Jack Kerouac is one that LOA has tried to rehabilitate for readers but Kerouac's writings as well as his French (now translated here) & poems are hard reading for readers. One of the issues that keep coming up is the almost depressing state of his writings that leave the reader wondering where is this going? It is expected of a writer who seems to have difficulty coming to any point. ( )

"To be read simply for the pleasure of reading." This quote, presumably by Kerouac, comes from a note at the front of his unpublished typescript Memory Babe. That story and everything else in this volume attests to Kerouac's writing chops. Pleasure reading? Yass! There is so much here, and parts of it I savored as I did On the Road. The editor and translator (some of Kerouac's unpublished work was written in a French Canadian dialect) have polished the gold they found to a pleasing luster. I, also, found the end notes very helpful. It's probably been said already, but Kerouac was the Whitman of the 20th century, and I would not be surprised if his ranking in the pantheon of Amer. Lit. continues to rise. ( )