Saturday, October 1, 2011

San Francisco Scene

2 comments:

  1. I find myself really drawn to the way that Kerouac writes. Though sometimes hard to follow because of its fast pace, his writing is extremely authentic because the stream of consciousness of his narrative aptly coincides with the subject matter - the interruptions of the punctuation and grammar act as bumps and holes on a worn out road. He writes fast and without thinking, letting his pen flow documenting what he observes. This adds to a certain simplicity that would be otherwise absent if he over analyzed the world around him, gaining a profound sense of genuineness and humbleness for not only his personal work but for the beat movement.

    "It’s the beat generation, it’s be-at, it’s the beat to keep, it’s the beat of the heart, it’s being beat and down in the world and like old time lowdown and like in ancient civilizations the slave boatmen rowing galleys to a beat and servants spinning pottery to a beat."

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  2. I imagine a scene of controlled chaos that one might see if a snapshot were taken of any street in San Francisco at any given hour. There is a pulse to all things and Kerouac does well to capture the essence of this. The jive tone of his words suggests that like the event or manifestation of thought, life and thereby actions do not occur in linear cadence. One thing does not necessarily follow the other in perfect line. And yet there can be a harmony.

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