Kerouac Literary Festival

     From October 10th to October 14th of every year Lowell hosts the annual Kerouac Literary Festival. During the five days that the festival was in town I had the privilege to attend two events. The "Beat Generation" play on Saturday night at the Merrimack Repertory Theater and the "Sunset on Jacks Bridge" on University Ave right outside North Campus Sunday evening. Jack Kerouac is an author and poet native to the city of Lowell and is highly recognized for novels such as "On the Road", "Dr. Sax", and "Big Sur". His style of writing was unique and spontaneous, covering a wide variety of subjects that include spirituality, Buddhism, sex, drugs, jazz, poverty and travel. He along with two other men, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, are credited with starting the "Beat Generation", which ultimately led to the Hippie Movement. Despite helping establish the Hippie Generation Kerouac opposed some of their radical political values. Sadly Jack Kerouac died in 1969 at 49 years old from internal bleeding due to long term alcohol abuse. Now we have this wonderful festival to commemorate him.

    During the weekend of the Kerouac Literary Festival I went home, which means I had to drive back to Lowell for the play. In the downtown area of Lowell there is absolutely no parking within reasonable proximity to the theater unless you get there an hour early. The neat thing about going to see the "Beat Generation" was that this was it's world premiere, and I got to be in attendance for it. Not many people have heard of this play, or heard of it as one of Kerouac's works. The reason for this is that the "Beat Generation" was found and published in 2004 despite being written by Kerouac over sixty years ago. Approaching the entrance of the theater I noticed that most of the attendees were of seniority, and were probably affected directly by several pieces of Kerouac's work. Who knows, maybe many of them even knew Jack on  personal level, and helped engage in the start of the beat generation.


     Walking into the theater the only topic being discussed was Jack Kerouac, and how admirable his works of art were. I soon realized that what captured all of these peoples imagination and hearts was how controversial his writing was, whether it was through his syntax or the subject of his writing. There was not one person who strayed from that subject of conversion...perhaps except for me. Hearing how emphatic they were speaking about him and his works made me question how my generation had wandered so far from literature. These people cherished Kerouac's works, read them willingly, and took all they could out of it. I can confidentially say that if students today were not required to read certain books for class, then the majority of them would have read "Holes" as their last book back in 7th grade. Experiencing this at the play really encouraged me to find a book that I thoroughly enjoy.



     When the play began I was a little excited to see what Jack Kerouac was all about. One of the actors hopped up on stage revealed to us that we were going to be one of the eight audiences who would witness the "Beat Generation" for the very first time. Apparently when Kerouac wrote this play, publishers forced it away and made Kerouac lock it his drawer, and to never mention it again. They said it was too much like "On the Road" so it wasn't worth being published and made into a theatrical production. Since the actors only had four days to prepare for the play instead of the usual four months, they let us know that they would constantly be carrying the scripts around with them. I thought that this would take away from the overall experience and quality of the play, but surprisingly it didn't. The actors only glanced at the script, recited the line, and executed it without any pauses or mistakes.

     As the story line of the play progressed I can see how publishers could have denied publication of this play because it was too similar to "On the Road". There were some noticeably different features to each one too though. The "Beat Generation" was about a group of friends from the 1950's who were gamblers and alcoholics. These men also struggled financially but believed that they could change their fortune in the very near future. Their plan was to go to the horse track everyday, gamble away their money, and earning more than they ever thought possible. As you may have already guessed, this plan did not work well and they didn't make nearly enough to get them out of debt. After this they carried on with their lives as they always did, with no motive, just alcohol and gambling. Towards the end of the play the group meets a Bishop, and begin to question what the real meaning of life is and the true meaning of their existence on Earth. Just like in "On the Road", the characters are spiritually lost in the world and go on with each day trying to gain wealth and raise their social status.

     The second event of the Kerouac Literary Festival I attended was the "Sunset on Jack's Bridge" on Sunday the 14th. This took place on the bridge right outside of North Campus. This event consisted primarily of people who knew the Kerouac family or Jack himself. A few of them were still hippies, wearing unbuttoned shirts with long gray hair down to their shoulders. Others were well dressed and appeared to be authors themselves. 

     While I was there a few people read their favorite pieces and lines of Jack's literature, then said a few prayers about him. Once everything that wanted to be said was said, everybody was given a white flower to throw over the bridge in remembrance of Jack. As we launched the flowers into the river everyone yelled "for Jack!" or "Jack Kerouac!". Almost immediately after all the flowers had been thrown I saw a watermelon go flying over the fence, exploding on the rocks in the river. Apparently a character in one of Jack's books actually throws a watermelon over that exact bridge. 

     The most interesting part of the tribute on the bridge was meeting a man named Larry Myers. Larry claims that he knew Jack, and is very good friends with the family still. Supposedly Jack's brother in law from California is extremely wealthy and is paying Larry to write a story about Jack for a good chunk of money. Although this does seem true I have yet to research if Larry is actually a published author. I will try to find some time to check that out soon.

     Overall my experience at the Kerouac Literary Festival was an interesting one. It was very unique to see one of Kerouac's plays on its world premiere after being locked away in his drawer for over sixty years. I learned a lot about what times were like back in the 1950's, and how much Jack still means to the city of Lowell. The experience's I gained from this excursion have also helped me rediscover the joy of reading. I've actually started to read "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt not too long ago. It's hard to believe that some things Jack wrote about that changed the way people viewed literature throughout the world happened on the very streets outside my dorm.