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/lit/ - Literature

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2314937 No.2314937 [Reply] [Original]

Any thoughts on the book?

>> No.2314940

>>2314937
Great, was my favourite book for a few years.

>> No.2314957
File: 30 KB, 460x276, kerouac.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2314957

I love it for the youthful enthusiasm and and the way it made me shake of my apathy and have lively adventures. It's very contagious and while the more highbrow frowny 'that's not writing, it's typing' old literary types often ridicule it, it did, and does, convey a way of life and looking at life that's very interesting and beautiful.

The snobs that put it down are actually dealt with already in the novel itself:

"Besides, all my New York friends were in the negative, nightmare position of putting down society and giving their tired bookish or political or psychoanalytical reasons, but Dean just raced in society, eager for bread and love.

It's a stimulant in book-form and a potent cure for ennui/weltschmerz—also the glorious em dash—em dashes everywhere!

>> No.2314958
File: 920 KB, 1280x720, pj1.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2314958

It's sort of a big rambling mess. I understand that is part of the charm, but I'm actually not sure why it inspires people as much as it does. The prose is worth checking out at least.

>> No.2314977

>>2314958

Have you ever heard Kerouac read parts of it himself? That glorious jazz like prose, man.

>> No.2314997 [DELETED] 

There is actually no book I have enjoyed as much as this book it opened so many doors for me. It got me reading Tom Wolfe, Ginsburg and Burroughs and for that I am forever grateful.

If you haven't watched it I would advise the you watch the documentary Russel Brand did on this book. I know he can be hit and miss sometimes, Russell Brand that it but there is a lot of interesting things in the documentary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPxa7XhvZKk

There is the link to it.

>> No.2315002

There is actually no book I have enjoyed as much as this book it opened so many doors for me. It got me reading Tom Wolfe, Ginsburg and Burroughs and for that I am forever grateful.

If you haven't watched it I would advise the you watch the documentary Russel Brand did on this book. I know he can be hit and miss sometimes, Russell Brand that it is but there is a lot of interesting things in the documentary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPxa7XhvZKk

There is the link to it.

>> No.2315003

I read two books in my lifetime who took all the joy of and will to read from me. This one was one of them. So tedious, so repetitive.

>> No.2315007

Literally started reading it yesterday. I'm 17 years old.

*Waits for life to be changed*

>> No.2315010

>>2315007
Only if you're a self centered prick with a sense of entitlement.

>> No.2315012

Dean Moriarty is sort of an incarnation of the ultimate 'amor fati' mentality in a modern context. This and the whole beat lifestyle (something which I hadn't even considered when I first read it at 15 years old) made it life changing for me.

I've very glad that I've read this and The Dharma Bums at a young age, saved me from a lot of misery I think.

To put in in concrete terms, less vidya and acquiring things I don't need, more running into the night and having marvelous adventures, reading good books and poetry, listening to great music, it opened up a whole new world of culture for me that I hadn't considered before.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the book is that great, although it is, but the way it interacted with yours truly was very rewarding.

>> No.2315014

>>2315007

I honestly wish I could be one of the people to be reading this for the first time again. I'm waiting for Dharma Bums to come in the post, my mind is ready.

>> No.2315028

It's horrible.

He's basically spending a book fangasming over people who clearly are nowhere near as cool as he thinks they are.

>> No.2315040

>>2315002

Thanks for the link. I'm just a couple of minutes in but it shall be entertaining at the least.

>> No.2315214

>>2315028
Pretty much.

Also, at times the author seems as he's writing his journal, detailing the places he went to or wants to go to or he's misinterpreting something Dean said. I mean, this guy sounds fun (if you met him for 15 minutes or so) and everything but maaaaan, not to dedicate a whole book about him. Modern classic? Hell no.

>> No.2315228

I think Dean Moriarty is a terrible person who I would hate to hang out with.

Sal was a desperate little cunt who only hung out with Dean because he was a "cool kid"

>> No.2315234

1. He really wrote this in one go. On a scroll none the less. And it is a great novel.

2. It is one of Thomas Pynchons favorite novels.

>> No.2315643

The raw and at times embarrassing writing is what makes it great. Kerouac at times sound like a tryhard hipster, but it's so obvious he's acting cool with his slang and namedropping that it doesn't offend. It's sincere instead of contrived, tiresome and cynical. That's part of the charm.

I usually find it a suspicious character trait if people don't get the unencumbered joy of the novel. They seem like lousy drinking partners. Or. to slighty change and take out of context an Hunter Thompson quote:

They hate music, football and sex, in no particular order, and they're no fun at all.

>> No.2315728
File: 12 KB, 300x300, 1325794470658.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2315728

>>2315007
>mfw when you're a stupid prick who admits to being underage.
>mfw when I'm too lazy to report you
>mfw when I just started this book yesterday as well. *pretentious teenage brofist*

>> No.2315743

>>2315002

Hey, thank you. I might watch that over dinner.

>> No.2315756

>>2314937
Wasn't impressed. Made me drive faster for a week.

>> No.2315780

anyone ever go on a crazy road trip after reading this?

>> No.2315784

ayn the road

>> No.2315798

>>2315780
ask >>>/trv/ dude
We're all too busy reading DFW and trying to make sense of Ulysses

>> No.2315812

>>2315780
yeah, i had some bad experiences in latin america and ended up moving to europe. road trips are overrated.

take a train

>> No.2315829
File: 29 KB, 300x452, robocop_murphy..jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2315829

This novel has more sense than any other of the beatnick's writings I have read, but I still rather Ginsberg, he's not that into the "downer" behavior as the rest.
Still looking for some Gregory Corso's literature, but I haven't found anything yet.

>> No.2315851

>>2315829
jack hated beatniks and he wrote it way before beatniks came into scene

>> No.2315870

Version I started (because I saw it in a friend's book rack and thought I'd check it out) was a reproduction of the original scroll which has the original opening sentence. I just couldn't fucking get past it.
I get that you want to preserve the original intention but leaving in typos and other errors does not have anything to do with that.

>> No.2315877

>>2314937

you know, the few people I know IRL who hate this book are self-absorbed holier-than-thou twats.

>> No.2315891

>>2315028
you think theyre trying to be cool? they're trying to be authentic

>> No.2315897

>>2315870
I don't know why, it's like a fucking staple in literature. This massive info-dump they put in the first pages about someone or something. It just bores the fuck at me. Hemingway did the same shit in The Sun Also Rises. It almost made me put down the book right there.

>> No.2315908

>>2315897
But whereas Hemingway wished he did all that shit, Kerouac actually did, so I accept On The Road a little more than I do Hemingway's covert fanfiction of '20s Parisian ex-pats.

>> No.2315909

>>2315829
Neither Kerouac nor Ginsberg were beatniks.
They were Beats.
There's a major difference.

>> No.2315915

>>2315908
>You lost me at "Covert"

>> No.2315918

>>2315897

what the fuck are you talking about? Kerouac didn't start the book with a massive "info-dump"

First paragraph (not the "scrolls" version

>I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up. I had just gotten over a serious illness that I won't bother to talk about, except that it had something to do with the miserably weary split-up and my feeling that everything was dead. With the coming of Dean Moriarty began the part of my life you could call my life on the road. Before that I'd often dreamed of going West to see the country, always vaguely planning and never taking off. Dean is the perfect guy for the road because he actually was born on the road, when his parents were passing through Salt Lake City in 1926, in a jalopy, on their way to Los Angeles. First reports of him came to me through Chad King, who'd shown me a few letters from him written in New Mexico reform school. I was tremendously interested in the letters because they so na•vely and sweetly asked Chad to teach him all about Neitzsche and all the wonderful intellectual things that Chad knew. At one point Carlo and I talked about the letters and wondered if we would ever meet the strange Dean Moriarty. This is all far back, when Dean was not the way he is today, when he was a young jailkid shrouded in mystery. Then news came that Dean was out of reform school and was coming to New York for the first time; also there was talk that he had just married a girl called Marylou.

You must have ADD or something. Go back to read your sci fi "novels"

>> No.2315924

it was the first proper novel i read since previously i only read fantasy. made me realise how boring fantasy is. this journey was way more epic then lotr.

it certainly stirred things up for since that kind of lifestyle, reckless unsustainable or unpredictable isn't open to be so it was nice to see how its done.

>> No.2315935
File: 82 KB, 1024x679, On The Road Movie (2).jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2315935

is it film out yet?

>> No.2315963

>>2315918
slow ... the ... fuck ... down you pretentious, condescending twat.
>sc-fi "books"
>you don't know how to use quotations do you, bitch?
I've finished enough fantasy for the month. The first two pages was like this. I got past it and into chapter two (i just started today) and have enjoyed it so far. And one more time: fuck yourself, bitch.

>> No.2315973

>>2315935
no, may

also

>kirsten stewart as camille

hngggg

>> No.2316073

>>2315973
Are they adapting it to a modern setting, or staying true to the book? I would be disgusted to see a bunch of ironical hipsters traveling the US while they convert Jazz into Modest Mouse and Skrillex to stay "modern".

>> No.2316087

>>2315973
Kristen Steward = Mary Lou
Kristen Dunst = Camille

>> No.2316088

>>2316073
disagree. I would love it. Better unironic use of Skrillex (for authenticity) than a soundtrack of the most delicate and twee indie bullshit that hipsters claim to love because it's indie

>> No.2316097

>>2315973
will she get her tits out?

>> No.2316107

>>2315234
U mad bro?

>> No.2316136

>>2315935
This makes me angry for some reason. Seeing these attractive teenage movie stars starring in the ideal movie that's going to make the book sell millions to the whole Twilight crowd and be the book that helps the Perks of Being A Wallflower crowd will come into maturity. It may be because I don't want people to mistreat/like the book or being cool, but I just hope they all die in a car crash on-set for some reason

>> No.2316143
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2316143

>>2316087

>Kristen Dunst = Camille

She's got nice tits.

>> No.2316174

>>2315935

NO. NO. NO. NO.

The fucking chick from Twilight. In MY 1950's beatnik odyssey? Never.

I was looking forward to this film. Now I'll probably do my very best to deny its existence.

>> No.2316184

>>2316174
The chick from twilight is hot and is great from the part

Didn't you see runaways?

>> No.2316192

itt HIPSTERS

> It may be because I don't want people to mistreat/like the book or being cool

>> No.2316201

>>2316184

No, but I've seen Twilight. She had the acting range of a stripped door. In every scene she looked like she was rolling on opiates. Why would I give her a second chance?

Should've got someone half decent to play the part. Maybe Emma Stone, she needs a shot at a serious role.

>> No.2316210

>>2316201
>watching twilight

what a faggot

>where the protagonist is actually a fucking blank
>giving shit to the actress for being a blank

>emma stone
>weird-faced redhead
>half decent

gtfo

>> No.2316206

Is it bad if I liked the Dharma Bums more?

>> No.2316211

>>2316184
>Chick from Twilight
>Hot
Pick one
In the books, Bella is described as plain, if slightly below plain.

>> No.2316222

>>2316201
>>2316184
proves litfags should never be casting directors.

>> No.2316224
File: 38 KB, 393x315, costanza_wtf_is_this.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2316224

>caring about movie adaptations of books.

>> No.2316226

>>2316211
it's a movie, retard.

there's no ugly people in movies besides steve buscemi

>> No.2316227

>>2316210

She IS the fucking protagonist, you dolt. What, it's narrated from the perspective of Edward Cullen?

>> No.2316232

>>2316227
did I say she wasn't the protagonist, you illiterate cunt?

>> No.2316263

>>2316227
>>2316232

Yay! Let's argue about Twilight.

Who do you think is sexiest? Edward or the werewolf who's name I don't know?

ITT: 12 year old girls, apparently.

>> No.2316455

>>2315891
>authentic

Are you kidding? Everything about the gang hanging out is about them sitting there talking about peudo-intellectual bullshit and pretending that they're so fucking cool, with the protagonist sitting there fangasming over everything.

I mean he actually brings it up in the book that "oh we read these authors so that we could sit around and spew bullshit and pretend to be cool".

>> No.2316467

>>2316455
>pseudo-intellectual
>pretending they're...cool

as opposed to being truly intellectual by not sitting or talking about anything, and as opposed to being ACTUALLY cool, amirite?

get fucked

>> No.2316469
File: 25 KB, 450x350, 061.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2316469

>>2316226
>mfw reading this

>> No.2316480

>>2316467
>mad that I called out a shit book for being shit

Go back to your hipster friends, scum. This is a board for actual literature, not poorly written bullshit about pseudo-intellectual douchbags and their biggest fanboy.

>> No.2316496

>>2316480
Make a thread about that 'actual literature', why don't ya? Go rage at fixed-bikes some more.

>> No.2316500

>>2316480
>friendless kid who got picked on detected

aww

>> No.2316510

>>2316480

>will never be seen as an edgy bohemian by impressionable girls at parties but as that violently whispering asshole in the back of the class criticizing the professor whilst no one pays attention to his frustrated monologue

>> No.2316543

>>2316510

every faggot that hates On The Road turns out to be what you just described

>> No.2316552

>>2316543
> Generalizations are cool
>They totally don't make you sound like just as big of a faggot as them