Subterranean Kerouac: The Hidden Life of Jack Kerouac
by Ellis Amburn

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Summary of Subterranean Kerouac: The Hidden Life of Jack Kerouac

Though his novels depict rampant sexual freedom and distinguish him as a stylistic innovator, Kerouac himself was reined in by the taboos and social constrictions of the 1930s and '40s. Friendships with Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and other beat originals helped him indulge the homosexual side of his nature. Yet the internal conflicts raged, and running along with them were Kerouac's Benzedrine and alcohol addictions.

While Amburn's biography is rich with the salacious adventures of hipsterism (trysts with Ginsberg between parked trucks in Greenwich Village; the frenetic cross-country trips immortalized in On the Road; the Kerouac Sex List, which tells exactly with whom and how many times), he takes a serious look at the twisted Kerouac psyche. Amburn has a unique vantage point as Kerouac's last editor, and we benefit from their friendship with the confidential details Kerouac supplied during the editing process. Kerouac often insisted that "every word I write is true," but Amburn readers discover a man tortured by the dueling sides of his own divided nature. --Joan Urban

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• Books > Subjects > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature
• Historical > United States