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Article: `On the Road' again Jack Kerouac's 40-year-old novel still holds a uniquely influential place in American culture
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- September 21, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1997 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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It's been a rough year for the Beats.
Allen Ginsberg died in April, William Burroughs in August. The
respective authors of "Howl" and "Naked Lunch" were the best-known
survivors of that eagerly subversive literary movement, whose
celebrations of jazz and Zen and altered states of consciousness
shocked the '50s cultural establishment.
Yet their deaths also demonstrated just how established the Beats
have become, how much their work has entered the fabric of our
culture. Ginsberg's obituary appeared on the front page of The New
York Times (that supreme register of official taste), and Burroughs's
merited a prominent Page 1 teaser box with photo.
Contrast this with the treatment the Times ...