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Kerouac's narrative style
Kerouac and his narrative style
Kerouac, in
the essay " Essentials of
Spontaneous Prose " (published on the Evergreen Review in 1958), defined
the rules of his own narrative style: the method of sketching ( formulated by the
author after reading Neal Cassady's interminable letters ) is
characterized by total improvisation, like that of jazz
musicians (for ex., Charlie Parker, the inventor of bop ).
In
quote, here are the nine key points summarizing Kerouac's ideas about
his writing method:
- set up: "The object is set
before the mind, either in reality, as in sketching... or is set in the
memory"
- procedure: "Time being of
the essence in the purity of speech, sketching language is undisturbed
flow from the mind of personal secret idea-words, blowing ( as per jazz musicians )
on subject of image"
- method: "No periods
separating sentence - structures already arbitrarily riddled by false
colons and timid usually needless commas - but the vigorous space dash
separating rethorical breathing (as jazz musician drawing breath
between outblown phrases)"
- scoping: "Not selectivity
of expression but following free deviation (association) of mind into
limitless blow-on-subject seas of thought, swimming in a sea of English"
- lag in procedure: "No pause
to think of proper word but the infantile pileup of scatological
buildup words till satisfaction is gained"
- timing: "Nothing is muddy
that runs in time and to
laws of time ... no revision"
- center of interest: "Begin
not from preconceived idea of what to say about image but from the
jewel center of interest in subject of image at moment of writing, and write
outwards swimming in the sea of language to peripheral release
and exhaustion - Do not afterthink ...-Tap from yourself the song of
yourself, blow!- your way is your only way- always
honest, spontaneous, confessional, not crafted"
- structure of work: "Modern
bizarre structures (science fiction, etc.) arise from language being
dead, "different" themes give illusion of "new" life"
- mental state: "If possible
write "without consciousness" in semi-trance... write excitedly,
swiftly, with writing-or-typing cramps"
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