Synopses & Reviews
A never-before-published book of poems by Jack Kerouac in a deluxe package.
In 1952 and 1953 as he wandered around America, Jack Kerouac jotted down spontaneous prose poems, or "sketches" as he called them, on small notebooks that he kept in his shirt pockets. The poems recount his travels New York, North Carolina, Lowell (Massachusetts, Kerouac's birthplace), San Francisco, Denver, Kansas, Mexico observations, and meditations on art and life. The poems are often strung together so that over the course of several of them, a little story or travelogue appears, complete in itself. Published for the first time, Book of Sketches offers a luminous, intimate, and transcendental glimpse of one of the most original voices of the twentieth century at a key time in his literary and spiritual development.
Review
"Not only is this one of the few periods in Kerouac's life we have known little about, but Book of Sketches is easily the most personally revealing of any book he wrote, perhaps because when he wrote it, he was convinced he would remain a complete unknown while alive." Chicago Tribune
Review
"It may be a misnomer to call this poetry...but it is by far the most substantial book to emerge from the Kerouac estate in recent years, and the most illuminating window into his prose origins shy of his letters." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"This is a joyful book, born of sadness and ambition." Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
"They aren't quite poetry, aren't quite narrative prose, yet some feel too finished to be cast off as simply jottings. They are epiphanies with shape and form and shadings; they are maps of the mind." Los Angeles Times
Review
"Restless, receptive, and hungry for divinity, Kerouac continues to feed our collective imagination in yet another treasure from his precious archives." Booklist
Synopsis
Recounting Jack Kerouac's travels, observations, and meditations on art and life, this never-before-published book of poems is offered in a deluxe package featuring French flaps.
Synopsis
In 1952 and 1953 as he wandered around America, Jack Kerouac jotted down spontaneous prose poems, or "sketches" as he called them, on small notebooks that he kept in his shirt pockets. The poems recount his travels—New York, North Carolina, Lowell (Massachusetts, Kerouac’s birthplace), San Francisco, Denver, Kansas, Mexico—observations, and meditations on art and life. The poems are often strung together so that over the course of several of them, a little story—or travelogue—appears, complete in itself. Published for the first time, Book of Sketches offers a luminous, intimate, and transcendental glimpse of one of the most original voices of the twentieth century at a key time in his literary and spiritual development.
About the Author
Jack Kerouac(19221969), the central figure of the Beat Generation, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1922 and died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1969. Among his many novels are On the Road, The Dharma Bums, Big Sur, and Visions of Cody.