General-Zod wrote:

> 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...

Agreed.