what's that, kerouac?

[arguchik]

apparently it's the 50th anniversary of on the road. maybe i should finally get around to reading it.

i have always felt ambivalent about the beats. even before i had much knowledge of feminism beyond a few bumper-sticker slogans, i found the beats a bit too misogynistic for my taste. i still feel that way. but i've read them anyway...and will continue to do so... i think it's kinda fucked to denounce something without reading it, and i never shelter myself from things i disagree with. hell, i sat through the entirety of dw griffith's birth of a nation, after seeing brief clips from it in a seminar a few years ago. i also think literary works (like the people who write them) are complex, multi-faceted, deeply layered, and at least potentially rewarding of my time and effort. (birth of a nation wasn't rewarding as a work of art...it was interesting as a historical artifact, though, even while deeply repellent.)

heh. i just mentioned this whole 50th anniversary thing to glaucon, and said that maybe it's time for me to read it. he said just one word: "sucks." i said, "well...he wrote it in 3 weeks." to which he replied, "it shows." yeah, probably. but i'll check it out anyway.

Comments

[xtingu]

I listened to it on tape while on a road trip. It was read by David Carradine which was entertaining.

Didn't really care too much about the book, really. Admittedly, I'm not much of a reader... I think I was expecting to have my doors blown off because of its popularity.

*shrug*