Definition of jack kerouac in English English dictionary
a US writer who was a leading figure of the 1950s beat generation. His most famous novel is On the Road, which describes the adventures of two friends as they travel across the US (1922-69). orig. Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac born March 12, 1922, Lowell, Mass., U.S. died Oct. 21, 1969, St. Petersburg, Fla. U.S. poet and novelist. Born to a French-Canadian family, he attended Columbia University, served as a merchant seaman, and roamed the U.S. and Mexico before his first book appeared. At Columbia he met Allen Ginsberg and other kindred spirits, and he became a spokesman of what would be dubbed the Beat movement (a term he coined). He celebrated its code of poverty and freedom in On the Road (1957); his best-known novel, and the first written in the nonstop, unedited style that he advocated, it enjoyed a huge success among young people, for whom Kerouac became a romantic hero. All his novels, including The Dharma Bums (1958), The Subterraneans (1958), and Desolation Angels (1965), are autobiographical. His death at age 47 resulted from alcoholism
(1922-1969) American novelist and member of the Beat Generation, author of "On the Road