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Big Sur

Penguin Modern Classics

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Big Sur

By: Jack Kerouac
Narrated by: Ethan Hawke
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Driven mad by three years of endless telegrams, phonecalls, mail, reporters and snoopers in the wake of his hugely successful novel On the Road, Jack Kerouac, 'King of the Beats', needs peace, quiet and sobriety: surrounded and outnumbered he has to 'get away to solitude again or die'. Amidst the wild beauty of the Californian landscape, Kerouac struggles to come to terms with his own myth and its malign impact upon his life. The result is a moving account of a man struggling with inner demons: blessed by great talent and cursed with an urge towards self-destruction - a path lined with double bourbons, Manhattans and scotch....

©1962 Jack Kerouac (P)2021 Penguin Audio Biographical Fiction Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Biography Royalty

Critic Reviews

"Kerouac's grittiest novel...sensual and uninhibited." (The New York Times)
All stars
Most relevant  
birth of narcissistic writing? self pity depressed and self absorbed destruction of id oh well nevermind. .

really hard work

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