I read two novels back to back; Persuasion by Jane Austen. Miles apart from Persuasion; shorn of convention, vehemently personal and intimate, anti-establishmentarian, exuberant and seminal, looking for that ultimate epiphanous blast in a vortex of sex, booze and drugs; necessary perhaps to disembowel and disrobe yourself, to get engrossed in Life’s simple mysteries, to achieve that ecstasy of life which has been cowed and crushed by mores and civilizations of Herculean strength, On the Road by Jack Kerouac defines living life by the moment.
What if you are living a dream? What if you never know where and how you are going to be next moment? What if the road defines your very presence? What if butts and bottles are what you need to get that kick? What if love is the solace of the flesh? What if order is Life-threatening? What if chaos is the life force that sustains the fire in your belly?
Life is that story of the nomad who has been domesticated to settle down. On the Road unleashes this dormant, mulling nomadic spirit that has been quelled for ages. Stoned and saturated by substances the generation of “On the Road” desires to discover a happiness that goes deep into the eyes of a child or the fragrance of the forest.
“The Moment you know all and everything is decided forever” Knocking down the methods and techniques that are prescribing, Writer Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty who can delve into Proust and flinch cars in a flash at the same time hit the roads across America from East to South to West to West to East, ‘digging’ gals, guys, hipsters and music in American towns and bars culminating in a grand finale to the end of the world; to Mexico.
‘On the Road’ is a book about the question, the question about the meaning of life. Unsure of what to expect, unsure of what is ahead, this foolish gang was, bending onward, “Where go? What do? What for?
There is nothing in “On the Road” to enjoy or understand. It is a book to experience although vicariously, a whirlwind, a tropical storm, a voyage of lust and ecstasy, a journey to know yourself. (To be continued)