Jack Kerouac - Reluctant Icon | Biographical Documentary

In September 1957 Viking Press, published On the Road - a novel by a little-known author Jack Kerouac. It was immediately acclaimed as a classic and made Kerouac famous overnight. He and other Beat Generation writers were inspirational in the development of 1960s counterculture, but Kerouac was openly critical of it. believing his work had been misunderstood. This documentary explores his life and complex personality, including his three month admission to a US Navy psychiatric hospital during World War Two to find out why he was such a reluctant icon.

Finding Out More

References
Reynolds, M. (2016). Social madness in beat generation writing. The Expositor: A Journal of Undergraduate Research in the Humanities, 12, 80-99.
Wigand, M. E., Rüsch, N., & Becker, T. (2016). Jack Kerouac Revisited:“Madness” in: On the Road: Between Stigma and Glorification. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 204(10), 728-735.

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The primary purpose of this video is educational. I have tried to use material in the public domain or with Creative Commons Non-attribution licences wherever possible. Where attribution is required, I have listed this below. I believe that any copyright material used falls under the remit of Fair Use, but if any content owners would like to dispute this, I will not hesitate to immediately remove that content. It is not my intention to infringe on content ownership in any way. If you happen to find your art or images in the video, please let me know and I will be glad to credit you.

Images
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
University of North Carolina

Music
All music CC0 from YouTube

Video produced by Graeme Yorston and Tom Yorston.

[supramentalmanifestation]

I loved Kerouac in high school, then stopped reading him. In my mid 30s, I picked up "On the Road" in a bookshop and started reading random passages and realized quickly how much the book shaped my consciousness. Thanks for the video. I loved it.

[jcfw]

Excellent video. In 1979, when I was 19, I flew on Laker Airways from UK to New York and hitchhiked across the USA as far as Seattle and down into Mexico. That's how much Kerouac influenced my life. I still cherish the memories of that trip.

[Jupiterbotz]

Kerouac changed my life and has led me to great joy and great sorrow but I have always been ALIVE. Thanks, Jack, for the kick in the face. I love you.

[EvanFrenchMusic]

I live in Saint Petersburg, Florida, where Jack spent the last few years of his life. He has become quite an icon here in the city. The flamingo bar on mlk, where he used to hang out regularly, has become quite a shrine to him, and they have events throughout the year in celebration of him. Recently, his last remaining house that he owned while living here was made into a historical landmark, and I'm proud to say that I was one of the local voices that led to it being made into that.

[miketayse]

I found On the Road and Easy Rider very inspirational as a young man. I bought motorcycles and traveled back and fourth between the coast of the U. S. I still love the look of this country. Thanks for the nice summation of Kerouac. I've read a few of the books and enjoyed them all, during my college years I took a class on Beat Literature, which was lots of fun. Thanks again for posting!

[debaser]

Probably the best documentary of Jack Kerouac ever been made! It was very pleasurable to listen to and watch! I have the most stimulating 30 minutes for a long time. Thanks very much!

[markturpin]

Life long Kerouac reader your detailed research and narrative analysis of Kerouac's life and work in such a short space was exemplary and superb. Thank you.

[tb-xbrv]

With 1.4 thousand comments here i doubt mine will ever be read but I am moved to express my two cents nonetheless. I possess and have read a number of Kerouac bios, same with most all of his books including posthumous releases of his writings. Jack's writings have been and continue to be a source of pleasure, amazement, intrigue, inspiration, creativity, provocation of my senses, wonder, appreciation, hunger for raw experience, desire to explore the back alleys the underbelly of society, a craving to uncover the surface of people places things---
I was a Verb seeking the meaning inside all nouns...
And in my earlier life I did just that, same as so many of you did. The music of the '60's & '70's was to me what jazz bebop was to Jack I also delved into the jazz of his time and the artists he named in his books and dug it intensely as i still do.
The influence of jazz on his writing style and purpose and efforts he writes about often and plainly states in the beginning of Mexico City Blues.
I have read widely and deeply in poetry and literature and appreciate many writers and have a deep fondness and even love for many as I recognize the gifts they possessed -- including the ones driven by their mania or their melancholy, their fears their terrors, their angst cravings, their visions and voices, their hunger for grace their courting of darkness and death, their turning the stuff off life in nature and the nature of being human the stuff of storms in the sky and storms in their heads and hearts and turning all this into ART, poetry, literature, painting, sculpture, and innumerable other ways of creating.

The word poetry in Greek means "To Make".
As a poet myself, Kerouac remains a constant and a touchstone from my very early years, always bringing me a secret smile of appreciation for the force he released into the world through his one-of-a-kind expressions of jazz-like brilliance inscribed on the page his words like musical notes spontaneously creating unspeakable visions Blake-like and Bird-like compositions in his poems his sketches and his many books compiled together as the Legend of Duluoz.
Farewell and feel the spirit!

[charlietangoinsanelogics]

On the Road. The most influential book of my youth. It completely drove my 20s and early 30s. Train hoppin, hitchhiking, drinking, falling in and out of love. Ups and downs it was all a blast. Another beat.

[joaosantos]

Im Brazilian … Kerouac is my heroes too ! When I read on the road change my life I was 22. Now I’m 58 and still thinking about Cassidy ! Jack was libertarian for me leaving in agriculture in south Brazil… now I’m live in London.. but I’m still have the vision I got from him ! Thanks I love you video !

[BarrySilverman]

Kerouac found me, I didnt find him, as said by many who have been swept up by his genius. Ken Kesey once described the Grateful Dead in a way that I would describe Kerouac. Dead fans are willing to sit through a lot of mediocre or even bad music until you get to that one moment, where it pops and everything makes sense and you feel nothing but pure joy. This was Kerouac. If you could handle his meandering you would eventually get to a point of pure astonishment at the combination of narrative and poetry. He was an icon for sure, larger than life and unable to handle his fame. I like the way you point this out and I think this happens to some famous people, which is understandable. There is a lot of pressure to live up to the stature of defining a generation. Bob Dylan struggled with similar things. He didn't want to be the leader of a movement, he really just wanted to be an artist with some really poignant things to say. I think Kerouac felt the same, but he was exalted. I liked your portrayal. I appreciated the academic quality of it but I am sure you can understand that there is side to this man that is hard to capture in documentary form. You have to feel it to truly understand it. I dont think his work helped me become who I am, but it definitely helped shape the final product. I still read him today as I have yet to find any author who delights me like Kerouac. Thank you

[petebrandon]

Thanks Prof- I enjoyed watching that; I was an 18 y-o ‘student’ in Paris in 1961, and Kerouac and Ginsburg were very much part of our young lives - I still remember the cover of On the Road with Kerouac and Dean Cassidy; when I got back I had to write away to import Bob Dylan and Nina Simone records cos you couldn’t get them. Happy memories of a mis-spent but not wasted youth 🙃

[bonnievysotsky]

Dr.Yorston, my parents were neighbors of Jack in St.Pete.My dad was a Beatnik and great admirer. He would mow Jack's lawn and then they would sit in the yard drinking beer. When I was 2 ( a few years after his death) I wondered off and Stella found me and played with me in the front yard until my parents came looking for me.

[abeltasman]

He did change the reading habits of a generation and opened the door to literature for a lot of people

[petergianarakos]

My father played High School football with Jack. He didn't think much of his skill. Maybe bc my father's coach always referred to (my father) as "that Greek boy." He didn't think much of his writings either, but I did. I really liked the book and have read it several times. I too took the wrong message that he claims many did. I did my share of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. Disagreed with the Vietnam War, but went in the Army anyway. My wayward friends and I really adored his sense of freedom. I was also a loner, but with friends. I read many beat writers. I'm 77 now and I miss those days, but I feel my generation, the Boomers, brought a certain negativity to this country. This was a great biography. I enjoyed it immensely. Thank you!!

[joecitizen]

Truman Capote famously referred to On the Road as not being writing, but "typewriting". Yes, I believe Jack was a loner who didn't enjoy being alone. This may have been part of his struggle. His main flaw for me was not taking responsibility, especially for himself and his life choices. With this said, I love his writings. You seem to miss that most of his works were meant to be free form word jazz. He adored Bebop jazz and musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, and I think he tried to emulate them with his use of words. You do mention his readings with Steve Allen, this is what he was all about. Close your eyes and listen to "The moon her majesty". Simply beautiful. Free flowing.

[bornintime]

About the best 30 minutes I've spent on YouTube in a long while. Very well done. Thanks for that.

[forcelightningcable]

Kerouac defined the beat generation, and taught many outcasts and discontents, including myself, how to live in a world that doesn’t give a damn about us. I love that man.

[markcostigan]

One of the more satisfying pieces of content I have watched in recent times. Sadly many contributers on the internet these days are more interested in themselves as presenters rather than in their subject matter. But here the subject matter - Jack Kerouac - is front and centre. Beautifully put together, rich with information in language that does not try unnecessarily to draw attention to itself, this video is interesting from beginning to end. Thank you very much Professor. I have subscribed.

[christiandulaney]

I served 4 years in the Army after college, then went into medical sales. I read "On the Road" and it resonated so strongly with me! My favorite book of all time.

I quit my sales job and moved to Charleston SC to go to Dental School. Jack Kerouacs book was the main reason to pick up roots completely in my life.

The Electric Koolaid Acid Test is also another favorite. I just loved that "genre"