and most importantly the most recent release from the Kerouac vaults - 5) The Sea is My Brother (briefly mentioned in this book once again but the contents of the novel itself are not analyzed in depth because it was found by Jack's nephew only a few years ago). Therefore, if Clark does his homework and adds an analysis of recent publications to this book (not sure how much the 2001 edition adds to the original) and sorts out some of the conflicting stories, then we would have a great biography. He could also perform an in-depth analysis of Jack's part in And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks now that that has seen the light of day too.

There were other somewhat minor details which Clark either deliberately or accidentally left out of this book, some of which to my mind are important and should be included. For example, according to Nicosia, Jack was severely beaten up in an all-African American bar shortly before his death which could have accelerated his demise even though cirrhosis of the liver was the definitive cause of death.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable read and for those of you who want to have a basic idea of who Kerouac was as a man and more importantly as an artist, then I highly recommend this book. However, if you are a Kerouac fanatic like me, then I recommend Nicosia's book, Memory Babe, or perhaps Ann Charters' original biography on the man which I hope to read this summer. Thanks once again to Temple University Japan Library for lending me this book!

[Craig Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

2022 is the year of Jack Kerouac’s centenary and we will mark that day on March 12, which also happens to be my birthday. In my fifth year of university after I had obtained my degrees I went back for only four translation courses. My workload was low, so in between my morning and evening classes I had hours of free time. I hung around downtown Toronto and spent that time with two particular friends. These were two men who were older than me. In hindsight they were my mentors whom I idolized–one an owner of a second-hand record store, the other one owned a vintage clothing shop–and they taught me about style, art and literature. Their personal libraries included works by Kerouac and William S. Burroughs and I discovered the Beats through them, as well as the fashions of the period. Thirty years ago I hung around Queen Street West, where Herman’s shop was, and dressed in black, sunglasses, a goatee and beret. I ran into a high school friend on Queen who couldn’t believe the beatnik change in me. From Bert and Herman I expanded my mind not through drugs but through books, and read many novels by Kerouac and Burroughs, including the beat oeuvres On the Road and Naked Lunch. Now that three decades of my life have passed since I read each author’s signature work, I should take the opportunity to read those two books again. As I mark the centenary of one of my literary heroes, I will embark on reading the books that I have in my collection that are either by Kerouac or about him that are heretofore unread.

Jack Kerouac: A Biography by Tom Clark was written in 1984 yet this is a 1990 edition which I likely bought that year. It was a short work of 222 pages, padded generously with photos and supplemented by extensive endnotes and a bibliography. Unlike Jack’s Book, which was told in interview segments by those who knew Kerouac personally, Clark relied on the author’s own words in interviews or from his own novels, as well as by interviews with other people. For such a brief book Clark certainly covered Kerouac’s early years thoroughly. I don’t recall reading elsewhere about the countless times he and his family moved house. They did so as Leo Kerouac, Jack’s father, travelled in search of work. Perhaps these constant upheavals led to a sense of groundlessness, where young Ti Jean and family never stayed anywhere long enough to grow roots. Right up until he remarried for the third time in 1966, Jack, his wife Stella, and his mother were always on the move. I can imagine that a Kerouac pilgrimage to all the houses he lived in would be an endless journey, on the road indeed.

Clark covered the trouble Kerouac had in first getting published, which continued with all of his subsequent novels. Even On the Road was rejected multiple times. Aside from that, the quintessential beat novel, Kerouac was not a critical success, and publishers didn’t like his follow-up works. This frustrated him, and Clark detailed the long string of agents and publishers who passed on his work. Kerouac was not considered a literary legend when he died.

Kerouac had a voracious appetite for literature and read constantly. As a young adult riding the rails or trying to find work aboard ships, he always had a stack of books with him. I admired his ability to quote the classics and adapt what he read into his own life. On multiple occasions I had to consult a dictionary for definitions of words he had used, such as incunabular and concupiscence.

Kerouac was not comfortable being in the public eye. He drank in advance of audience appearances, whether giving readings live or for television. The sixties were a decade-long drunken stupor, and the book’s accompanying photos are full of later shots of an overweight, unkempt Kerouac. This is the Kerouac I cannot identify with. While we were both diarists insistent on recording the truth, I don’t drown my insecurities in drink or drugs. This is what killed him in 1969. It is tragic to consider that Kerouac’s mother Gabrielle outlived all her three children.

In spite of the small type and the page numbers which I found difficult to decipher (as I could not easily tell what the numbers even were; only the 7’s seemed immediately recognizable) Clark wrote a biography that I raced through. Solid bricks of text in tiny font were broken by photo inserts which were always placed exactly where the author had just written about them. I would recommend this book as a first Kerouac biography. I have two others, each much longer than this one, that I will finally get around to reading after having them for over thirty years.

[Monica. A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biografia essenziale, ripulita da tutte le fonti non dichiarabili e poco vertiere.
Tutto il libro verte intorno alla visione che lo scrittore ha dato di se stesso, basti vedere le numerose citazioni dai suoi romanzi.
Pochi fatti inventati dunque, quasi la verità, forse.
Ne emerge il ritratto di un uomo solo sempre all'inseguimento di un sogno: quello di potersi circondare dalle sole persone che ama e riuscire un giorno a conciliare il suo amore ossessivo per la madre a quello per gli amici che stimolano il suo bisogno di indipendenza. Da qui l'utopico progetto di una casa comune, purtroppo mai realizzato Un posto visto come rifugio dal mondo, dove poter vivere in armonia e poter essere se stesso.
L'uomo perseguitato dallo scrittore è costretto a soccombere, l'immagine pubblica ha la meglio su quella privata. Ti Jean lascia che sia Jack Kerouac a parlare e a vivere per lui, con inerzia decide di stare a guardare quel che succede al suo personaggio, quel che ne fa la stampa; forse ignorando che l'uomo dietro quella maschera avrebbe inevitabilmente perduto la sua inutile battaglia.
Quando poi assistere impassibile al progredire degli eventi diventa insopportabile è l'alcol l'unco "amico" a tendergli una mano e ad aiutarlo a mantenere intatta la facciata creata per lui e a comdurlo verso la morte. Una morte forse non più temuta a questo punto, ma vista come unica fonte di salvezza all'incapacità di vivere la vita voluta dagli altri.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but detailed. Informative.

[Dan Citrenbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography was excellent! It told Kerouac's story without sentimentalism or judgment. Simply clear information on the man's life.
"On the Road" is my favorite book. I've read that several times, but I understand it much better after reading this biography. I never knew that "On the Road" was so highly autobiographical. Tom Clark's description of that time in Kerouac's life reads as if it is simply the novel reworded. Including many (most?) of the individual stories. Evidently, even the part of the novel where Sal meets Terry is from real life!
As the biography goes on, and Kerouac gets older, his story gets sadder. If I hadn't already known a bit about Kerouac's later years, his alcoholism, and his death, reading those parts would have been very disheartening.
This was an informative, clear, informational book. It makes me want to read biographies of William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.

[Jose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good if sad read a bit infuriating at times, informative probably too much . I do not like the author or sources putting down Kerouac in his Catholic faith or subtle overtones of that, nor ginsberg or others who have hijacked this great Man's ideas and morphed them into Leftism far from what he ever was as pointed out in the book nor do I care for the authors plug of himself and poem at the end of the book or the flawed analysis or implication of him being a Mother's boy which nothing is wrong with. The Man was flawed but interesting and probably one of our if not the best writer We have had.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read simultaneously with On The Road, I found Kerouac to be a sympathetic character who was the victim of his own choices, enabled by his mother who refused to relinquish her clutches, and “friends” who constantly steered him towards his tragic end with alcohol. Still, he provided a unique perspective on society in his time — many aspects of which he strongly disagreed, contrary to many of his short-sighted critics (some seemingly blinded by jealousy). A well-written biography on a complex author.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard to read this adequate and thorough biography of Jack Kerouac, only because the subject’s life of seeking was was filled with so many unfulfilling dead ends. This is the sad story of a lost soul who never found himself. A question that lingers: did Kerouac’s ambitions exceed his talents? May he Rest In Peace.

[Marco Svevo · Rating 3 out of 5]

"la solitudine gli aveva insegnato soltanto lezioni che non voleva imparare".

il libro pullula di refusi ed inesattezze.

"sebbene scrivesse che l'alcolismo era l'unica malattia felice...c'era ben poca felicità".

La parte meno interessante, almeno per me, è stata quella dell'infanzia di Jack.
A vederlo si sarebbe detto un "bellissimo giovanotto".

[Cheyenne · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was informative and well-written. I liked the dynamic evaluation of his life.

[Pat Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been fascinated by Kerouac, the Beats, and Cassady since 1970. This was a pretty good history. The writing didn't flow all that great but if you are interested in Kerouac this will do.