We Also Had The Original "Scroll" Typescript For $500

"Eager to write freely and continuously, without pausing to pull finished pages from his typewriter and insert new ones, Kerouac typed instead on 12-foot rolls of paper that he later Scotch-taped together, Sampas said.

Living in New York in 1951 and writing about his recent cross-country adventures, Kerouac worked from his own notes, journals, and letters, and frequently added notes and corrections over the typewritten text.

He had previously worked on the book in scattered bursts, but finally laid it all out on paper in a single three-week sprint, Holladay said.

Some specialists say they prefer the unedited version, which features a different first sentence than the published novel, as well as a more abrupt ending.

A cocker spaniel owned by one of Kerouac's friends apparently ate the last section, according to Jim Canary, the head of special collections conservation at Indiana University's Lilly Library."

(Link courtesy jnadiger, who still posts occasionally to his own blog, all evidence to the contrary)

I was fortunate enough to actually lay eyes on the scroll, partially unrolled, in a bulletproof Lucite box at the New York Public Library some time in the early 1990s. Back in Vancouver, I tried to emulate Jack's compositional productivity by downing some borrowed speed, sparking up, and booting up MS Word 6. I got about three sentences completed, then had to break off, because the keys were dancing in front of my eyes. Soon the whole apartment was roiling and shifting around me. I couldn't type, couldn't think, and certainly couldn't sit still. So, at 12:45am, I went to call on my neighbor Mike P., who worked with me at Book and Comic Emporium.

"What the hell do you want?" demanded sleepy Mike, peering out of his third floor attic window.

"I'm fucked up," came the Thompsonesque reply. "Help!"

"Go walk it off," suggested Mike. Bang! went the window.

I walked to UBC and back (5 miles each way). Twice. Home at dawn!

Like the Freak Brothers say, peed skills.
- posted by cjb @ 5:39 PM