Pulse en una miniatura para ir a Google Books.
Cargando... The Town and the City (1950)por Jack Kerouac
Ninguno Cargando...
Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. “In the strong autumnal winds he rushed along ignoring the new dark knowledge he now half-understood - that to triumph was also to wreak havoc.” Big Kerouac fan here! And I've finally read his first! I enjoyed it and felt like it was a big epic, one that took me a while to consume. It's all about the Martin family, pre and post WWII, and seemingly all over the world. The football scenes with Peter are wonderfully described! As are the real feelings of people regarding WWII. I also enjoyed the fishing scene with the three brothers near the end. I didn't enjoy much of the discussions and arguments. They were so abstract and random feeling. And the same goes for some of the characters' feelings. They often felt whinny and disconnected to actual, real problems. I know things were really changing then, especially with the war, but so much of the issues seemed self-absorbed and trivial. Still, I really enjoyed this book. It felt like a very real taste of America at that time. And it seemed to me that Kerouac, even though most say he is the Peter character, is actually three of the brothers - Peter, Joe, and Francis. Just my opinion, but I saw a lot of him in all of them. And I feel like it ends with a nice dovetail into "On the Road", though the books themselves are so different. Good last line: "He put up the collar of his jacket, and bowed his head, and hurried along." This was an amazing first book on Kerouac that delves into his life and, ultimately, begins his entry into the literary world (and his own world) as the foundation of being a writer. I was amazed by his use of language and the way that he seamlessly blended fiction into non-fiction and then back again. Kerouac's style, here, is fleeting and poetic, lucid and far-reaching. I've read On the Road, but I never thought this one would be so impressive as well. 4 stars- rightfully earned. I was not actually aware that this novel's characters were based on real life figures of the Beat generation until AFTER reading it. That kind of put a different light on it to me. While reading it unaware of the real idenitity of the characters, I was more impressed with his characterization of the difference's between the town and country, the effects of WW2 on everyone and the apparent poverty alongside great wealth in New York. Many of the characters in NY like Leon Levinsky and Will Dennison did not seem to be anything like cult figures, writers or from the "Beat" generation (ie in actuality Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs), but merely wayward eccentric figures but not terribly outstanding in any way except that they were disgruntled with the way things were, and atypical of the generation gap. However, considering it was published in around ?1950 - the novel seemed suprisingly modern to me in 2010. The generation gap between youth and society could in fact have been any era up to now. I also liked his take on how the war effected everyone at the time. The after effects not often talked about. and the crazy "atomic disease theory". Kerouac says " "Because of the objections of my early publishers I was not allowed to use the same personae names in each work." [2:] Spoilers~ for those who don't know..... Real-life person Character name Jack Kerouac = Peter Martin Leo Kerouac = George Martin Caroline Kerouac = Ruth and Elizabeth Martin Gabrielle Kerouac = Marguerite Courbet Martin Gerard Kerouac = Julian Martin George "G.J." Apostolos = Danny "D.J." Mulverhill Henry "Scotty" Beaulieu = Scotcho Rouleau William S. Burroughs = Will Dennison Joan Vollmer = Mary Dennison Mary Carney = Mary Gilhooley Lucien Carr = Kenneth Wood Billy Chandler = Tommy Campbell Allen Ginsberg = Leon Levinsky Herbert Huncke = Junky David Kammerer = Waldo Meister Edie Parker = Judie Smith Sebastian "Sammy" Sampas = Alex Panos sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
'It is the sum of myself, as far as the written word can go' Kerouac on THE TOWN AND THE CITY Kerouac's debut novel is a great coming of age story which can be read as the essential prelude to his later classics. Inspired by grief over his father's death and gripped by determination to write the Great American Novel, he draws largely on his own New England childhood. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
Debates activosNingunoCubiertas populares
Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
|
Kerouac in his earlier days loved to compare and contrast. In The Town and the City it is not only the brothers that are examined but the town of Galloway, Massachusetts and New York City. Also compared are the character in both Galloway and New York. In New York Kerouac, as always, remembers his friends. Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs are present with a host of renamed beat friends. War and bankruptcy help drive the story.
Kerouac's earlier work is much different from his more well-known later works. The writing is much more standard in format and the storytelling is more traditional than his later works. In a previously unreleased book, The Sea is my Brother (1940) many of the same writing mannerisms can be found. In The Sea is my Brother two brothers are compared and outgoing one and a safe one. They make a composite of Kerouac. In The Town and the City we can also see this in Peter who like Kerouac was a football play and merchant marine. In Joe, we see a bit of the Dharma Bum and traveler. In Francis, we see the wine drinking cynic. There may even be a bit of Ginsberg in Francis who voluntarily commits himself to avoid an unpleasant alternative. Kerouac, even in his early fiction, writes about what he knows and lives. He lived an interesting life with interesting friends and what was not interesting could be changed by writing. The Town and the City provides not only a great story but insight into the so to be famous writer and Beat generation icon. ( )