On the Road the Original Scroll, Jack Kerouac
On the Road the Original Scroll, Jack Kerouac
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On the Road: the Original Scroll

Author: Jack Kerouac

Narrator: John Ventimiglia

Unabridged: 12 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 09/05/2007


Synopsis

The legendary 1951 scroll draft of On the Road, published as Kerouac originally composed it
 
“The sparse and unassuming scroll is the living version [of On the Road] for our time. . . . It is a dazzling piece of writing.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
During three weeks in 1951, Jack Kerouac wrote the first draft of On the Road—typed as a long, single-spaced paragraph on eight sheets of tracing paper, which he taped together to form a scroll. Representing the identifiable point at which his vision and narrative voice first came together in a sustained burst of creative energy, the scroll is the “uncut” version of Kerouac’s masterpiece—rougher, wilder, and more sexually explicit than the edited work that appeared in 1957. On the Road: The Original Scroll is Kerouac’s signature achievement—and one of the most significant, celebrated, and provocative documents in American literary history.
 
Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About The Author

Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1922, the youngest of three children in a Franco-American family. He attended local Catholic and public schools and won a scholarship to Columbia University in New York City, where he first met Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs. His first novel, The Town and the City, appeared in 1950, but it was On the Road, published in 1957 and memorializing his adventures with Neal Cassady, that epitomized to the world what became known as the “Beat generation” and made Kerouac one of the most best-known writers of his time. Publication of many other books followed, among them The Dharma Bums, The Subterraneans, and Big Sur. Kerouac considered all of his autobiographical fiction to be part of “one vast book,” The Duluoz Legend. He died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1969, at the age of forty-seven.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Alice on February 14, 2009

I've been meaning to review this book for a while, but I get sort of emotional reading what other people think about Kerouac, and it has been hard to figure out what I want to say. I feel almost personally insulted by some of the more negative reviews which is totally weird and inappropriate of me.......more

Goodreads review by Beth on April 25, 2012

I felt hungover by the time I was done reading this book. I couldn't wait for it to end and it's not because I wanted to find out what was going to happen. While there are a few great lines like, "My mother once said that the world would never find peace unless men fell at their women's feet and aske......more

Goodreads review by P.E. on April 08, 2020

Finished in the original. Matching Soundtrack : Jubilee Stomb - Duke Ellington I find Jack Kerouac's spontaneous prose up to the task. On the other hand, the five "books" are really uneven, which can somewhat drag you down, however it bears credit to the extensive use of spontaneous prose throughout :......more

Goodreads review by Tosh on October 10, 2007

Five stars is not enough for this book: it should be ten stars! This is a very beautiful book and rightfully an American classic. Stunning! "On The Road" is the real deal. I just started reading this and it's just a fantastic read. The energy just pops out of the page. The punk rock of novels. Mr. Ja......more

Goodreads review by Žilvinas on October 11, 2021

1951 m Balandžio 2 dieną Jack Kerouac į spausdinimo mašinėlę sugrūdo 36m ilgio ritinį ( Aleno Ginsbergo sumanymas) , per tris savaites , bibopo , benzedrino ir kavos pagalba parašė „Kelyje“ Knygą. Bet apie tai nesiplėsiu , kadangi vertėja Irena Balčiūnienė viską labai gražiai aprašė šios Knygos įžan......more