Jack Kerouac Selected Letters, 1957-1969

The 1st volume of Jack Kerouac's selected letters, published in 1995, was an important addition to Kerouac scholarship. This 2nd and final volume, comprising letters written between 1957, the year "On the Road" was published, and the day before his death in 1969 at age 47, tells Kerouac's life story through his correspondence with friends, confidants, and editors -- among them Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Philip Whalen, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joyce Johnson, and Malcolm Cowley. The letters document his continuing development as a writer and his travels, love affairs, and complicated family life. They also reveal Kerouac's courage in the face of criticism and his never-ending quest to be the best writer possible.