Selected Letters of Jack Kerouac (1940-1956) edited by Ann Charters [ADVANCE UNCORRECTED PROOF] 1995 • Viking

Selected Letters of Jack Kerouac (1940-1956) edited by Ann Charters 

ADVANCE UNCORRECTED PROOF [1995] VIKING

Rare publishers advance.  

*Text is tightly bound.  Cover wraps have been reinforced to binding leaving some visible cracking / binding glue along first page (see photos)

Otherwise very good.   Small scuffed spot on first page (see photo).  All other pages look and read like new. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

In Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters 1957-1969, the second and final volume of his correspondence, Charters highlights letters written to his closest friends and colleagues that paint a heart-wrenching portrait of this broken American genius.

The first volume of Kerouac's letters documented the writer's discovery of his "spontaneous prose" method and the inspired composition of 11 books between 1951 and 1956. "The second volume," writes Charters, "demonstrates that the publication of his books and the attendant publicity and hostile critical response literally destroyed him." The book opens with letters written prior to the publication of On The Road, an event that would make Kerouac famous overnight and permanently alter the landscape of American literature, and concludes only days before his death in St. Petersburg, Florida, at age 47.

Charters provides indispensable commentary between the letters to give the biographical background of what was happening in Kerouac's life, while allowing the writer to comment on his own work as much as possible. Charters also includes some letters from his friends, such as Gary Snyder's reaction to being the fictional hero of The Dharma Bums, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti's letter to Time magazine defending Kerouac from malicious attacks by critics on his books and lifestyle.