Originally Posted by gonesh9
Why does it have to be Kerouac? There's plenty of other stream of conciousness writers out there. William S. Burroughs, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and William Faulkner all come to mind. I don't see this as a knock-off of anyone, but merely a literal explanation of a typical event on the bike path. We've all been there with our little bike-path ego battles whether we like to admit it or not. Hearing the creak of a bike coming up from behind us our legs automatically spin a little faster. Some old fart passes us on his 40 lb. mountain bike and it causes a damaging confusion in our psyche. Some d1ck gives you lip on the bike path, and you can either roll your eyes and ride on, or stick it too him. You'll still make it to where you're going either way. Mayo just spent the time to write his experience down for all of our reading entertainment. Although I personally think the bundle of sticks reference was childish, in this case the bike path was certainly the proper time and place to partake in such a frivolous battle. I'm getting tired of reading about squeaky bottom brackets and how to remove decals with a blow dryer. We're bike riders, and Mayo was out riding a bike.
No dude, I'm staying out of the content. I've read his other postings, the ones that tell a story and this one isn't as good IMO.
To answer your question, you say Kerouac when it's bad and Burroughs et al when it's good. Kerouac blew big chunks, it's no accident that he is usually discussed among people that prefer magazines if literature is the topic. "Dude, have you ever read
On the Road?" then "It changed my life" or some such gibberish is what you hear afterwards no matter your answer. What you should likely hear: "I haven't either, but if I ever read a book this other guy who didn't read it sez that's what I should go for."
T. Capote said of Kerouac "That's not writing, that's typing". He was speaking more to the fact or claim that Kerouac spewed it out in just 3 weeks (
On the Road) but it holds true to the content and form. Hemingway agreed and so do I. I don't think either one would say that of some of the other authors you have there. They may have used the same style (it didn't belong to Kerouac nor did he devise it) but they somehow managed to impart a soul to many of their works that Kerouac never did. They also didn't need a thousand words or more to find one good descriptive analogy. You could gain as much from a road atlas and open mike night at an underage club. I was honestly surprised that I read it cover to cover and started two other works just to make sure I wasn't missing out as so many (late teens early twenties, as was I) had raved about it to me. Usually where there is smoke there is fire, but in the case of Jack Kerouac it's more the sudden burst of fumes you can expect should you urinate on the embers of a campfire.
edit-the word "also" cept i accidently deleted the post, buttafingas