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Vanity Of Duluoz
 
 
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Vanity Of Duluoz (Paperback)

by Jack Kerouac (Author), Stanford (Illustrator) "All right, wifey, maybe I'm a big pain in the you-know-what but after I've given you a recitation of the troubles I had to go..." (more)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 22.00
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Product Details

Product Description

From Library Journal

Published in 1968 (LJ 2/15/68) shortly before the author's untimely death the following year at age 47, this is more or less a biography of Kerouac's fictional alter ego, Jack Duluoz, which, of course, means that it is really an autobiography of Kerouac himself. The book covers Kerouac's/ Duluoz's life during the years 1935-46.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Ingram

Originally subtitled "An Adventurous Education, 1935-1946," this book is a key volume in Kerouac's lifework, the series of autobiographical novels he referred to as The Legend of Duluoz. A wonderfully unassuming look back at the origins of his career--a prehistory of the Beat era, written from the perspective of the psychedelic '60s.
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First Sentence
All right, wifey, maybe I'm a big pain in the you-know-what but after I've given you a recitation of the troubles I had to go through to make good in America between 1935 and more or less now, 1967, and although I also know everybody in the world's had his own troubles, you'll understand that my particular form of anguish came from being too sensitive to all the lunkheads I had to deal with just so I could get to be a high school football star, a college student pouring coffee and washing dishes and scrimmaging till dark and reading Homer's lliad in three days all at the same time, and God help me, a WRITER whose very 'success', far from being a happy triumph as of old, was the sign of doom Himself. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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4.4 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars The last of Kerouac, Aug 9 2003
By N.N. (Albuquerque, NM, USA) - See all my reviews
For all intents and purposes this is Kerouac's last real novel. With great fondness and honesty, he goes over a lot of the same themes and events as in his earlier works, but now he's tired, not feeling the need to prove anything and just barely holding on to hopes that things ever get better. This is a sincere, lovely, heartbreaking and haunting book of reflections at the end of a pained but adventurous life.
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5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best from THE best!, Jul 5 2003
By petite souris "listen to Blur!" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
No, this isn't just for fanatics! If you want a history of good ol' Jack, then yes, it is just for fanatics. However, if you just want an exciting adventure, it's for anyone. This book has got something for everybody, seriously. It has crime, "romance", adventure on the high seas, everything and more.... and then there's always sport (now there's an obscure M. Python reference! Good thing it fits(:) Anyway, this book is a clasic, no matter what stuffy old lit scholars say. One of my favourite quotes comes from this one: "Insofar as nobody loves my dashes anyway, I'll use regular punctuation for the new illiterate generation." What's my favourite Jack quote? "Holy suffering cows!", that's what (:
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3.0 out of 5 stars FOOTBALL AND WAR, Jan 9 2003
All of Jack Kerouac's writings don't really fit into the category of novels. They are more in the form of the sentimental memories of Proust or a man looking back on his life as if he were already dead. The Vanity of Duluoz is no exception to this style. Of course, Kerouac takes the title for his work from the Bible verse in which it is said "all is vanity". Written just two years before his death, most of the book seems a Cliff's Notes to his entire body of work.

The book is subtitled "An Adventerous Education 1935-1945" and basically covers ground already seen in other works. Except in this one, he is writing a book for his wife, as if to fill in the story of his life to someone. The driving force behind this work is football and war. It follows Kerouac from early high school football games into college and then into the merchant marines and to the formative years of the beat movement.

Even though one of Kerouac's biographers, Barry Miles, said this book was written in his "fat Elvis period", I found the book quite good. Not among the best of his work, but he still had the spark of writing even in the midst of alcoholism.

Especially good are his experiences in entering Columbia University and the politics that got involved with his playing time. I didn't know that Jack pretty much decided to write because the coach of his team refused to let him start. So, basically, Kerouac just said "I have better things to do than take this. I'm gonna become a writer".

Something not really touched on in other novels but included in this one is Jack's service in the armed forces and the merchant marines. He wasn't afraid to serve in the military during World War II, he just couldn't take being ordered around. Back then, merchant ships crossing the Atlantic were in just as much danger from German u-boats as any battleship.

When the book starting to lose its power was when Jack met the other Beats, who really in the end were a bunch of losers. Kerouac was like Cool Hand Luke. His friends fed off him and on him, draining his energy and sapping his ideas. Kerouac makes up names that are so thinly artificial for his friends that you feel like you're reading a Dickens novel. When he concentrates on himself, he is a genius. When he writes about others, he becomes weak. He should have kept the radar squarely on himself.

This book is pretty good. Average for Kerouac. It is a paradox. It is a novel written about his a joyous youth by a man who sees himself in bitter old age.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Deja vu all over again (well not quite)
Thomas Wolfe served as a mentor to the young Jack Kerouac and greatly influenced Kerouac's first novel, "The Town and the City," in both scope and syle. Read more
Published on Mar 12 2002 by Jerry Clyde Phillips

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and mostly honest rewrite of his debut
A rewrite of "The Town and the City" after ol' Jack shook off the Wolfe influence (to a degree). Read more
Published on Oct 31 2001 by Doc Savage

5.0 out of 5 stars For Fanatics
This novel is a must-read for Kerouac fanatics, as it both illuminates the youthful source of his 1950s spirit and also highlights his unfortunate disenchantment with the 1960s... Read more
Published on Dec 13 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Kerouac's Rambling Thoughts
OK...this is not Kerouac's best book...but that's like saying, this is not Jesus' best miracle or something absurd like that. Read more
Published on Jun 20 2000 by RG

3.0 out of 5 stars Good work - but by no means his best......
Vanity of Duluoz is a novel of reflection. To many of us Kerouac fans, nothing "new" will be presented here. Read more
Published on Nov 20 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars One of Jack's last reflections on his extraordinary past
Written two years before his death, this book reveals a cynical and wiser Kerouac who sees the sickness of the world clearly- "People never walk down the street with their... Read more
Published on Oct 8 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars A human novel
"Where is he? Where am I? Where are you?" The forlorn words of a reminiscing soul. Vanity of Dulouz is a novel of reflection, tragedy, remorse, and the passing of time... Read more
Published on May 11 1997

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