When I read On the Road, the personal feel of it, the intimacy of Kerouac's writing is one of the main draws to continuing reading it. However, it's not the 1950s. My view of the book, however, is not from that time period, and considering that people were a lot less open-minded in the 50s, I can easily see why Ginsberg would say something that, and how it would likely be true.
One thing I do find odd about Ginsburg's statement is his mention of it being "so full of sex language". Perhaps this is another product of my more modern viewpoint, but the book doesn't really seem to have all that much sex language. I mean, Kerouac mentions it several times, and doesn't beat around the bush about it, but it's definitely not what I would think of if I heard a book was full sex language. Here again, though, I think the difference in thought is from the disparity between current society and 1950s society. However, another reason could be that Ginsberg was reading Kerouac's original, unedited version of On the Road. I read the beginning of it, before having to switch it out for the edited version, but what I did read, in comparison, is significantly racier than the version I read. I think there was also a lot more of the "local mythological references" in the original as well.
The more I think about it, the less surprised I am by Ginsberg's response. Based on what he was probably reading, and the times he was living in, I see no reason why he wouldn't have responded as such. I likely would have too, had I lived in that time.
One thing I do find odd about Ginsburg's statement is his mention of it being "so full of sex language". Perhaps this is another product of my more modern viewpoint, but the book doesn't really seem to have all that much sex language. I mean, Kerouac mentions it several times, and doesn't beat around the bush about it, but it's definitely not what I would think of if I heard a book was full sex language. Here again, though, I think the difference in thought is from the disparity between current society and 1950s society. However, another reason could be that Ginsberg was reading Kerouac's original, unedited version of On the Road. I read the beginning of it, before having to switch it out for the edited version, but what I did read, in comparison, is significantly racier than the version I read. I think there was also a lot more of the "local mythological references" in the original as well.
The more I think about it, the less surprised I am by Ginsberg's response. Based on what he was probably reading, and the times he was living in, I see no reason why he wouldn't have responded as such. I likely would have too, had I lived in that time.
1 comment:
I agree with you that the books publication rejection was mostly a factor of the time it was written, not of the quality of the writing. From my knowledge going on an adventure to explore the west was very open-minded for the time. People that did not understand this type of thinking and therefore thought that the book would probably not do well with book sales.
I also find it interesting that the unedited version of the book was definitively different than the original. I wonder is that was one of the terms of agreement for the book to get published.
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