Selected Letters, 1940-1956. This item is unavailable.Selected Letters, 1940-1956

In his prolific correspondence, Jack Kerouac set down the raw material of the life that he would later transmute into his multi-volume "Legend of Duluoz", he also refined the seemingly freewheeling and spontaneous prose style that became his trademark. The collection of letters in this volume were written between 1940, when Kerouac was a college freshman and 1956, immediately before he became a celebrity with the publication of "On the Road". They offer insights into Kerouac's family life, friendships, travels, love affairs and literary apprenticeship.

"The most exhilirating book of the year."
--Chicago Tribune

"As we just now begin to map full the fallout of [the Beat Generation's] creative explosion, these letters offer an invaluable blueprint to the intricate, high-yield ballistics that went into creating it."
--San Francisco Examiner

"The greatest addition to the Kerouac canon in recent years"
--Steven Moore, Review of contemporary Fiction

"To have [his letters] gathered in one place . . . is to be overwhelmed by his passion for the printed word, by his hunger for experience and by his ability to describe both in language that sings. . . . The most exhilirating book of the year."
--Thomas McGonigle, Chicago Tribune