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Atop an Underwood

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What to expect

Before Jack Kerouac expressed the spirit of a generation in his 1957 classic On the Road, he spent years figuring out how he wanted to live and, above all, learning how to write.

Atop an Underwood brings together more than sixty previously unpublished works that Kerouac wrote before he was twenty-two, ranging from stories and poems to plays and parts of novels, including an excerpt from his 1943 merchant marine novel, The Sea Is My Brother. These writings reveal what Kerouac was thinking, doing, and dreaming during his formative years and reflect his primary literary influences. Readers will also find in these works the source of Kerouac’s spontaneous prose style.

Uncovering a fascinating missing link in Kerouac’s development as a writer, Atop an Underwood is essential reading for Kerouac fans, scholars, and critics.

Critics Review

  • “This is a Jack Kerouac developing his skills, awaiting his muse.”

    Cleveland Plain Dealer

  • “Offers a wonderful glimpse into the author’s formative years.”

    Boston Herald

  • “It’s good to dip into the early writings and see the confident, hopeful Jack Kerouac who was the source of his own dreams.”

    Philadelphia Inquirer

  • “Kerouac’s intense desire to be a writer hit him early and stayed with him his entire life. This passion colors all of his early stuff…And his themes are all here: America, travel, jazz, the delicate presence of death…The passion Kerouac brought to all of his writing is here.”

    American Book Review

  • “Atop an Underwood is indispensable for the reader who wants to chart the development of one of our talented writers.”

    Chicago Tribune

  • “Provide[s] a tantalizing glimpse of the future Beat generation originator, spanning Kerouac’s adolescence and his first years in New York.”

    Publishers Weekly

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