KEROUAC, JACK


Meaning of KEROUAC, JACK in English

orig. Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac

born March 12, 1922, Lowell, Mass., U.S.

died Oct. 21, 1969, St. Petersburg, Fla.

U.S. poet and novelist.

Born to a French-Canadian family, he attended Columbia University, served as a merchant seaman, and roamed the U.S. and Mexico before his first book appeared. At Columbia he met Allen Ginsberg and other kindred spirits, and he became a spokesman of what would be dubbed the Beat movement (a term he coined). He celebrated its code of poverty and freedom in On the Road (1957); his best-known novel, and the first written in the nonstop, unedited style that he advocated, it enjoyed a huge success among young people, for whom Kerouac became a romantic hero. All his novels, including The Dharma Bums (1958), The Subterraneans (1958), and Desolation Angels (1965), are autobiographical. His death at age 47 resulted from alcoholism.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.      Краткая энциклопедия Британика.