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Sale 82
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Lot 952
Kerouac, Jack (1922-69) American novelist; On the Road (1957) established him as the leader and spokesman of the Beat generation. Typed letter signed ("Jack"), 1¼pp, 11 x 8¼" (Lowell, Mass.), Sept. 27, 1968. With postscript on verso signed (J.K.). Unfolded; very fine. To Sterling Lord, his literary agent, mentioning events in his life since the publication of On the Road. In part:
"Here's what I'll do with SPOTLIGHT. I'll use my public appearances on TV and lectures as rungs in the ladder of the narrative. In betwixt, I can throw in more private matters, such as my two physical beatings in bars….I'll start with when I'm living on that backporch in Florida with my Maw in 1957, broke, arguing about what to buy for dessert because we have no money for meat, and suddenly Time Magazine comes in to interview me about the upcoming puclication of ON THE ROAD….When I arrive in New York City I look in a disposal trash basket in Penn Station to see what my review was like in the New York Times. But since someone's spit on the only Times in the can, I dont touch it, and only walk up to Viking Press to see what's happed. When I get there they tell me I'm an overnight success. And I'm hungry for food. So we go to Schraaft's across the street and I order my lunch but everybody's yakking so much around me I begin to realize right then and there that 'success' is when you can't enjoy your food any more in peace."
He recounts interviews with John Wingate on Channel 7, then with Ben Hecht's show, a lecture at Brandeis University where he was booed for arguing about peace, the premiere of his movie PULL MY DAISY at the San Francisco film festival, an appearance on a French-language program in Montreal, Canada, and an appearance on the William F. Buckley, Jr. program, then continues: "…of course I wont go into 1960 BIG SUR experiences or 1965 SATORI IN PARIS….It will complete the 'Legend' up to now and may very well be my most exhausting writing experience, since the story is so fraught with eminent peril, men, women, dogs, cats, cornpones, agents, publishers, poolsharks, TV directors calling me a 'drunken moron,' celebrities, boozers, bookies, phew wait till you see it. But I cant do it without some money to live on, so show this letter to the prospective publisher and let's get at it." In the postscript, he writes, "I'm using the title SPOTLIGHT because that was the name of my father's old theatrical newspaper in Lowell, when he used to play cards with W.C. Fields, George Arliss and George Burns backstage at the old B.F. Keith's Theater…in Lowell. The title will honor the memory of his own work…."
Estimated Value $3,000 - 5,000.
Mel Smith Collection, ex Water Row Books/Jack Kerouac Estate, 1991.
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