

Loading... On the Road (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) (original 1957; edition 1999)by Jack Kerouac
Work InformationOn the Road by Jack Kerouac (Author) (1957)
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» 73 more Unread books (5) 1950s (13) BBC Big Read (106) 20th Century Literature (178) Favourite Books (512) Top Five Books of 2014 (183) Top Five Books of 2013 (743) Books Read in 2015 (709) Folio Society (419) Books Read in 2017 (2,002) A Novel Cure (268) Existentialism (16) Nifty Fifties (22) 1,001 BYMRBYD Concensus (244) The Greatest Books (50) Catalog (4) Read (92) BBC Big Read (93) Overdue Podcast (274) Fiction For Men (84) Penguin Random House (61) Books (23) I Can't Finish This Book (101) Read (16) Beat (10) Books Read in 2021 (332) Rory Gilmore Book Club (156) Books in Riverdale (55) Translingualism (3) New England Books (72) Best Friendship Stories (101) 1960s (264) No current Talk conversations about this book. The reason this will always be a classic is that the story is a universal American experience and desire to take to the open road. This book played an important part of my life. ( ![]() First read this in the late 50s when in my late teens. It had a great impact, showing me an alternate, exciting lifestyle. I've reread it a couple of times but don't think it holds up that well. It probably needs to be read when one is young. Jack Kerouac scrittore (1922 -1969). Uno scrittore a ritmo di jazz «La vita non è altro che un breve e vago sogno avvolto in carne e lacrime», parola di Jack Kerouac. Scapestrato, vagabondo, malinconico per natura, sempre in preda a pensieri cupi, tetri, Kerouac è l’autore del libro leggenda “Sulla Strada”, nato in sole tre settimane nel 1951. Si dice che, durante la stesura, Jack battesse furiosamente sui tasti della macchina da scrivere, strafatto di anfetamine, realizzando il romanzo su un unico foglio lungo 36 metri, un rotolo, come venne definito, e anche che scrivesse di getto, senza revisioni, come nel jazz. Un’improvvisazione che in realtà era frutto di un metodo di scrittura disciplinato e puntuale: Kerouac aveva effettivamente viaggiato da una costa all’altra dell’America, insieme all’amico Neal Cassady, per quattro anni e aveva appuntato tutto, ogni singola sensazione, ogni fatto, ogni pensiero. La sua confessione, fatta di sesso, alcol, droghe e locali jazz, solo in apparenza è un inno all’opposizione alle regole: essa rappresenta il manifesto di quel movimento culturale, la Beat Generation, che contesta lo stile di vita borghese e il capitalismo americani. L’esaltazione della «ricerca di qualcosa», come lo stesso Kerouac dice, ha come motore libertà e introspezione. E per questo, forse, diviene il livre de chevet dei ragazzi di tutto il mondo. Ha indicato una strada e in molti l’hanno seguito. Sfortunatamente … Ne valeva la pena? ... Read this because it was a 'classic' that influenced a generation. It probably did but that was 50 years ago. It was OK but took me a couple of holidays to get through. Don't like the characters much - too self absorbed. Guess the professors in the US in the 60s were contemporararies so felt drawn to the feelings in the book. First read this in the late 50s when in my late teens. It had a great impact, showing me an alternate, exciting lifestyle. I've reread it a couple of times but don't think it holds up that well. It probably needs to be read when one is young.
The wonder of Kerouac’s muscular, free-form, imagistic language still astonishes. He remains an essential American mythologiser – one caught up in that backstreet world of bohemian life, before it was transformed by the harsh social Darwinism of capitalism. The title of his one towering achievement became a turn of phrase that went global, and his name became an adjective. That strikes me as not a bad legacy for a boy from the mean streets of post-industrial New England. A hundred years after his birth, we still want to live that Kerouacian vision of life as one long cool stretch of highway. El Sal Paradise de todas las ediciones conocidas de esta novela mítica es aquí, al fin, Kerouac. Y también Cassady, Ginsberg y Burroughs aparecen con sus verdaderos nombres. Con la publicación del rollo original, la gesta viajera y existencial de En la carretera se vuelve autobiográfica de pleno derecho y a plena luz del día, sin censura alguna. Y el relato adquiere toda su potencia narrativa. El lector tiene en sus manos una suerte de manifiesto de la beat generation. Seguimos a Kerouac y a toda la cáfila que desfila por estas páginas en toda su desnudez y penuria. Precursores del movimiento hippy y la contracultura de finales de los años sesenta, los personajes de esta novela pululan sin rumbo por Norteamérica. La sed vital insatisfecha, la búsqueda de horizontes de sentido, de dicha y de conocimiento y los atisbos místicos se estrellan contra una realidad inhóspita y desesperanzada. Un vívido compendio de los grandes temas, y al tiempo una apasionante aventura humana y una metáfora de la existencia. «El rollo original de On the Road es una de las más veneradas y enigmáticas reliquias de la literatura moderna... Un texto fascinante» (James Campbell, The Times Literary Supplement). Belongs to Publisher SeriesBibliotheca stylorum (2003) Compactos Anagrama (10) — 12 more Is contained inIs an expanded version ofInspiredHas as a studyHas as a commentary on the textHas as a student's study guide
On the Road chronicles Jack Kerouac's years traveling the North American continent with his friend Neal Cassady, "a sideburned hero of the snowy West." As "Sal Paradise" and "Dean Moriarty," the two roam the country in a quest for self-knowledge and experience. Kerouac's love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz combine to make On the Road an inspirational work of lasting importance. No library descriptions found.
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54 — Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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