Understanding Jack Kerouac

Understanding Jack Kerouac introduces a new generation of readers to what Matt Theado calls Kerouac's "unwieldy accretion of published work" -- fiction, poetry, nonfiction, selected letters, religious writing, and "true-story novels." Presenting this Beat Generation cultural icon as a writer rather than as a social rebel or media celebrity, Theado asks why Kerouac's reputation has outlived disparaging beatnik associations. He takes a book-by-book approach to the sometimes confusing canon and develops a framework for understanding Kerouac's thematic concerns, writing techniques, and artistic evolution.

Theado contends that despite Kerouac's goal of becoming a legend through his writing, his work has never satisfactorily fit into a unified scheme, and finds, that when the books are considered in the order they were written, themes and motifs appear, mutate, and reappear. He shows that The Town and the City introduces basic thematic concerns that are developed and explored in later books. Theado offers close readings of the works that make up the Duluoz Legend -- Kerouac's series of barely fictionalized recreations of his life -- and traces the development of Kerouac's career.

Proposing that the truly legendary part of the Duluoz Legend lies in the chronicle of a writer's stylistic maturation, Theado contends that spontaneous prose, Kerouac's literary hallmark, may prove to be the chief reason for his literary longevity.