Desolation Peak: Collected Writings
Book by Jack Kerouac
DETAILS
Publisher : Rare Bird Books (November 8, 2022) Language : English Hardcover : 312 pages ISBN-10 : 1644282860 ISBN-13 : 978-1644282861 Item Weight : 1.15 pounds Dimensions : 6 x 1.12 x 9.25 inches Best Sellers Rank: #59,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #55 in Literary Diaries & Journals #119 in American Poetry (Books) #178 in Author Biographies , "Something will happen to me on Desolation Peak…I can feel it." In the summer of 1956, Jack Kerouac hitchhiked from Mill Valley, CA, to the North Cascades to spend two months serving as a fire lookout for the US Forest Service. Taking only the Diamond Sutra for reading material, he intended to spend his time in deep contemplation and to achieve enlightenment. He wrote in his journal that he planned "to concentrate on emptiness of self, other selves, living beings, and universal self." In letters to friends he proclaimed, "Something will happen to me on Desolation Peak…I can feel it." Kerouac's experience on Desolation Peak forms the climax of his novel The Dharma Bums and has also been depicted in part 1 of Desolation Angels and a chapter in his nonfiction book Lonesome Traveler . None of these versions offers a full, true picture, however; and for that reason, Desolation Peak is essential reading. What separates Kerouac from all other writers is the depth that he went in exploring his own consciousness, and what will prove his most enduring legacy is the record he left of that exploration, revealing the psyche of a sensitive, tortured artist grappling with himself in the mid-20th Century. The highlight of Desolation Peak is the journal he kept, starkly revealing the depth of his poverty, the extremity of his mood swings, and the ongoing arguments with himself over the future direction of his life, his writing, and faith. Along with the journal, he worked on a series of projects, including " Ozone Park ," another installment of the Duluoz Legend beginning in 1943, after his discharge from the Navy; " The Martin Family ," an intended sequel to The Town and the City , and " Desolation Adventure, " a series of sketches that became part 1 of Desolation Angels ,. In writing it, Kerouac was re-committing himself to his more experimental, then-unpublishable style, declaring in the journal that "the form of the future is no-form." Also included in Collected Writings is " The Diamondcutter of Perfect Knowing ," Kerouac's "transliteration" of the Diamond Sutra, his " Desolation Blues " and " Desolation Pops " poems, and assorted prose sketches and dreams. Read more
REVIEW
I received this book a couple of days ago and can't put it down. Man, the great man himself, JACK, poverty-stricken, shoes in tatters, humble and unknown, a spiritual seeker, a dharma roar WARRIOR climbs to the top of the mountain to cut through the BS, through the illusion, and awaken. And this excellent balance of scholarship and storytelling puts the reader right THERE with Kerouac in way I've never experienced when reading about him before. I feel like I'm hanging out with Jack. I'm smiling fly on the wall of the tiny cabin Kerouac lived in for a couple months in 1956 when he worked as a firewatcher in Washington State's beautiful Cascade Mountains. We really get into his head as he wrestles with his writing, his life,his mind, his body, and his spirituality. He was pretty much an unknown writer when he went through this experience. This was right before On The Road appeared and he became famous and began his ascent into the canon of Great Merican Writers. So what's in this collection? We get a splendid transcription of the journal he kept during this time and annotated presentations of the writing he did during that time, which I think is all previously unpublished! This includes two unfinished novels--one of which is as good as anything I've read by him- two collections of poems, and his amazing interpretative retelling of the Tibetan Buddhist Diamond Sutra. (I find it interesting to learn that the only reading he brought with him to two months of deso-isolation was the Diamond Sutra and yet in the cabin were 3 or so books left behind by previous firewatchers. One of the books was a Charles Lamb retelling of Shakespeare.) Oh yeah, there's also a wonderful glossyshine set of color pages of photographs, including manuscript images where you can read some of the handwritten words... written in pencil jottings. And then you realize the amazing writing you have been enjoying is all unedited first draft! That's kind of like Miles and Trane recording Kind of Blue all in first takes. This is a really remarkable book because it works both as literature and biography. It is beautifully written in all senses of the word. CHARLES SHUTTLEWORTH deserves to wear an honorary beat beret for what he's given to this school of literature. I thoroughly enjoyed Shuttleworth's writing. No academic puffery and a great sensitivity to his subject shines through Shuttleworth's writing. I understand this is the first in a series of Kerouac-spelunking explorations into his notebooks and unpublished manuscripts. Well, count me in -- I'll spring for everydamone you put out, sight unseen, if they are as amazing as this book is (especially if Shuttleworth does it and hey Charlie, that's two beers you owe me, now). (Hey Amazon, you greedy Queen of Commerce, please do not ship a brand new expensive hardcover book in a larger box with no padding so that it slides and bumps inside and gets all banged up and scuffed down, thankyou)
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