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/lit/ - Literature

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3733369 No.3733369 [Reply] [Original]

What does /lit/ think about Kerouac's On The Road?

I'm currently reading this book and I don't know if I expected too much of the storyline but I think it is slightly overrated.

>> No.3733377

>>3733369

Never read it, personally, or discussed it with /lit/, but I've heard it referred to as a more pretentious Into the Wild. Thought about reading it but some peoples' descriptions made it seem too annoying.

>> No.3733380

I thought it was awful. No aesthetic or intellectual substance.

>> No.3733382

I enjoyed it.

And although it didn't seem life-changing to me as well, it's very much a zeitgeist book and I can see why it is held in such high esteem.

>> No.3733388

I was just on the way to the library to issue it today.

But I got Atlas Shrugged instead. I tend to judge books based on their fanbase, so the two seemed comparable.

>> No.3733399

>>3733377
Well, Into the Wild was incredibly pretentious, so I think i'll stay away

>> No.3733402

>>3733388
edgy teenagers?

>> No.3733409

It's pleasant. I couldn't but picture Dean as Cosmo Kramer but some reason. He has a sort of sketchy talent for prose, never quite achieving greatness, though there's some excellent writing in his Desolation Angels, if you can tolerate the run on sentences.
I don't go in much for the dizzy description of their cultural movement, "it was like, this energy, man" but there are some very pretty turns, like when the narrator concludes that "manana" must mean "heaven".

>> No.3733414

>>3733402

Yeah. Different politics, same shit.

I would hope that Kerouac is a better author, though. Rand's prose is Dan Brown level of clumsiness so far.

>> No.3733415

I will always be haunted by his love of pie and ice cream. Because it was good for him and whatnot.

>It ruined the entire book for me.
>Nobody ever give me free pies.

>> No.3733421

>>3733382

I think it's a book that Americans can relate way better than a foreign reader like me. I don't know half of the cities mentioned in the book! Also it's funny to see how they could spend just a small amount of money and still spend nights in hotels, pay for meals, etc

>> No.3733441

It's good, but it's one of those books that are too idolized by its lovers and too abhorred by its haters.

Of the so-called beatnicks, I only really really like Burroughs;

>> No.3733463

>>3733369

On The Road is the greatest book written in the U.S. in the last 100 years.

/thread

>> No.3733485
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3733485

On The Road is glorious, it's a spontaneous energetic story told in a rambling way about a bunch of young people traveling around their country and more. It's not perfect, it's naive, but it's honest and sincere and has a beautiful sort of just wing it lust for life in it. I read The Dharma Bums after it and then Big Sur. Read at least these three by Kerouac. In a way it's the opposite of what bookish people like. It's simple and not jaded and cynical and just tells a story without getting to metaphorical and layered about it while still being very poetical and vivid.

>>3733421
Remember, it takes place in the 1940s when a gallon of gas cost 23 cents and a loaf of bread cost 12. The value of his dollars is nothing like what we associate them with.

>> No.3733514

>>3733485
Yep. Kerouac's imagery is often beautiful as well.

>> No.3733524

>>3733485
>not metaphorical
>opposite of what bookish people like
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kgGrgF3JhQ

>> No.3733587

>>3733524
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kgGrgF3JhQ
Damnit, lectures like this taunt me for choosing against an English degree. I'm watching it now, so I'll comment on the synopsis provided on YT.

Kerouac still doesn't get very metaphorical, relative to >>3733485 's implication of /lit/core books like Ulysses. There's of course some metaphor - I've been thinking, as I read OTR, that the apple pie and ice cream in every town so far does confirm a want for some of the middle-class stability Kerouac also lived. If we accept the lecturer's thoughts on desire, then I think OTR is a novel about the desire of youth in general: sex, food, freedom, dreams, comforts, optimism.

>> No.3733608

>>3733380
Same. I get nothing out of the majority of Beat writers, though.

>> No.3733618

>>3733399
I disagree. And the worst part of both books (which are alright) is the "fanbase" of annoying people jizzing their pants at every word and calling it genius.

>> No.3733622

>>3733618

It can be interpreted the other way around as well, to be fair. That is, the hipsters who cannot appreciate beautiful and genuine writing because if it is not obscure, obfuscated and convoluted, then it is not "artsy".

So, there you go. Hopefully you're enjoying your ironic mustache. Fancy another Pabst?

>> No.3733629

>>3733618
Nearly every book has a terrible fanbase, and unless one ceases reading, it shouldn't influence one's opinion of a book IMO.

>> No.3733662

If you want to read Kerouac but in a style that is distinctly different to his usual On The Road/Dharma Bums/Desolation Angels, then read The Subterraneans. Still semi-autobiographical but is centred on a singular thing, his relationship with a woman, rather than his wanderings and his thoughts that come with them. I very much enjoyed it, even though it is much more on the short side than some of his others.

I found On The Road to be meh. I had read the Dharma Bums before it and felt that it was much more concise and with a better story than the former. Perhaps it was too autobiographical and without enough plot for it to interest me to read it without a weeks break due to disinterest. I wouldn't recommend OTR to someone if they were interested in reading JK.

>> No.3733674

>Into the Wild
>Ayn Rand
>Dan Brown
>jizz at every word
>Nearly every book has a terrible fanbase

jesus fucking plebs itt. just read the book and take from it what you will, you guys are in no position to judge it with such limited cultural exposure. I never thought I'd fucking see Rand comparing to Dan Brown.
only valuable posts:
>>3733409
>>3733441
>>3733485
everyone else itt are posturing idiots.

>> No.3733766

I've enjoyed it. it's pretty much an existential book (i know someone is going to insult me for this). But al those pointless trip... well, you can't deny that there's a great background anxiety in the character of Dean, in his way to deal with life.

The prose, then... It can be judge good or bad, but it's extremely functional to the writer's pourpose: convey a fanatic movement of lifes (the character's ones) and thoughts (the Paradise ones).

>> No.3734211

>>3733587
>not just sneaking into lecture halls

for lesser schools this is totally an option, speaking from experience. the only thing you're missing is seminars, which are pretty hit and miss anyway.

>> No.3734229

The 'storyline' is kinda meandering and pointless, but the prose is fucking amazing. It's so full of energy and life and sincerity and love and sou and ENERGY and it's so much fun and so beautiful once you start to 'get' it.

>> No.3735120

If you read it at exactly the right time in your life, you'll like it. If you miss the mark, you'll probably hate it.

>> No.3735165

only liked cause of neil cassady. read the electric-kool aid acid tests, even more of that insane cunt. also because of william s burroughs and ginsberg. kerouac isn't too bad bad just it seems to me his the most angst and pretentious amongst all of them

>> No.3735171

>>3734229
all that benzedrine ahaha

>> No.3736278

>>3735165
Kerouac's pretension is endearing because it's so obvious, like he doesn't even try to hide it. Like a little boy. He isn't pretentious about being pretentious.

>> No.3736286

I really liked it when I read it in high school, but you need to think about it in the context of the times. There was still a certain romance about "going West" in the 40's