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Re: On the Road >> Jack's Valentine


--- John Davis <biglight at pacbell_net> wrote:
> 
> The Sal Paradise and Dean MOriarty characters in the
> novel are 
> rumored to represent Kerouac and Neal Cassady,

I think it's safe to say that this is out of the realm
of rumor.  It's pretty much accepted fact.

> Cassady didn't return Keroac's interest,

Now here's where the rumor comes in.  I'm not saying
that Kerouac was a saint or anything (far from it!),
but I believe a lot the myth surrounding his
"homosexuality" is indeed that - myth.  A lot of it
stems from that horrible Ellis Amborn book
'Subterranean Kerouac'.  (Amborn's contradictions and
innacurracies will soon be legendary.  His 'biography'
rates right up there with that horrid, horrid James
Dean bio 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams'.)

 (think about that: Lewis, and
> then Linford, 
> managed to connect Christmas and Easter into one big
> image by doing 
> that).

Is it really correct to say that Linford did this if
he was actually making referece to Lewis doing it?  Or
am I misunderstanding you?

 W/r/t Kerouac, I think that it's safe to say
> that both his 
> interest in Cassady and his addiction could be seen
> as "White 
> Witches" in his Narnia, things that ruled over him
> but did not bring 
> him joy. 

Once again, where are you getting this "interest in
Cassady" as something that "ruled over him?"  Neal
Cassady was a very attractive, charismatic man.  Who
wouldn't love to be around him?  But that hardly
equals an addictive crush, does it?

The suicide imagery at the end ("trip
> myself and fall upon 
> your fabulous sword," for e.g.) conjures (for me
> anyway) images of 
> Christian and Buddhist monks practicing asceticism,
> Thomas Merton or 
> Tich Nhat Hanh come to mind-- people who practiced
> "dying" in one 
> sense in order to be reborn in another sense, Much
> like Aslan in the 
> Narnia book, who is killed by the White Witch but
> then returns to 
> life-- it is Alsan's deatht that undoes to magic the
> Witch has cast 
> over Narnia.

This is interesting.  However, I think it would be a
stretch to extrapolate this much from Jack's
Valentine.  

I just remember Linford saying that he wrote 'Jack's
Valentine' after reading 'On the Road' again.  I've
spent a lot of time since then trying to make the
connection.  Your suggestion that it has more to do
with Kerouac himself than 'On the Road' is helpful. 
However, I'm not sure I'm with you on all the other
stuff.

Just a thought,

KElvin

=====
Time is precious
Talk is cheap
So make it mean something.
         -- Rob Jungklas

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