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  • xxxiii, 310 p. ; 20 cm.Origin: Barnes & Noble; Mishawaka, IN

    

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From Publishers Weekly

In introducing the fabled first draft of Kerouac's autobiographical novel-written on a single giant roll of paper, without breaks in the text, in an amphetamine-fueled marathon-editor Howard Cunnell refers to Allen Ginsberg's claim that "the published novel is not at all like the wild book Kerouac typed in '51." Characters are identified by their real names (rather than the 1957 version's apt pseudonyms) and their love affairs are more explicit, giving the book a juicy memoir-like feel, especially where Cassady and Ginsberg are concerned. The plot, however, is identical. Neal Cassady joins Kerouac and Ginsberg's bohemian circle in New York in the late 1940's, and inspires and cons them into traveling around the country, "searching for a lost inheritance, for fathers, for family, for home, even for America." The death of Kerouac's father plays a larger role in the story than in the 1957 version; and Justin W. Brierly, a teacher who served as mentor to Cassady and has a cameo in the published book, makes a series of recurring appearances in the scroll. The lack of paragraphs or chapters emphasizes the breathless intensity of Kerouac's prose. The anniversary publicity will introduce this classic to a new generation of readers, and while the scroll probably won't displace the novel's more familiar, polished incarnation, it will be of keen interest to beat aficionados and scholars.

以一本小說標舉一個文學世代，且成為日後反叛青年的聖經，甚至蔚為一種生命姿態，影響時尚流行，作者也儼然是重要的文化icon，這樣的「成就」，無怪乎On the Road《在路上》出版五十週年是個重要事件了。這部美國戰後文學經典，以半自傳式的散文體，寫頹廢漂泊的作家和年輕友人在無際的美洲公路浪遊，體現自由、友誼、愛、狂歡的生命本質。這個特殊版本是On the Road的另一則傳奇。一九四八到五０年間，Kerouac和Neal Cassady橫跨美洲，小說的原型出模；五一年四月，Kerouac瘋狂伏案三週，極端的「自發式寫作」成果是：打字紙黏貼成一百二十英尺長的卷軸，作者六度修訂的原本依據。

推薦理由：On the Road五十週年紀念版。一九五七年首版是作者修訂後的版本，並由編輯剪裁成一般讀者可接受的形式，原始卷軸的形式與內容再現了Kerouac革命性美學的力量。

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