Archive for 09/01/2011 - 10/01/2011

Big Sur by Jack Kerouac

Tuesday, September 27, 2011 § 0

Jack Kerouac's Big Sur: Esthetic Appreciation for Nature and the American Expres(sion)ist Text: Sea

 A Book Review by 
David Detrich                                                        
Big Sur (1963) by Jack Kerouac is a novel that begins in San Francsico with the return of the narrator Jack Duluoz to City Lights Bookstore, where Lorenz Monsanto has agreed to give him the use of his cabin in Big Sur for six weeks of novel writing. The narrator writes with an informal American style of prose celebrating the San Francisco lifestyle, where he gets together with his literary friends for wine drinking. Big Sur is written with the charm of an accomplished storyteller, who describes his experiences while visiting the cabin in Big Sur. There are long descriptive passages of the rock canyons, that give the California coast a metaphysical mood with a historical sense of natural beauty, and the novel concludes with the innovative poetic text Sea, Sounds of the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur. Big Sur by Jack Kerouac is a literary classic written with informal prose, that has evolved out of American modernism, and into the innovative trend of the 1960s.

Jack Duluoz begins his journey with a visit to Los Gatos, and continues down the coast past the Carmel Highlands to a canyon in Big Sur, where he is hoping to visit Lorenz Monsanto's cabin.

My work comprises one vast book like Proust's except that my remembrances are written on the run instead of afterwards in a sick bed.
                                                           Big Sur
                                                           Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac states in the preface that his novels form the Duluoz Legend, and the use of fictional names in his novels was suggested by his editors, who wanted new names for each novel. He could have called his novels autobiographical fiction, and kept the same names in each novel to form what Anaïs Nin has called the continuous novel, a longer form evolving out of real life experiences.

...he would secretly drive me to his cabin in the Big Sur woods where I would be alone and undisturbed for six weeks just chopping wood, drawing water, writing, sleeping, hiking, etc. etc. - But insted I've bounced drunk into his City Lights booshop at the height of Saturday night business, everyone recognized me (even tho I was wearing my disguise-like fisherman's hat and fishermen coat and pants waterproof)...
                                                           Big Sur
                                                           Jack Kerouac

When the narrator mentions his "disguise-like fisherman's hat" he may be making a subtle allusion to my character: the waterfall with red hair, who wears a fisherwoman's hat on her hikes along the Apple Blossom Trail. Jack Kerouac likes to play a leading role with the reader, and his insight into the American innovative novel makes Big Sur worthy of critical attention, anticipating the trend of autobiographical fiction, and even that of sound poetry, with his tribute to the ocean Sea at the end of Big Sur.

The "King of the Beatniks" is back in town buying drinks for everyone...
                                                           Big Sur
                                                           Jack Kerouac

When the narrator Duluoz mentions the "King of the Beatniks" I am reminded of Jesus Christ, who was asked by Pontius Pilate if he was the King of the Jews. "My kingdom is not of this world," Jesus said, and it is with this charge that he was sentenced to be crucified. The true spirit of freedom in the arts triumphed in the days of Jesus, and the historical winners have continued to the present with a friendly regard for the work of their fellow novelists.

A woman coming to my door and saying "I'm not going to ask you if you're Jack Duluoz because I know he wears a beard, can you tell me where I can find him, I want a real Beatnik at my annual Shindig party
                                                           Big Sur
                                                           Jack Kerouac

This witty style of dialogue has inspired my own writing with its subtle 1960s sense of humor, that makes Big Sur by Jack Kerouac a novel that gives the reader esthetic pleasure in the appreciation of the narrator's trendy characterizations.

I had sneaked into San Francisco as I say, coming 3000 miles from my home in Long Island (Northport)
                                                           Big Sur
                                                           Jack Kerouac

Several American novelists have visited Big Sur to write novels or autobiographical essays on the mountainous coast which inspires the creative spirit: Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch (1957) by Henry Miller, Big Sur (1963) by Jack Kerouac, A Confederate General from Big Sur (1964) by Richard Brautigan, and my own novel Big Sur Marvels & Wondrous Delights (2001) by David Detrich.

The face of yourself you see in the mirror with its expression of unbearable anguish so haggard and awful with sorrow you cant even cry for a thing so ugly, so lost, no connection whatever with early perfection and therefore nothing to connect with tears or anything: it's like William Seward Burroughs' "Stranger" suddenly appearing in your place in the mirror—Enough! "One fast move or I'm gone"
                                                           Big Sur
                                                           Jack Kerouac

The defacement in the mirror of Jack Duluoz creates a nightmarish experience, with the introduction of the theme of jealousy for the narrator's good looks, and his writing skills, which may have caused a malicious attack on his identity as a novelist: with the superimposition of William Burroughs on his face. America should defend human rights more noticeably, so that our writers are protected from jealous rivals.

Jack sensed that he and Cassady were to be the architects of a dawning American literary renaissance...
                                                          Subterranean Kerouac: 
                                                          The Hidden Life
                                                          of Jack Kerouac
                                                          Ellis Amburn

Big Sur by Jack Kerouac is a novel which has inspired a literary renaissance in the fiction of Big Sur, written with the precise psychological insight into characterization. The narrator Duluoz shows an appreciation for the beauty of nature, and describes his experience of being alone in a rugged west coast environment, ending the novel with the innovative text Sea, Sounds of the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur, a poetic study of the concrete sounds of the ocean, which makes this novel a classic of American innovative fiction.

 David Detrich lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where he has just completed The Convergence of Two Narrative Lines Ascending, an ultramodern Surrealist novel written in minimal squares. This year he is working on Dream the Presence of the Circular Breast Starfish Topography, a monumental Surrealist novel written with innovative typographical design. His first novel Big Sur Marvels & Wondrous Delights (2001) is available from Amazon. He is the editor of Innovative Fiction Magazine and Surrealist Star Clustered Illuminations.

A Confederate General from Big Sur by Richard Brautigan

Monday, September 26, 2011 § 1

Richard Brautigan as Poet/Novelist: Romance in A Confederate General from Big Sur

A Review by 
David Detrich

 A Confederate General from Big Sur (1964) by Richard Brautigan is a poetic novel written with the subtle humor of the hippie generation poet from San Francisco, and includes a reading of the Bible by candlelight with a meditation on the rivets in Ecclesiastes. Several romantic relationships form micronarratives when the narrator Jesse gets together with the charming Lee Mellon. The poetic witticisms make this a classic in the Big Sur genre that features nature inspired writing, metaphysical experience, and romance on the California coast. A Confederate General from Big Sur is written in informal prose by a poet from the northwest whose outlook on reality makes this a cool classic.

The novel begins with the Civil War theme of the Confederation versus the Union, and a description of the California coast by the narrator, Jesse, whose urban sense of humor comes from living in San Francisco where he is a connoisseur of muscatel wine.

The Santa Lucia Mountains that thousand-year-old flophouse for mountain lions and lilacs, a hotbed of Secession? The Pacific ocean along there, that million-year-old skid row for abalone and kelp, sending representatives back to the Confederate Congress in Richmond, Virginia?
                                                           A Confederate General
                                                           from Big Sur
                                                           Richard Brautigan

The Civil War theme is relevant today now that we are experiencing disturbances in the present decade from a future conflict. Richard Brautigan hints at this future upheaval in the letters which form the Letters and Arrival chapter of the novel, a time when the country is "reduced to nothing but anarchy and tatters," and with "a rather torn landscape."

Jesse gets together with Lee Mellon, who plays the romantic hero at breakfast, and he tells the waitress:

     "I'll give you a dollar for a kiss," Lee Mellon said while she was giving him the change for ten dollars.    
     "Sure," she said, without smiling or being embarassed, or acting out of the way or anything. It was just as if the Dollar Lee Mellon Kissing Business were an integral part of her job.
     Lee Mellon gave her a great big kiss. Neither one of them cracked, opened or celebrated a smile. 
                                                          A Confederate General 
                                                          from Big Sur
                                                          Richard Brautigan

In the Letters and Arrival chapter Lee Mellon writes to Jesse who is thinking of visiting Big Sur.

Great! Why don't you come down here. I have'nt got any clothes on, and I just saw a whale! There's plenty of room for everybody. Bring something to drink. Whiskey!
—As always, Lee Mellon
                                                           A Confederate General 
                                                           from Big Sur
                                                           Richard Brautigan

Jesse introduces the character Cynthia to Lee Mellon in a letter, which may be a subtle allusion to my own novel-in-progress The Convergence of Two Narrative Lines Ascending, where the waterfall with red hair impresses the characters with a similar plot line, showing a compatible development of style with the poetic prose of the innovative novel.

     The girl and I are patching things up. These last few days have been delightful. Perhaps I'll bring her down with me when I go to Big Sur. 
     Her name is Cynthia. I think you'd really like her.
     By the way your last letter shows strong evidence of a budding literary style. 
                            Yours Jesse, 
                                                           A Confederate General 
                                                           from Big Sur
                                                           Richard Brautigan

There are numerous literary allusions in A Confederate General from Big Sur, and Jesse seems to have the sensitivity of a poet. We see him reading the Russians, making allusions to William Carlos Williams, The Journal of Albion Moonlight by Kenneth Patchen, and describing a young woman who "talked about painters of genius like Vincent Van Gogh." 

A man needs the proper atmosphere to read the Russians. There are four houses down here and only one Lee Mellon. This morning I saw a coyote walking through the sagebrush right at the very edge of the ocean—next stop China.
                                                           A Confederate General 
                                                           from Big Sur
                                                           Richard Brautigan

A Confederate General from Big Sur was reviewed in Playboy, with insight into the "lovable eccentric characters," who meet "callgirls with hearts of gold," in a novel that is considered Surrealist by the reviewer.

They are thus self-evidently, sensitive, superior beings. There are purportedly odd adventures, lovable eccentric characters... callgirls with hearts of gold and other parts to match, all seen from the heights of middle adolescence.
                                                           Books March 1965
                                                           Playboy

In Big Sur the narrator Jesse is reading the Bible in a cabin by candlelight. His interpretation is eccentric and original,

     I was of course reading Ecclesiastes at night in a very old Bible that had heavy pages. At first I read it over and over again every night, and then I read it once every night, and then I began reading just a few verses every night, and now I was just looking at the punctuation marks. 
     Actually I was counting them, a chapter every night. I was putting the number of punctuation marks down in a notebook, in neat columns. I called the notebook "The Punctuation Marks in Ecclesiastes." I thought it was a nice title. I was doing it as a kind of study in engineering.
                                                            A Confederate General 
                                                            from Big Sur 
                                                            Richard Brautigan

A Confederate General from Big Sur by Richard Brautigan is an American historical novel which was published two years after Big Sur (1962) by Jack Kerouac, and is a meditation on the significance of the Civil War from a future perspective. The novel has several mini-narratives which include romantic relationships, as Jesse and Lee Mellon enjoy their visit to a cabin with glass windows and a view of the Pacific. A Confederate General from Big Sur is written with the humor and informal prose of a 1960s poet from San Francisco.

 David Detrich lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where he has just completed The Convergence of Two Narrative Lines Ascending, an ultramodern Surrealist novel written in minimal squares. This year he is working on Dream the Presence of the Circular Breast Starfish Topography, a monumental Surrealist novel written with innovative typographical design. His first novel Big Sur Marvels & Wondrous Delights (2001) is available from Amazon. He is the editor of Innovative Fiction Magazine and Surrealist Star Clustered Illuminations.

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