Synopses & Reviews
Fiction. If Jack Kerouac had lived, what would he have done and written. Landefeld opens that door for us in this fictional memoir. "This is a moving tribute to Kerouac, whom Kurt Landefeld brilliantly resurrects in this imaginative triumph. He gives Kerouac a new lease on life (in more ways than one) in this finely executed novel. It's a 'must read' for anyone who values Kerouac, the Sixties, and the created worlds of those whose eyes see what might have been. Bravo."—Dennis Baumwoll
"Against all odds, Kurt Landefeld has located another fold within Jack Kerouac's watery heart. This road loaà gogo jolts us one more time toward a deep, intentional, and moral narrative, which is the perennial kernel speaking simultaneously through Landefeld and all the great American angels that memory honors".—Kenneth Warren
Review
"This is a moving tribute to Kerouac, whom Kurt Landefel d brilliantly resurrects in this imaginative triumph. He gives Kerouac a new lease on life (in more ways than one) in this finely executed novel. It's a 'must read' for anyone who values Kerouac, the Sixties, and the created worlds of those whose eyes see what might have been. Bravo." ~Dennis Baumwoll, professor emeritus Bucknell University --
"Myths were made for the imagination to put life into them." ~Albert Camus
Synopsis
A stunning first novel immersed in the world of writers and artists, this book projects the life of Jack Kerouac into the 1970's of America.
Synopsis
If Jack Kerouac had lived, what would he have done and written? Kurt Landefeld opens this door for us in this fine fictional memoir. /
"Kurt Landefeld has brought Jack Kerouac back to life in an new, imagined road-journey. In the sustained force of this catapulting novel you will encounter Kerouac's omnivorous mind as it continues to gulp and swallow the big meanings of life and the richness of American literature and culture." Peter Balakian, author of Black Dog of Fate
"Against all odds, Kurt Landefeld has located another fold within Jack Kerouac's watery heart. This road loa gogo jolts us one more time toward a deep, intentional, and moral narrative, which is the perennial kernel speaking simultaneously through Landefeld and all the great American angels that memory honors". Kenneth Warren, author of Captain Poetry's Sucker Punch: a Guide to the Homeric Punkhole, 1980 -2012
Synopsis
Jack's Memoirs: Off the Road, A Novel
Synopsis
If Jack Kerouac had lived, what would he have done and written? Kurt Landefeld opens this door for us in this fine fictional memoir.
"Against all odds, Kurt Landefeld has located another fold within Jack Kerouac's watery heart. This road loa
Synopsis
press release, book events in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, radio interviews, book trailer
About the Author
Kurt Landefeld was born in San Francisco and, next to Rocky River, Ohio, where he attended high school, considers it his second home. Prior to becoming an award- winning writer and creative director in the advertising industry, he spent several post-college years working as a machinist in and around Toledo. It was at Bucknell University that he was introduced to Jack Kerouac's writing, as well as the poetry of Allen Ginsberg, Charles Olson, Robert Creeley and others, declaring, "They changed the way America saw itself in the last half of the 20th century." With this novel, he has said, "As with millions of others, the lyricism and craziness of On the Road fired my imagination decades ago and continued to do so through my life. As I read more of Jack's novels and poetry, the question of 'What if he hadn't died so young?' has both intrigued and haunted. I decided to try and answer the question myself. What has resulted is a very American story about second chances and the possibility of redemption." In addition to his own writing, Landefeld helped launch a children's book publishing company, VanitaBooks, in 2006. He has edited a debut novel from Newburn Drive Press and a volume of poetry. Active in political and community affairs, as well as the local writing scene, he lives with his wife Carol and dog Jack on the shores of Lake Erie in Huron, Ohio.