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Article: Yes, a Small-Town Park for Jack Kerouac
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- January 14, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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When Norman Podhoretz criticized a new park dedicated to the
memory of Jack Kerouac in his home town of Lowell, Mass., my first
reaction was amazement {op-ed, Jan. 8}.
Kerouac was a local boy who made good. As the writer who gave
the Beat Generation its name, Kerouac offered an alternative view of
post-World War II American culture, different from the Norman
Rockwell vision offered on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.
As a writer and as a man, Jack Kerouac did not represent any
particular way of life, but rather chronicled the exploits of a group
of postwar writers and artists who were uncomfortable with many
aspects of American society. They rejected the rabid McCarthyism
that ...