On the Road, first published in the United States in 1957, is
the most famous of Jack Kerouac’s many novels. It is semi-autobiographical, and is based on events that took place in
the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This
is when Jack Kerouac (Sal Paradise in On the Road) and his
friend Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty in the novel) travelled
throughout the United States, covering huge distances in a
very short time.
The story begins with Sal meeting Dean when he comes
to New York for the first time. They discuss travelling to
the west of the United States or “going West.” At first,
Sal goes travelling on his own. He goes to San Francisco,
staying with friends on the way there and falling in love on
the way back. He and Dean do not travel together until
some time later, going from the East to the West and
back again by car. Their adventures on the road involve
meetings with girls, wild parties, getting drunk, taking drugs
and enjoying sex. They never have much money and have
to rely on delivering cars for people who don’t want to
drive long distances themselves, doing casual work when
they can, and sometimes stealing food, drink and gas.
The loosely structured writing style and the freedom
of the behaviour and lives of the young people involved
captured the attention of the public at the time. On the Road has remained a cult classic.
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