Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79238 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-15
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Synopsis
Kerouac's candid and definitive insider's record of the key figures and events surrounding the Beat Generation, Desolation Angels had gained a reputation as an underground classic long before publication in 1964. Told through the character of Kerouac's fictional alter ego, Jack Duluoz, the novel follows the story of his last legendary road trip, accompanied by his thinly-disguised Beat counterparts, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and William Burroughs. From California to Mexico and on to opium-ridden Tangiers, Kerouac chronicles the frenetic parties, the drink and the drugs, the poetry and the mountain vigils with unsurpassable energy.

Customer Reviews

Kerouac's Mountain Solitude
Many will know Jack Kerouac as the author of 'On The Road' : a relentless record of his cross-country wanderings in the late 1940s. However, he published many more semi-autobiographical novels and this is one of the best.
It chronicles his time as a mountain fire-lookout in the 1950s, and describes his reflections on his solitude. Kerouac without booze and pills is the result and he tries to face up to his own life, before returning 'down to the world.'
There are some beautiful evocations of the wilderness, some heart-rending references to his inability to deal with the contents of his head, and the all-pervading presesence of Hozomeen, the mountain he faces each morning.
A must-read book for people interested in the true spirit of Kerouac, and one in the eye for people who tell you he was a one-dimensional misogynist.

A combination of Others
This One kind of disappointed me, It really seemed like Kerouac was just throwing together bits from his other work and kinda lacked the originality of, say, the Dharma Bums. The first section basically goes over his time on desolation peak, as told in the Dharma Bums and again in the Lonesome Traveller, Its really getting boring the third time around. The middle section, around page 150ish to 280 i think, focuses, much like the subterraneans on the social aspect of his life in San Fransico and New York, it's nice but again lacks the excitement of similar phases in On The Road or The Dharma Bums. The last third of the book is better, detailing his trip to Mexico and then Tangiers with Burroughs, Gregory Corso and Ginsberg. Almost in the vein of the last half of the Lonesome Traveller. Overall this one seemed a tired and almost melancholy work, still good,but I'd really heard it all before.

A rewarding read...
... and worth persevering with through some of the slightly drawn-out parts. But certainly full of the flavour of Kaerouac's style and genius. A large portion of this, one of Kerouac's longer works, follows the character's months spent as a fire look-out on a mountain and so it has plenty of opportunity to concentrate on thought and feeling without too many distractions. It is drawn out long enough to give a sense of prolonged isolation before returning to the familiar life of the city.
A classic.