The literary magazine Beatdom was kind enough to publish my essay in their ninth issue. Titled “Death Within a Chrysalis,” it’s the third excerpt (technically more of an outline) from my upcoming book. My piece looks at the influence of psychedelics on Jack Kerouac’s “spontaneous prose” style, and how he suppressed that fact because it would potentially detract from his reputation as a visionary writer, both in the public sphere and in his own family.
The print magazine is available for $11.99, shipped anywhere in the world–and it will soon be offered for digital purchase as a PDF (probably cheaper). (Update 8/18/2011: Beatdom issue #9 is now available for free download as a PDF. The print magazine is $9.99 USD, plus $2.00 for US shipping or $6 for international shipping.) Below is a preview of the essay!
At the turn of the 1960s, Jack Kerouac found himself in a profound state of limbo, representing the climax of an existential crisis that predated his life as a published author. He had been looking for an “answer” to his problems since his early twenties, yet for a variety of reasons his dilemma remained unresolved. Then a 35-year-old Jack became famous in an instant when On the Road was published in the fall of 1957, and this led to the total disruption of his already chaotic life. (more…)
