Winnie the Pooh is named after Winnipeg, my hometown, coincidentally. In 1978, when I was 21, I moved from there to Texas. I took a month, camping and motorcycling, by way of the West Coast. My 2 guidebooks were K's Big Sur, and Persig's Motorcycle Maintenance. Thanks for your truly wonderful post, which brought back so many memories. I had no idea he'd planned it for 10 years. I was so fortunate to have met Alan Ginsberg years later, just before he passed. My wife composer Elodie Lauten an I wrote him a letter asking permission to use some poems for an opera, which became 'Waking in NY'. Thanks again
Thomas Wolfe especially "Of Time and the River" that sprawling unsparing poetic effort to know and absorb and wallow in every experience certainly spoke to Kerouac and i find it no coincidence to find this after just recently watching the film "Genius" (free on youtube) about the great editor Maxwell Perkins and Wolfe working together...the casting was perfect, the story universal 🙏
It never ceases to amaze me that writers spend such a lot of time writing notes of personal reflection and introspection when they could be writing ‘the thing’.
And JK will always be linked in my mind to Keats now. Thankyou, Jillian, for such an interesting post.
Thanks, Yasmin. I suppose for Kerouac, though, introspection was "writing the thing"--or at least drafting "the thing." JK will always be Keats to me. 💛
Love this, Jillian. The scroll 📜 of On The Road was on display (under glass) at the American Writers Museum here in Chicago a while back. It was wild to see it!
Wow, another great post! He makes it easy with his incredibly neat handwriting... it's almost overwhelming to be able to read full pages from his notebooks 😶
What a terrific gift, Jillian. TY for this: "Kerouac’s notes grant us a front seat to the great writer’s brilliant creativity, his love of language, but also his self-loathing and sadness. The notebooks trace Kerouac’s becoming and disintegration—sometimes on a single page." A treat to read and savor this mind at work.
But that might be the only thing you'd wish to have in common with Kerouac. His introspection didn't help him all that much in his personal life, sadly.
In 1969 I walked past the Archambault Funeral home on Pawtucket Avenue in Lowell, MA and realized it was the wake for Jack Kerouac. I only paused on the sidewalk
As epic and singular as they come - On The Road - America and all that jazz to a mid-century beat. I think of Dean Moriarty too... and Neal Cassady. Thanks for posting this, Jillian. RIP Jack Kerouac.
Oh, I love this so much! This quote from Kerouac's journals is going in my commonplace book: "It's a sin how happy I can be living alone like a hermit." I've never read On the Road, but my immediate affection for Kerouac's voice in the journals reminds me of his "30 cool tips for writing," which I wrote about in my last Substack post. I also aspire to "like Proust be an old teahead of time." And if I didn't write every day in my notebook, I really don't know how I would understand the passage of time at all.
Glad I'm not the only one who is surprised! I remember people discovering On the Road when I was a teenager. Mostly they were rather pretentious guys, and it didn't appeal to me then. (Though I did develop sort of an obsession with Dean Moriarty in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.) A couple of years ago, I was interested to encounter Jack Kerouac as the co-star of an absolutely outrageous orgy scene in Diane di Prima's Memoirs of a Beatnik. And now this. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to reading his most famous book.
Loved that video you shared. Does he say God is Pooh Bear at 6:01?
He does! It's in the final paragraph of On the Road.
Winnie the Pooh is named after Winnipeg, my hometown, coincidentally. In 1978, when I was 21, I moved from there to Texas. I took a month, camping and motorcycling, by way of the West Coast. My 2 guidebooks were K's Big Sur, and Persig's Motorcycle Maintenance. Thanks for your truly wonderful post, which brought back so many memories. I had no idea he'd planned it for 10 years. I was so fortunate to have met Alan Ginsberg years later, just before he passed. My wife composer Elodie Lauten an I wrote him a letter asking permission to use some poems for an opera, which became 'Waking in NY'. Thanks again
I haven’t read the book but it keeps popping up in all random places. That’s a wonderful image about Pooh Bear!
I love your posts! As an avid book worm, notebook aficionado, and pen snob, this is like candy for my soul.
Ah! I love that: candy for the soul!
I didn’t know a notebook aficionado was a thing. That’s me. Now I have a title.
Yes. Notebook Aficionado is definitely a thing. At least, we can make it a thing! Now we are two.
And three!
Thomas Wolfe especially "Of Time and the River" that sprawling unsparing poetic effort to know and absorb and wallow in every experience certainly spoke to Kerouac and i find it no coincidence to find this after just recently watching the film "Genius" (free on youtube) about the great editor Maxwell Perkins and Wolfe working together...the casting was perfect, the story universal 🙏
Your writing in this comment reminds me of Kerouc's prose! Also--I need to watch this film!
Yes I loved that film. Unforgettable
theres a certain flair to Jude Law's inspired capture of the southerner, eyes wide, coming north..Styron lived it too wrote it in Sophie's Choice 😉
Wow, wasn't he neat! And legible! So different to my own notebooks.
Same!
It never ceases to amaze me that writers spend such a lot of time writing notes of personal reflection and introspection when they could be writing ‘the thing’.
And JK will always be linked in my mind to Keats now. Thankyou, Jillian, for such an interesting post.
Thanks, Yasmin. I suppose for Kerouac, though, introspection was "writing the thing"--or at least drafting "the thing." JK will always be Keats to me. 💛
Indeed, Yasmin! I now rather think of the decades I wrote a journal as wasted energy, though they can be handy in a dispute 👀
That sounds *very* useful!
Haha! Potential disputes might be a good motivator!
🤣
Love this, Jillian. The scroll 📜 of On The Road was on display (under glass) at the American Writers Museum here in Chicago a while back. It was wild to see it!
That must have been so incredible to see in person!
It was riveting!
Wow, another great post! He makes it easy with his incredibly neat handwriting... it's almost overwhelming to be able to read full pages from his notebooks 😶
I know! I'm so used to having to struggle to make out a person's words.
I bet you are!
What a terrific gift, Jillian. TY for this: "Kerouac’s notes grant us a front seat to the great writer’s brilliant creativity, his love of language, but also his self-loathing and sadness. The notebooks trace Kerouac’s becoming and disintegration—sometimes on a single page." A treat to read and savor this mind at work.
Fantastic read.
Thanks, Cole!
The remarkable interiority in his entries...l wish my own notes were at this level of self-introspection.
But that might be the only thing you'd wish to have in common with Kerouac. His introspection didn't help him all that much in his personal life, sadly.
You always clarify huge amounts of information so well, Jillian. Bravo
As a teacher, that means a lot to me :)
I would definitely sign up for Professor Hess’ classes.
A wonderful post! Thank you so much
You're very welcome!
In 1969 I walked past the Archambault Funeral home on Pawtucket Avenue in Lowell, MA and realized it was the wake for Jack Kerouac. I only paused on the sidewalk
What an incredible memory! And to think of all the luminaries who were probably at that wake...
As epic and singular as they come - On The Road - America and all that jazz to a mid-century beat. I think of Dean Moriarty too... and Neal Cassady. Thanks for posting this, Jillian. RIP Jack Kerouac.
Agreed! You're very welcome, Tom.
Oh, I love this so much! This quote from Kerouac's journals is going in my commonplace book: "It's a sin how happy I can be living alone like a hermit." I've never read On the Road, but my immediate affection for Kerouac's voice in the journals reminds me of his "30 cool tips for writing," which I wrote about in my last Substack post. I also aspire to "like Proust be an old teahead of time." And if I didn't write every day in my notebook, I really don't know how I would understand the passage of time at all.
I've copied so many of Kerouac's lines into my commonplace book too. His writing is surprisingly very extractable.
Glad I'm not the only one who is surprised! I remember people discovering On the Road when I was a teenager. Mostly they were rather pretentious guys, and it didn't appeal to me then. (Though I did develop sort of an obsession with Dean Moriarty in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.) A couple of years ago, I was interested to encounter Jack Kerouac as the co-star of an absolutely outrageous orgy scene in Diane di Prima's Memoirs of a Beatnik. And now this. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to reading his most famous book.
I liked Jack's style very much. Thank you for sharing this.
You're welcome, Sally!