Jack Kerouac once said, “Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion. Jack’s work covers topics such as travel, poverty, Buddhism, jazz, and Catholic spirituality. Jack Kerouac started his writing career in the 1940’s but it wasn’t until the 1950’s when his book, “ On the road” was published that he would get commercial success. On the road would eventually become a classic defining the Beat Generation. Uncertainly balanced between two cultures and two different languages, conflicting selves and between self sacrifice or ambition, Fame came to Jack Kerouac in 1957 with a label, “King of the Beats.” (Johnson xvii)
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French - Canadian, John Kerouac, was born in Lowell Massachusetts
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Fortunately for him, he got to spend most of his life doing what he loved most..writing. Jack’s football career did not work out but it appears to make sense to why it wouldn’t considering the magic that his writing would bring to not only himself but to society. Joyce Jonson stated, “Jack’s voice was his center; outside was chaos. Jack’s problems throughout his childhood such as his younger brothers death or his father’s drug and gambling addiction most likely had an impact on the way Jack would go about life and how he would get inspired to write the way he did. Another possible inspiration for Jack’s uniqueness could have been the time period to where Jack grew up, the great depression.” Although Jack Kerouac’s life was at times so crowded with dramatic events and intense, complicated friendships, he spent far less time than most people in the company of others. Jack would die with the book he was still in the process of writing, Visions of Cody, the book that meant more to him than any other. (Johnson xviii) Jack wrote thirty-four published books in his lifetime. On the road is on almost every list of the one hundred greatest american novels. Jack’s words continue to inspire many people. Writers and musicians including The doors, Bob Dylan, and Patti Smith have been influenced by Kerouac’s