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Book cover of Book of Dreams
U.S. Authors - 20th Century - Literary Biography, Literature Anthologies - General & Miscellaneous

Book of Dreams

by Jack Kerouac, Robert Creeley
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Overview

"In the Book of Dreams I just continue the same story but in the dreams I had of the real-life characters I always write about."

Excerpt:

WALKING THROUGH SLUM SUBURBS of Mexico City I'm stopped by smiling threesome of cats who've disengaged themselves from the general fairly crowded evening street of brown lights, coke stands, tortillas—Unmistakably going to steal my bag—I struggled a little, gave up—Begin communicating with them my distress and in fact do so well they end up just stealing parts of my stuff…. We walk off leaving the bag with someone—arm in arm like a gang to the downtown lights of Letran, across a field—

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) was a principal actor in the Beat Generation, a companion of Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady in that great adventure. His books include On the Roa, The Dharma Bums, Mexico City Blues, Lonesome Traveler, Scattered Poems, Visions of Cody, Pomes All Sizes, and Scripture of the Golden Eternity.

Synopsis

The definitive, unabridged edition of Jack Kerouac's autobiography as told through dreams.

New Yorker

Jack Kerouac intended his BOOK OF DREAMS, spontaneously recorded between 1952 and 1960 and newly published in its entirety, as an extension of his novels and poems. In one dream, he plans a trip east, 'as if there could be East or West in that waving old compass of the sack.' Kerouac spends many nights on the road, travelling to Mexico City, India, and Russia. Only when the landscapes become less exotic do the dreams start to terrify him: 'What am I doing in this sinister North Carolina as a clerk getting up at 6:00...a nightmare only life could have devised.

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Editorials

New Yorker

Jack Kerouac intended his BOOK OF DREAMS, spontaneously recorded between 1952 and 1960 and newly published in its entirety, as an extension of his novels and poems. In one dream, he plans a trip east, 'as if there could be East or West in that waving old compass of the sack.' Kerouac spends many nights on the road, travelling to Mexico City, India, and Russia. Only when the landscapes become less exotic do the dreams start to terrify him: 'What am I doing in this sinister North Carolina as a clerk getting up at 6:00...a nightmare only life could have devised.

Booknews

Spontaneously written in a series of notebooks between 1952 and 1960, the is Jack Kerouac's autobiography as told through dreams. Each morning, immediately upon waking, Kerouac would scribble down everything he could remember about his dreams. The first edition of the text, published by Ferlinghetti in 1961, contained a little more than half of the original manuscript. The current volume presents Kerouac's manuscript in its entirety. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Book Details

Published
May 1, 2001
Publisher
City Lights Books
Pages
250
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780872863804

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