Sal Paradise at 50

Today I asked why Kerouac wasn't assigned in the reading. I love Kerouac. The prose ignites on the page, it's impossible to read the story without your soul catching fire too, feeling the beat and the excitement and the spirit of the time. I think I know why he wasn't assigned-- the story isn't so much about the places he travels as the people he meets and the things they do. It isn't so much travel writing as it is the voice of a generation taking flight on the road...

Note: I love the book, but I don't glorify Kerouac or Moriarty. If you want a more accurate portrayal of the two womanizing, deadbeat dads, read Off The Road by Carolyn Cassady, wife of Neal Cassady who is portrayed as Dean Moriarty in Kerouac's road book. She talks about how he was constantly leaving her penniless and alone with their young sons, how he would bring back strangers, raid all the food in the house, and then leave for days... cool guy, huh?

Anyway...

Some guy wrote an awesome op-ed for the NY Times a long time ago called Sal Paradise at 50. It's a great article. I read it and fell in love with the last sentence:

"Someday some hypermanic kid will produce a moronically maxed-out adventure odyssey that will spark the overdue rebellion among all the over-pressured SAT grinds, and us grumpy midlife critics will get to witness a new Kerouac, and the greatest pent-up young-life crisis in the history of the world.” - David Brooks