Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road was a touchstone for a generation and the centrepiece of the Beat movement in literature and art. This new book examines Kerouac's life and career, and accompanies a major exhibition at The New York Public Library to celebrate the 50th anniversary of On the Road's publication in 1957. Kerouac's achievement as both a literary and cultural figure is traced, including his innovations in narrative techniques and in character development. His counterculture vision is explored, showing his image as a seer and sage who wanted to save America from its obsession with consumerism, the inhibition of sexuality and other conventional bourgeois pieties. The author also explores Kerouac's relationships with Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and other Beats, as well as the Beat movement in general. The book is heavily illustrated, with material from the extensive Kerouac literary archive owned by The New York Public Library, including typescript drafts of On the Road.

At last a detailed study of the development of Kerouac's classic novel "On the Road", which examines all extant material, pre- and post- the version that was typed out on a 120-foot scroll of paper in a period of three weeks in early 1951. Dr. Gewirtz is ideally placed for this task, being curator of the New York Public Library, where the Kerouac archive is now stored, and so having access to items not previously available to other researchers.

Coverage of Kerouac's early work on his "Road" book begins in 1947, and includes an exhaustive look at the various drafts, fragments, and journals in which the initial attempts were recorded, with photographic images of many of the actual pages. Of particular interest is the development of the published version of "On the Road" from the 1951 scroll version. According to Gewirtz, Kerouac made three different conventional typescripts of the book between 1951 and about 1956, each with somewhat differing content, the final one being used as the basis for the book as eventually published in 1957.

Gerwitz claims that the first of these typescripts is now "lost" but the other two, currently stored at the NYPL, are well-illustrated in the book, which contains eight full-page images from the second, and seven from the third. Five sections from the scroll are also presented -- the first part, and four other full-page images previously unpublished. These illustrations are clearly readable and demonstrate how a facsimile edition could be produced, either in book form or on CD, of the scroll and the other typescripts, drafts, and fragments. Such a product is apparently being discussed in various circles, but until it finally appears this book provides a valuable interim measure, and is recommended to all Kerouac enthusiasts. ( )