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Typed Letter to Philip Whalen by Kerouac, Jack - 1956

by Kerouac, Jack

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Typed Letter to Philip Whalen by Kerouac, Jack - 1956

Typed Letter to Philip Whalen

by Kerouac, Jack

  • Used
[Rocky Mount, North Carolina], 1956. 1-1/2 pp. on a single sheet, 83 lines, single spaced. 4to. Some chipping at edges, browned. 1-1/2 pp. on a single sheet, 83 lines, single spaced. 4to. 'I can outwrite any sonofabitch in the world today'. A bold steamroller of an unsigned letter fragment from Kerouac to poet Philip Whalen soon after he has completed writing the novel Visions of Gerard (which would not be published until 1963).

"'screams of passion, rites of spring [...]
'Blossoms fluttered from the trees and crossed contrarious Gerard-o's window pane, he would not balmy truck with Spring and swell with it, but wasted like sacrosanct and ill-timed Autumn, out of his element - like my father exactly 20 years later, he was dying during the Resurrection and the Life Renewed.'
"Would you say that these were the words of an irresponsible goof? [...] you hold certain hidden reservations back from me concerning me. . . . I think you think I'm carless, blank, Sure I'm proud, and why not, I can outwrite any sonofabitch in the world today. And why not? I'm the only one who's put in any time in it. [...] I tried to put down writing, I cant - I go on, roll steamroller, blank? [...] Bah. Come on, Whalen, put up yr. dukes and fight. Satori!"

Kerouac tells Whalen to avoid "Miller, or Hemingway . . . read the real writers read Blazac, Han Shan, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky (not Whitman), Blake [...] Can Louis MacNiece and Gabriel Hatter and take up Md Mohammed. Haiku is nice but it's small, I mean there are a million haikus in one good prose work and a million haikus in Emily Dickinson too [...]
"This is my last long letter, Phil, after this let's confine ourselves to little telegrammy postcards". He asks Whalen about Mount Baker and the Desolation lookout job, and inquires about Gary Snyder. Kerouac closes with mention that he is sneding Allen Ginsberg a card.

A choice Kerouac epic in a single typewritten page.
  • Bookseller James Cummins Bookseller US (US)
  • Format/Binding 1-1/2 pp. on a single sheet, 83 lines, single spaced. 4to
  • Book Condition Used - Some chipping at edges, browned
  • Quantity Available 1
  • Place of Publication [Rocky Mount, North Carolina]
  • Date Published 1956
  • Keywords American | Jack Kerouac

We have 1 copies available starting at NZ$18,581.20.

Typed Letter Signed [TLS] to Philip Whalen (7 February 1963)
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Typed Letter Signed [TLS] to Philip Whalen (7 February 1963)

by KEROUAC, JACK

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Fine
Edition
First edition
Quantity Available
1
Seller
New York, New York, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$18,581.20

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Description:
Northport, NY: n.p., 1963. First edition. Custom cloth folder. Fine. SIGNED LETTER FROM KEROUAC FEATURING RARE DRAWING AND DISCUSSIONS OF FELLOW WRITERS. Dating from the final decade of Kerouac's life, the present letter is an unpublished insight into how the writer's relationships, attitudes and motivations developed in his later years. On the back of the second leaf is a collection of abstracted forms to which he refers at the start of the letter. Kerouac ironically describes his artwork as a gift "worth 10,000 dollars within 5 years". Identifying the piece, completed in pencil and marker, as an oil painting, he further comments on its value and rarity arising from the probability that he will "suddenly get bored with paint again". Subsequently, Kerouac describes an original piano composition titled "Procession of the Iroquois Chieftain" which-though left un-scored, "'cause I dont know how"-he claims to have recorded on tape. Charting his creative impulses, with increasing proficiency, from… Read More
Item Price
NZ$18,581.20