Big Sur
Price: $650.00
Hard Cover. New York: Farrar, Straus, Cudahy, 1962. 1st Edition. Near Fine / Dust Jacket Included.
First edition, first printing. Publisher's black cloth-backed blue marbled boards, with spine lettered in gilt; in its original white dust jacket, printed in black, blue, and green, designed by Janet Halverson. Fine, with bright gilt and just a tiny spot of staining to bottom edge of text block; near fine unclipped dust jacket, with a touch of fading and rubbing to spine, and small square sticker residue to rear flap. Overall, an excellent and vibrant copy. Big Sur is Kerouac's account of his three visits to Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti's cabin in Big Sur, California. Like many of his other works, the text is semi-autobiographical; Kerouac uses the characters Jack Duluoz and Cody Pomeray to represent himself and his friend Neal Cassidy, respectively. However, unlike in his previous novels, Kerouac presents Duluoz as a successful author rather than a nomadic bohemian. Throughout the text, Duluoz battles with depression, the pressure of fame, and alcoholism, a downward spiral which he attempts to combat by seeking solace in the wilderness. However, despite its overall pessimism, Big Sur contains the witty and humorous writing style that makes Kerouac's writing so beloved. In a description of a week-long bender, Kerouac writes, "I've been sitting in that chair by that fishbowl for a week drinking and smoking and talking and now the goldfish are dead." Item #JK055
