Road Novels, 1957–1960

With his unruly hair and rugged good looks, Jack Kerouac has become the poster boy for rebellious literary iconoclasts. But Kerouac was also deeply conservative and a patriotic American, and I have no doubt that were he still alive, he would be thrilled at the inclusion of his writing in the Library of America, that rather severe-looking publishing endeavour that enshrines (and to some extent defines) the American canon. This new book places Kerouac alongside Herman Melville and Walt Whitman, John Dos Passos and Jack London—and (surprisingly) ahead of Thomas Wolfe, the writer Kerouac admired above all others. Road Novels, 1957—1960 is an omnibus volume dressed in the standard Library of America livery: a burgundy cloth binding; a black dust jacket discreetly trimmed in red, white and blue; a bound-in ribbon marker. Included are four autobiographical novels (On the Road, The Dharma Bums, The Subterraneans and Tristessa), Lonesome Traveler (eight short pieces with travel as their common theme), as well as relevant selections from Kerouac’s journals. All texts are faithful to their first publication, with a compact list of corrected typographical errors appended. If Kerouac is now a part of the American canon, can Iceberg Slim be far behind?