Some Of the Dharma

[e_dog]

you cannot possibly have read every word Jack had written since he reportedly burned some of his papers in a fit of glee?/depression? writerly-ness.


unless of course all the words contained in those burned pages where contained elsewhere in his work? how would we know? did he ever use the word kumquat? or Sasquatch?


on the Colbert Report they recently observed that the dictionary contains all the words of Ullyses and Paradise Lost (and more) except arranged in alphabetical order.


Jack's misogyny and latter patriotism were ploys to make us realize he was human and to force us to asert our own respect for females and dislike of militarism all the more strongly. Jack Kerouac is faultless, like Jesus; even his flaws are virtuous in time.

[stilltrucking]

No firsty, I am not saying he was a misogynist. He loved women, he was just dumb about them. They were shadow creatures for him. I see the mote in his eye because of the beam in my own.
Can anyone quote me a passage from any of his novels about a woman who was not a real gone chick, a party doll, or a bitch? Did he ever have any passages in his novels where he talkied to a woman on the same things he talked to his men friends about? Time, life, death, Zen, music, art, anything besides come on fuck me babe. Or maybe that is all there is to say to a woman.
Anne Charters said he was a gentleman. She only had to tell him no twice.

[Artguy]

Hey dog...think ya know what I mean ...nobody can read what ain't there....." believe none of what you hear....half of what you read....and all of what you see...and you will only be half wrong...."

[e_dog]

who said that quote?

have you really read the entire Kerouac corpus? that's impressive. what are the highlights for you?

i know you dig Some of the Dharma. I heard there's a planned expanded edition coming out some time soon, which includes the unfinished sequel; it's called: Some of the Dharma and Greg.

[Artguy]

I don't know the origin but my dad use to say to me often....and yes I've read it all novels...pomes ...letters......articles....dreams...

[stilltrucking]

“Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see."
(Benjamin Franklin)

"I saw what I saw when I saw it."
(Abbott et Costello contre Frankenstein)

I don't believe all of what I see anymore.

I have only read a couple of his novels.

I read his Elements of Spontaneous Prose over and over.

[firsty]

i agree with artguy. there are some of j's words that i havent read. in fact, i saw a new book at the bookstore a few weeks ago, transcribed directly from notebooks. so, more to buy. but i dont think he's appreciated as much as he should be. i'm re-reading "visions of cody" now and it's simply amazing. i do think the alcohol changed his writing. but i still loved big sur. i dont think it ruined his writing, but it changed it and it made it less broadly appealing. but in "cody," moreso than "on the road," you can see his classical training and skills alongside his amazing vision and inspirations. of course, just my opinion. i understand he's not everyone's cup of tea. but i do think he's highly worthy of, for instance, scholarly study. his style is amazing.

[stilltrucking]

but i do think he's highly worthy of, for instance, scholarly study. his style is amazing.

Who said he was not worthy of study or that his style was not amazing?

I only mentioned that his treatment of women in his novels (the few I have read) seemed shallow to me. I would like to stand corrected.

[e_dog]

Kerouac is indeed deserving of scholarly attention.

But do the scholars deserve Kerouac?

[stilltrucking]

But do the scholars deserve Kerouac?

I think of him as Saint Jack.

The Essentials of Spontaneous Prose. Not the Elements

Only about two pages long

I am going to type it out and post it here if Kurt don't mind

Also going to post Belief & Technique for Modern Prose.

[e_dog]

Why read this book? he cannot even spelled Drama correctly.

[stilltrucking]

The strange thing about all this is that Jack was a Catholic. He was Catholic to the bitter end.

And he was almost as stupid about women as I am.

[Susan Marie]

Kerouac was smarter than any of us, as a matter of fact, his spirit was much too fragile for this plane.

It isn't that he was not smart/or not about any one thing. Jack just loved to experience everything and anything and he did, the best ways he knew how and when he lost that track, he came home to write and picked it up once again.

It is impossible to read everything of Jack's, we do not know what exists and what does not and the books that are published - there are so many, I one day wish to at least have all that is out there. I have only read 5 of his thus far.

There is a clip, you can find it on youtube where he is on The Steve Allen Show and this is right after Dharma Bums was released and man, he is already tired, you can see it in his stark beautiful blue eyes. I have On the Road on CD, its amazing, his voice lulls you right into his stream of consciousness.

Jack wrote on continous paper, like reams. I don't think even he could keep up with what was pouring out of him and his writing, which is amazing poetic prose, is from the POV of a bystander even though he experiences every glorious and horrible bit of his travels, he manages to bring you right there with him while describing to you what he is seeing and experiencing.

(shameless plug here --> because my last name - what i publish under is M - I am on a bookshelf here right next to him - I have to get that picture off of my cell phone)

But to accurately understand him, you have to hear him speak, dive into his words, become him for that slice of a second and he allows you to do that. Jack had that magic and when it was all said and done, what did he have to go back to? What does one have to go back to when they have experienced all aspects of life?

He was a supernova. You can find his entire spoken works with book and on CD on Amazon.

From, On the Road:

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars . . . ”

~ Jack Kerouac

[e_dog]

Kerouac was smarter than everybody. Even Jack Kerouac himself.


He's the smartiest. Like a sexy young lady with nathin to do.

[jimboloco]

Drove by Kerouak's house in St Pete yesterday afternoon
skipped out on tai chi class
meandered back home a short detour
corner of 10th ave west and 52nd street north
nobody home
the grass cut last week, uneven
black and white cat on the front porch
neighbor's car pulled into the driveway next door
teenage girl got out
i was stopped in the street musing
a metallic purple pt cruiser was at the stop sign waiting for me to pass
had to go

it is still there in perpetual fallow limbo
wonder if my cell phone camera will pick up his 65 chevy inside the garage thru the backyard window