Will Dockery wrote:

> General-Zod wrote:

>>
>>>> > Okay, for starters, Jack Kerouac was born and raised in a culture where
>>>>> > alcohol consumption was a part of everyday life... his parents were both
>>>>> > alcoholic AND devout Catholics.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > For starters.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Yes, I can verify this with references, I've read and studied the poetry and
>>>>> > life of Jack Kerouac steadily since 1973.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > So, a little history on the French-Canadian culture Kerouac was born into,
>>>>> > and raised in, that included that element from Europe that placed alcohol
>>>>> > consumption as part of everyday life in the family:
>>>>> >
>>>>> > ===========================================================
>>>>> >
>>>>> > From: Subterranean Kerouac: The Hidden Life of Jack Kerouac
>>>>> > By Ellis Amburn ISBN: 0-312-14531-4
>>>>> >
>>>>> > https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/a/amburn-kerouac.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
>>>>> >
>>>>> > "Kerouac, who began life as a poor mill-town boy in Lowell, Massachusetts,
>>>>> > unfortunately never lived long enough to see his... claims borne out [...]
>>>>> > Ms. Wood came upon the coat of arms at Chateau de Kerouartz, she discovered
>>>>> > a silver sable, three iron crosses, and the motto, "Tout en l'honneur de
>>>>> > Dieu" ("All in the name of God") [...] sum up Kerouac's brief but
>>>>> > fascinating life, which was passionate, productive, painful, and pious. But
>>>>> > neither begins to suggest the transformative effect that Kerouac had on
>>>>> > modern society. Only in the 1990s, nearly forty years after the publication
>>>>> > of On the Road, would he come to be recognized as one of the major novelists
>>>>> > of the twentieth century... Unfortunately, when I knew him in his last
>>>>> > years, he was unread and forgotten."
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Early spiritual beliefs and eclectic style of Jack Kerouac's family:
>>>>> >
>>>>> > "According to Jack Kerouac's certificate of baptism, Rev. D. W. Boisvert
>>>>> > baptized him as Jean Louis Kirouac on March 19, 1922, at the Parish of Saint
>>>>> > Louis-de-France, in Centralville. This odd-looking subterranean church was
>>>>> > originally the basement of what had been planned as a grand cathedral, but
>>>>> > the poor Franco-Americans of Centralville had never been able to complete
>>>>> > it. As a result, one walks down to the auditorium, rather than up, as if
>>>>> > entering hell rather than heaven..."
>>>>> >
>>>>> > "Kerouac's mother Gabrielle was convinced that his brother Gerard was a
>>>>> > saint [...] Kerouac was still talking about it in the mid-1960s, when he
>>>>> > told his Florida friend, Ron Lowe, 'I swear to God, small birds would even
>>>>> > light on Gerard's outstretched hands as he stood at the window.' [...]
>>>>> > Gerard absolutely doted on Ti Jean...Gerard was convinced that the Virgin
>>>>> > Mary herself had appointed him Ti Jean's protector [...] Just before the
>>>>> > end, Gerard said he'd seen a vision while sitting in catechism class at
>>>>> > Saint Louis-de-France. The Virgin Mary appeared to him, her robes billowing
>>>>> > behind her, held aloft by thousands of bluebirds. Then he saw himself
>>>>> > ascending to heaven in a white wagon pulled by snowy lambs. Coming out of
>>>>> > his trance, he told a startled nun that she should never again be afraid of
>>>>> > anything, because everyone was already in heaven, though no one knew it.
>>>>> > "All is well," he added. "Practice kindness. Heaven is nigh." [...]
>>>>> > Convinced he was a saint, nuns from school hovered about his bed and
>>>>> > recorded his dying words, which concerned "the unreality of death (and life
>>>>> > too)... the calm hand of God everywhere slowly benedicting." Gerard's
>>>>> > "visions," as filtered through Gabrielle's superstitious Canuck mind, became
>>>>> > the bedrock of Kerouac's adult philosophy, bolstered by his discovery of
>>>>> > Buddhism and his continuing faith in what he called "my sweet Christ."
>>>>> >
>>>>> > "Jack Kerouac forged his belief that the ultimate answer is to be found in
>>>>> > the shimmering golden emptiness of the here and now, a concept in which
>>>>> > eternity and the present moment are one and the same. In the 1960s, as
>>>>> > Kerouac evolved into the spiritual leader of the Beat Generation (along with
>>>>> > Allen Ginsberg), he returned again and again to Gerard, his childhood
>>>>> > inspiration. "I marvel at my love for him," he wrote thirty years after his
>>>>> > brother's death. According to Gerard's death certificate, he expired at
>>>>> > 11:45 P.M. on June 2, 1926. It was a significant date in American letters,
>>>>> > for Gerard would haunt the life and work of Jack Kerouac..."
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Alcoholic culture of the Jack Kerouac's family. This section is significant,
>>>>> > and helps understand Kerouac, where he came from and his tragic fate:
>>>>> >
>>>>> > "Jack Kerouac's ancestors emigrated from France to Canada. Then, in 1890,
>>>>> > tired of scratching potatoes from the frozen soil of Quebec, they drifted to
>>>>> > New England and found work in the mill towns along the Concord and Merrimack
>>>>> > Rivers, where the Industrial Revolution had begun earlier in the nineteenth
>>>>> > century... The French Canadians were called Canucks, and spoke a crude
>>>>> > patois, joual, which led to their being scorned as outsiders. They lived in
>>>>> > ghettos called 'Little Canadas'... For the despised Canucks, survival became
>>>>> > a mystique. They called it 'la survivance.' [...] Drinking was one method of
>>>>> > survival, and alcoholism ran in the Kerouac family. Jean-Baptiste loved
>>>>> > vodka, and made it from potato peels. His son, Leo, Jack Kerouac's father,
>>>>> > born in 1889, was also a drunk. Leo was blue-eyed, black-haired, and
>>>>> > handsome--five-foot-seven and two hundred pounds of solid muscle, including
>>>>> > a neck worthy of Atlas, and thick eyebrows that darted straight across his
>>>>> > nose..."
>>>>> >
>>>>> > "Cecile Plaud once commented on the striking physical resemblance between
>>>>> > Jack and his father, citing their black hair, pensive expressions, and
>>>>> > 'beautifully cut' features. Realizing that Jack was a 'star-crossed victim
>>>>> > of heredity' filled her with a feeling of 'tragic deja vu.' She feared that
>>>>> > a hard life was ahead for Jack as the son of an alcoholic [...] Jack's
>>>>> > mother Gabrielle was also a heavy drinker, and the Kerouac home was often
>>>>> > the scene of boisterous celebrations, especially after the move from Lupine
>>>>> > Road to Maiden Lane. On New Year's Eve in 1924, at the stroke of midnight,
>>>>> > Ti Jean awoke from a deep sleep as his room filled with drunks wearing party
>>>>> > hats. Laughing and yelling..."
>>>>> >
>>>>> > ====================================================

>> This would go well on the I.S. thread about The Golden One...!

> Except for the fact that the "Golden One" thread seems just about defunct.

> Remember to try to skip and ignore the troll threads created by NancyGene and Pendragon, or any other of the malicious scumbag trolls.

> HTH and HAND.

Yo...!

Good read...