by Hammer O.
One of the first things one is taught in any English class is that any work of writing should go through a series of drafts before you finally submitting it as a finished piece. Jack Kerouac challenged this notion in the American classic On The Road.
While writing On The Road, Jack Kerouac was traveling across the country much like his Beatnik main character Sal Paradise. Reportedly, the whole story was written in one gigantic typewriter reel which means Kerouac could not use a delete or backspace button to edit his work; He had to get it right the first time.
Kerouac writes
"the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'"
The effect of leaving his work unedited is clear in this passage as it's grammar is far from proper and its sentence structure is often run on. Despite this, the message Kerouac's trying to get across is done so effectively and with plenty of aesthetic appeal. This combination of qualities makes the reader feel as though Kerouac was simply regurgitating whatever popped into his head at the time onto the page.
This concept of recording your immediate thought was a recurring theme throughout the "beat-age" of the 50s. The famous Beat-Generation poem Howl by Allen Ginsberg was written in a single draft. Many clubs offered open mic for Jazz poetry, most of which was thought of on the spot while up on stage. Overall this style fits the Beat Generation because those "Hipsters" and "Beatniks" valued living in the immediate moment.
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