the haunted life- the lost kerouac

[The Dr]

a book that jack claims he lost in a taxi when he was 22 actually was left in his dorm room and found and the person who found it hang onto it, passing it down, until now it has been published. aparently it is a 'prequal' or early version of the town and the city- which is a beautiful book

'And peter almost with tears in his eyes…realised that other people were also strangers to themselves…and something caught at his throat as he realised what a strange sad adventure life might get to be, strange and sad and still much more beautiful than he ever could have imagined, so much more beautiful and amazing because it was so really strangely sad.- '


i wonder if it will be any good? anyone read it?

[angelsighs]

i think it's getting silly now. he is one of my favourite writers but now every scrap that he ever wrote is getting released. it's like when a musician dies early and they released every last demo they did with posthumous overdubs.

I really like The Town and The City too. it's a bit flabby but it shows he could also write in a traditional style.

[The Dr]

I really like The Town and The City too. it's a bit flabby but it shows he could also write in a traditional style.

do you like william saroyan? the armenian-american writer?

[angelsighs]

I really like The Town and The City too. it's a bit flabby but it shows he could also write in a traditional style.

do you like william saroyan? the armenian-american writer?

I've not read him, do you think I'll enjoy?

[The Dr]

i have an armenian freind and she adores him. i sent her the town and the city quote and she said it was like saroyan. the beats were very much into him- kerouac describing his early short stories as wolfean and saroyan (collected in atop of the world)

this is my freind's 'bible'- that she knows by heart and dips into at random places, as people who know the bible well do and as i do for the likes of poe. i've not read this one, i have read another book of his short stories- one really haunted me. i bought a copy of the book (when i got my copy) for someone i know who only knows of saroyan through me (i sent him some quotes) and he loves the book too

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Human-Comed ... man+comedy

it's 1p on amazon market place and 2.80 postage, for that you really really cannot go wrong! enjoy!

[The Dr]

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/m ... ac-extract

just read- very much the work of a young writer (22), but a clear prequal to town and the city and moments of beauty that would be realised in his later works

…a dog barking, a boy’s special nighttime cry, and the cool swishing song of the trees: a music sweeter than anything else in the world, a music that can be seen-profusely green, leaf on leaf atremble- and a music that can be smelled, clover fresh, somehow sharp, and supremely rich