Big Sur » (Reprint)

Big Sur is a humane, precise account of the extraordinary ravages of delirium tremens on Kerouac, a superior novelist who had the strength to complete his poetic narrative despite his affliction. Here we meet San Francisco s poets and recognize Dean Moriarty, ten years after On the Road. At the peak of his suffering, Kerouac was able to write through it all, ending this book with a tribute to the hallucinatory sounds of the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur.

Kerouac s autobiographical novel is the inspiration for a documentary about the late writer scheduled for release in the fall of 2009. Including numerous interviews with writers and artists who both knew and were inspired by Kerouac, the film uses his words from Big Sur to recount his later years. It also includes interviews with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joyce Johnson, Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Sam Shepard, Carolyn Cassady, and Aram Saroyan.