On the Road (Question 3, Post 6)

3. In 1952 (when people still wrote letters to each other), Allen Ginsberg penned these words to Kerouac about the manuscript of On the Road: "I don't see how it will ever be published, it's so personal, it's so full of sex language, so full of our local mythological references, I don't know if it would make sense to any publisher." What is your reaction to this?

I read up on the story behind the book, and apparently Kerouac wrote the entire novel in 3 weeks, on a single piece of paper (many typewriter sheets taped together), while surviving solely on pea soup and coffee. Kerouac was influenced by jazz and musical improvisation, which inspired him to just type out whatever came to mind. So whether or not it's "so personal, so full of sex language, so full of our local mythological references", it's really just a solo. An, evidently, a best-selling one.

I'm not really sure if it was a good thing that that this book was edited. It's kind of like auto-tuning a sax solo. It just ruins the passion behind the music.