Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair in Letters, 1957-1958

by Jack Kerouac, Joyce Johnson

On a blind date in Greenwich Village set up by Allen Ginsberg, Joyce Johnson (then Joyce Glassman) met Jack Kerouac in January 1957, nine months before he became famous overnight with the publication of On the Road. She was an adventurous, independent-minded twenty-one-year-old; Kerouac was already running on empty at thirty-five. This unique book, containing the many letters the two of them wrote to each other, reveals a surprisingly tender side of Kerouac. It also shares the vivid and unusual perspective of what it meant to be young, Beat, and a woman in the Cold War fifties. Reflecting on those tumultuous years, Johnson seamlessly interweaves letters and commentary, bringing to life her love affair with one of American letters' most fascinating and enigmatic figures.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, History, Autobiography, American, Counter Culture

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac, known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.

Of French-Canadian ancestry, Kerouac was raised in a French-speaking home in Lowell, Massachusetts. He "learned English at age six and spoke with a marked accent into his late teens." During World War II, he served in the United States Merchant Marine; he completed his first novel at the time, which was published more than 40 years after his death. His first published book was The Town and the City (1950), and he achieved widespread fame and notoriety with his second, On the Road, in 1957. It made him a beat icon, and he went on to publish 12 more novels and numerous poetry volumes.
Kerouac is recognized for his style of stream of consciousness spontaneous prose. Thematically, his work covers topics such as his Catholic spirituality, jazz, travel, promiscuity, life in New York City, Buddhism, drugs, and poverty. He became an underground celebrity and, with other Beats, a progenitor of the hippie movement, although he remained antagonistic toward some of its politically radical elements. He has a lasting legacy, greatly influencing many of the cultural icons of the 1960s, including Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jerry Garcia and The Doors.
In 1969, at the age of 47, Kerouac died from an abdominal hemorrhage caused by a lifetime of heavy drinking. Since then, his literary prestige has grown, and several previously unseen works have been published.

Reviews

[Mia Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is NOT by Kerouac, it is by Joyce Johnson and is a must read for anyone even remotely interested in the Beat Generation/Beat writers. Johnson dated Kerouac for a brief time and was right in the middle of everything Beat in NY during the 50's. A great resource and story.

[Sparrow .]

It’s a short time period, but crucial for Kerouac. He begins as an unknown writer, ceaselessly traveling – San Francisco, Tangiers, Paris, New York, San Francisco – always disappointed in each city. Then On the Road hits, and he can afford to buy a house in Long Island (Long Island! Northport, to be exact) with his mother. At this point, his goal is to avoid the world, but he’s already an alcoholic, and easily seduced by – literally! – pretty high school girls and their friends, plus the sophisticated women of New York City.

Kerouac desperately yearns to be famous; no wonder success was such a disappointment. Allen Ginsberg, conversely, understood that celebrity was a semi-illusory substance, to be molded like Play-Doh. Jack is actually angry if anyone else uses the term “Beat Generation,” which he has actually attempted to copyright! Until he realizes that battle is hopeless.

Let me quote a little (randomly) from his letters:

“Eating tangerines now, but I saved the one that fell on my head, if you come here with Leo you can eat it, it’ll be delicious in a month. No, it was just such a personal slap on the head at that moment, I was surprised, nay awakened into something just as silly to call God a Personal God as an Impersonal. What the hell.”

His achievement was to create an accessible avant-garde of prose, that teenage kids (whom he loved – and Joyce is only 21 when they meet!) could understand, in fact, “flip” over. (I’m using one of the “Beat” terms in these letters.)

Joyce’s letters are also good – especially for a kid in 1957:

“Hey, an English publisher, Victor Gollancz, took a 25 pound option on my book – so I’m very happy but more nervous than ever about finishing (of having my name blackened in England as well as here if I don’t). So it’s full speed ahead. Symphony Sid continues to uphold me (funny that we both mentioned him with our letters crossing). I think that when I get that $62 or whatever it is, I’ll buy an enormous bed at last.”

You see, in these excerpts, the contrast between them: she a "real" novelist, he a composer of bop prosody; he seeking God when a tangerine falls on his head, her buying a comfortable bed.

What is love?, the book asks. And the answer is a refuge – at first from the torments of the self, later from the torments of the masses. The sex was full of anxiety, Joyce notes in passing, and eventually Jack was drunk most of the time anyway. Both Joyce and Jack are absolutely infatuated with cats.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always thought Kerouac was a shit and this verifies it. Shows him to be insecure, juvenile & manipulative as well, and surprise surprise!! a Momma's Boy! Joyce was young & naive and useful to him. Couldn't have been a more mismatched pair. Enjoyable reading if you're interested in them & their times.

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up at my library recently, once again on my random travels through the biography section (though there is much there that I take umbrage at, lol...) I do like that I find everything from soup to nuts in my local library's bio section but woof--after working at a bookstore for 12 years it can be hard to see things categorized weirdly. However, in this case it worked in my favor. I adore Jack Kerouac--as teen and college student, I was of course obsessed with the Beats in general.. My first love Jim Morrison taught me about Kerouac==I was 10 years old and my local library at the time did not carry On the Road, so it took me years to actually acquire a copy. I have loved Kerouac since then.
I have a fondness for some of the other Beats as well, Burroughs for sure--not Ginsberg (shocking I know!) but Kerouac has always been my favorite. So when I saw this book of letters I was fascinated. I was aware of Joyce Glassman(Johnson) from Beat documentaries I have seen but really did not know much about her. This book was a wonderful way to become acquainted with her and also with Kerouac's private side.
This is especially interesting having a woman's point of view be the guiding force here----the Beat writers are so often accused of misogyny, racism and sexism, it was nice to read both sides of the equation in letters that were intended for the eyes of the writers only at the time. One of the things I loved about the book is Ms. Johnson's explanation that is so simple but at the same time not often mentioned--despite these men being the "mad ones" and restructuring fiction and poetry to such an extent--they were still men of the 50's. They still had to battle many of the mores of the time not only outwardly but inwardly. So the fact that there were not a ton of female beats who were taken seriously, is not surprising.
However, this book proves that at least the King of the Beats did not disparage women as artists--his letters constantly refer to Joyce's writing and encourage her greatly---his behavior as a lover? Not so great but this is not shocking either--being faithful or committed would have been seen as "square" and part of the charm of this book is watching how Joyce handles her "traditional" desires to be in a committed and "normal" relationship---I have to say I think she was one tough cookie--concealing her sadness at Kerouac's infidelity, or his vacillation between needing her and pushing her away and at the same time, pounding away at her own writing, supporting herself in New York City and attempting to become a more creative and rounded person.
She knows Kerouac is not traditional and in many ways she does not want him to be--his freedom is also her freedom--the reader does become annoyed with Kerouac's constant back and forth (I can only imagine her frustration) but at the same time enthralled--what it must have been like to live in his head. Joyce has been minimized in Kerouac's life for many years--I believe these letters put her back in her proper place--she was in the midst of and part of the Beat evolution to a great degree--she was friends with nearly every important Beat writer and also many painters and artists as well. Her attitude was most assuredly Beat. The letters between she and Kerouac show the extent to which he trusted her, writing her poems, sharing his frustrations, being honest about his head space--at the same time he was often doing things that would have broken her heart---things she did not know about until many years later when Kerouac's correspondence began being published.
While the woman in me wants to smack him, I can stand back from it and realize that he was often trying to protect her--there is definitely a feeling of him enjoying and wanting to not only be a part of her creative life but also wanting to have her protection and normalcy to balance him. I came away with the feeling that he loved her very much, did not want to string her along even when he felt more committed (knowing his butterfly brain would change as soon as it settled) and that he wanted to see her become successful in her own right. Was the relationship always fair? Of course not--the significant age difference, Kerouac's already extreme drinking problem and his established legend (well before his established success) all gave him the upper hand in some ways in terms of teaching lessons and being a figure of adoration. However, part of the charm of this book is in Joyce's strength in the face of this--the way she seemed to know this experience would be important to her--that she wanted to know and love this man as an artist and lover before the world began clamoring for him. Her recognition of his magic before it became world famous.
At the same time, it's Joyce's story--she intersperses the letters between them with commentary about various happenings at the time and her perception of things now that time has passed. It also touches on her recovery from the end of the relationship, her finding of a true love and relationship (sadly short lived due to her first husband's early death) and her finding of herself as a writer, woman and artist. She later married again and had a child (also an author) and has continued her literary career quite successfully. She also did something Kerouac never could have---survived to tell the tale. Her own ability to pick herself and dust herself off never wavers here, even through devastation. I walked away with the picture the woman as a strong and centered person despite her travails, and a true artist in her own right.

[madzia:) · Rating 5 out of 5]

poor joycey she deserved so much better (and jack kerouac ain't shit)

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sweet book, tender and sad.

[Hunter Byram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a tragic little section of Jack’s life. Joyce Johnson describes in immaculate ways a truly nuanced, relatively forgiving but also quite frank understanding of Jack. The letters were obviously fascinating, but I also found myself looking forward to Joyce’s commentary sections as well, and presented her side in such a beautiful way.
I went in wanting to read more about Kerouac, and came out satisfied, also wanting to read more about Joyce Johnson.

[Nadia Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

i enjoyed this book. if youre interested in beatniks and life of jack kerouac than you may find this book quite informative. he was mess of a man that never had anything planned out. jack was emotional. he never stayed in one place for along period of time. He was promiscuous yet dertermined. joyce, his love interest in the book is said to be his true love.

[Annika Reno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to rate. I like Joyce Johnson a lot and really feel for her. Jack Kerouac is a grade-A asshole whose letters I found tedious, juvenile, mostly hard to get through. But Joyce kept me reading and hers is an interesting and worthwhile story.

[David Curry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Door Wide Open is a collection of correspondence between Jack Kerouac and Joyce Johnson during a romance of a little over a year in the late 1950s, with an introduction and interspersed commentary by Johnson written at a later age. For those who already have awareness of and interest in the Beat Generation and mid-20th-Century American counterculture, it’s a good read.

The book is enlivened by anecdotal tidbits, as when the very young Johnson goes to work as an “editorial secretary” for the publishing house of (then) Farrar, Straus & Cudahy and meets her boss John Farrar, “a sweet, neurotic, tweedy old man (Johnson writes to Kerouac) who dates back from the Maxwell Perkins days in publishing. I met him on Ash Wednesday, and he had an ash on his forehead. He said to me, ‘Don’t be alarmed,’ Miss Glassman (Jiohnson’s name at that time). It’s only an Anglican ash.’ “

Here’s Johnson on the legendary mid-1950s avant garde gathering place Black Mountain College: “Black Mountain was a small college in North Carolina where the educational experiences had evidently been so heightened, incestuous, and intense, nobody who’d gone there could stop talking about it.”

Thanks to this book, we also learn that Kerouac referred to the women’s fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar as Harpo’s Bazaar. One of the reasons I read is to get that sort of information.

Here’s Johnson advising Kerouac, at a time when On the Road has just been published and Kerouac is pursuing a movie contract and planning readings at NYC’s Village Vanguard: “Just write your books. All this other business is secondary and simply a way of making a buck. There’s some kind of terrible disease in America where it isn’t enough to be Jack Kerouac the writer — but you’ve got to be Jackie Gleason too —which is fine only if you’re Jackie Gleason. Beware!” (Kerouac’s readings at the Village Vanguard evidently did not go well.)

More from Johnson, as Kerouac is contemplating buying a house on Long Island: “I like your idea of a comfortable, ramshackle house. I’ve never liked those arranged rooms where everything matches and nobody ever leaves any imprint unless there’s an accident.”

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this at the same time as I read Subterraneans, a novel by Kerouac of an obsessive sexual relationship with someone other than Joyce Johnson. Since she is the editor and compiler of this collection of letters, it is interesting to see her point of view on the beat generation's take on sexual espression and artistry, as well as the empowerment of women to make their own sexual choices. Even though taken from Kerouac's point of view and being an examination of his obsession, the woman in Kerouac's novel becomes the most interesting aspect of it precisely because of this empowerment of sexuality issue.

Johnson's great accomplishment in "Doors Wide Open" is bringing the issues of women in the beat world up front. It's a great alternate perspective, even if well over half the book is Kerouac's voice in his letters.

Also, I was reading some more contemporary postmodernist writings at the time I was in to these books. I was surprised at how dated the stream of consciousness prose of Kerouac came off in comparison to the prose of more contemporary writers, even in his letter writing: proof that even "postmodernist" prose, which might be different from "modernism" in its attempts to speak on a more popularly accessible level, changes over time.

[Leah B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two young adults in the 1950s try to navigate love, fame, career, and internal esteem.

A romance unaided by instant messaging but is better for it. A loyal, persevering woman who was perhaps too invested in a flighty, unreliable man who was perhaps too invested in his career and himself.

Growing up in a time where written letters are a novelty, I find it beautiful to transport through this book to read letters between ephemeral lovers; yet, the letters, particularly those unsent or unreceived, are equally distressing. Today, it’d be easy to pick up our mobile phones to communicate with whomever we wanted… but that’s part of the beauty of the form—the patience and trust required when sending and awaiting cherished words with the acknowledgement you might not receive anything back; a non-receipt is communication in itself. Though I was rooting for Joyce and Jack, the ending was already known… all turned out as it should, with Joyce finding someone who chose her consistently.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book for years but never could get into it. Finally picked it back up when I hadn't been able to get to the library in a while. I was pleased that discover that Joyce Johnson provides some commentary between letters about what was going on in their lives. It is a bit cringe-worthy sometimes what a lovesick girl she seems compared to Kerouac's feelings. But I think it would take courage (or a hefty paycheck, maybe) to expose those letters to public scrutiny when you were the one more invested. Still liking the Beats!

[Fluffy Singler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone knows by now about Jack Kerouac and his inability to commit to any woman except his mother. What is particularly interesting about this book is the way that Joyce Johnson's own authorial voice emerges through these letters. You also learn a bit about Elise Cowen, another woman writer of the Beat Generation who has been gaining more attention in the past 15 years or so.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair in Letters, 1957-1958 by Jack Kerouac and Joyce Johnson (Viking 2000) (813.54) (3744).

This is a sad little book by author Joyce Johnson. It is a collection of letters exchanged between not-yet-famous Beat author Jack Kerouac and young Joyce Johnson, who had fallen hopelessly for Kerouac. Johnson’s narrative includes a handful of letters from other correspondents which she must have deemed important to add perspective to her account.

It seems sadly obvious that Johnson was one of many women that Kerouac met, flirted with, and led on. It’s clear that Kerouac saw women (other than his mommy) as totems to be conquered, exploited, and abandoned.

It should be noted that Kerouac was dead broke when he and Johnson met. This was the exact moment in his life when On the Road was published and he was catapulted into literary star status. Once he found success, he was gone from her life. She just did not realize it as it was happening.

Poor Joyce Johnson! She was a product of the 1950s. She thought that she had found in Kerouac the promise of everlasting love. Kerouac apparently saw Johnson as one of many flowers in a garden of delights. She sought romance and fidelity while Kerouac sought food, temporary shelter, “kicks,” and sex with no thought of the next day much less of the future.

I felt so sorry for this girl! As their short time together went on, Kerouac paid less and less attention to her unless she could provide something specific which he needed at the moment. As his physical needs began to be met by others, he needed her less. As he steadily distanced himself (not that he ever gave much of himself to her), her letters grew increasingly needy and desperate. As Kerouac’s broken promises and plans piled up, it seemed that there was no rejection or humiliation too great for Johnson to bear.

Her letters became increasingly alarmed as Kerouac distanced himself further and further from her. Her letters evidenced desperation as she sought some small hint that he loved her. Her requests for reassurance became more and more demeaning. I suspect that Kerouac was eventually repulsed by the level of her subjugation. As Johnson put it, “Wasn’t that how you proved yourself - by taking on a difficult love and enduring somehow? If you were a woman, wasn’t your “road” the man you gave yourself to?” Door Wide Open, pp. 153-4.

How sad.

I purchased a used HB copy in like-new condition from McKay’s Books on 6/1/22 for $0.25.

My rating: 7/10, finished 3/26/23 (3744).

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Karolina · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I remember Jack's silences, so deep you'd be afraid to break into
them. And how he'd plunge into the blind, heightened intensity
of drunkenness when he had to go out and meet the world. After
the first thrill of success, his fame evoked fear and self-hatred. He'd
take the phone off the hook and double-lock the door, and we'd
hole up in my apartment like hunted outlaws. But I also saw him
during the increasingly rare times he seemed in balance. Then his
innate sweetness would be captivating. He'd lie on the floor on his
belly, nose to nose with my cat Tigris as it ate from its bowl, or propose
that he take me to Chinatown on a real "date," or lavishly
praise a Lipton's soup I made for him, or sing along to Symphony
Sid on the radio. He had the capacity to make the most ordinary
things seem radiant. This was the real Jack, I'd tell myself-and I'd
wish he could just stop right there and stay that way forever. I
became intent on saving him through showing him that he was
loved."

[Dan Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It had been unread on my “Kerouac shelf” for a long time. I’ve read all of Kerouac’s major works & some others of the recently published “early,” “lost” work & at least 3 of the biographies, so I am familiar with his story. I’ve also read Joyce Johnson’s earlier memoir "Minor Characters." But this collection of her & Kerouac’s actual letters from her 2 years relationship with Kerouac is really her story; she presents not just the letters but includes an essential linking commentary. Her book also provides a window into a woman’s (women’s) role/position in a male dominated (even more so then than now) white, straight, conventional society. The book also brings into stark focus that Kerouac, while one of the great writers of the 20th century, was not someone I would not want to hang around with.

Joyce Johnson went on to her own life of writing (she is still with us), which I now want to explore.

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this right after Minor Characters and enjoyed it more (contradictions aside, all of which could have been easily avoided by reading MC while proofreading Door Wide Open). They're both evocative books that give a strong sense of being in the era and the struggles faced by women then - I think I actually enjoyed the parts in MC about Joyce Johnson's life before the Beats more than I did the parts relating to Kerouac. The one thing that niggled at me with both this book and Minor Characters is the way she wrote about other women who were involved with Kerouac. There's this sort of snide, dismissive, contemptuous tone that isn't present for the other women she details. Edie Parker and Carolyn Cassady both stick in my head particularly. There just seemed no need for it and I found it irritating. The only motive I can imagine is jealousy which is unfortunate as it detracts from what is otherwise a valuable account of a woman's experience of the Beat Generation.

[Cameron Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

All I could think the entire time was girl STAND UP. I respect her love (obsession?) with him, but it was just a young, educated but naive woman being humiliated over and over by an anxious and avoidant older man. I think he did love her but like all things in his life he was unable to commit, and she was incredibly useful in keeping him connected to New York and the like. She was a secretary in career and in love.

I appreciate the letters being the base of the story. The prose even in letter format was interesting (did people really talk like this?).

[Robert S · Rating 2 out of 5]

I walked into Door Wide Open with minimal expectations about what to expect but I walked away somewhat disappointed.

I expected your standard letters book, but something just seemed...off while reading it. I spent a little bit of time thinking about it but still not entirely sure to be perfectly honest.

Others who are more aware of the Beat generation may find more enjoyment out of it than I did.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic documentation of a love affair, and a decent look into Kerouac's head, and method of romancing women.

[Sara Dann]

I discovered this book while writing my senior thesis on Kerouac...so good. Definitely read if you get the chance

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting and sad, and beautifully stated. Tragic and fascinating.

[Gaspar Carvajal · Rating 4 out of 5]

q cagaso q esta keruak de autor en goodreads
entretenida la wea
me gusta q son cartas de verdad
me da rabia la joyce igual y el jack es un papanatas
bonitobonito aprendi arto

[Lexi Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You never wanted furs," he said. "All you ever wanted was a little pea soup."

the horrors of being in love with an alcoholic, beat-gen writer.

[Amita June ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

GIRL STAND UPPPPPP

[Cece Callaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Kerouac was an ass.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting (to me) collection of letters from Joyce Johnson to Jack Kerouac, and from Kerouac to Johnson, during their love affair. They were "together" (at least as much as anyone could have been with Kerouac) from just before On the Road was published until about a year later. A short time, but, obviously, if you know Kerouac, a colossal one for him and American literature.

The letters are mostly matter of fact (there are several cat updates) but their blandness masks a lot of longing, pain, and confusion as Johnson tries to figure out what their relationship is and what it might be (not much, it turns out).

She's a good writer, and it's a short book, with loads of unintentional name-dropping (she meets tons of literati and sees the jazz greats of the era) that anyone who loves Kerouac's work will appreciate.

Also further solidifies the by-now obvious fact that Kerouac was a lousy guy to have as a parent or partner. Also very illuminating about Kerouac's relationship with his mother, which is awkward, to say the least.

Kerouac does seem to have been very supportive of her as a writer, constantly telling her to keep at it, and that what she thinks is best probably is, as far as writing goes. And considering that sort of encouragement from a fellow writer is probably a lot of what she was looking for in her relationship, it's impossible to say the romance was entirely one-sided, or that he was a complete misogynist.

You should definitely read at least a few of Kerouac's books before reading this, not to mention a few of the other Beats she mentions as well (Ginsberg, Burroughs, Jones, DiPrima, Corso, etc.). Though that's something I'd recommend you do even if you aren't interested in this book.

[Dáithí's · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this quite by accident when looking for more on Jack Kerouac. I was a wee bit skeptical when I first got it, as I am always leery of folks who write about others after they have left this realm. When I factor in romance, sex, emotions, greed, etc, I read with a very skeptical eye indeed.

I am pleased to report that Joyce Johnson, once friend and lover of Kerouac, actually offers a nice evaluation of her time with him as well as a mature assessment of both of their strengths and weaknesses in the relationship. The chronology of letters offers a nice glimpse into the mind of Jack Kerouac as he surfed the highs of his troubled life and then crashed into the low troughs of depression and addiction.

The younger and rebellious me can relate to Mr. Kerouac in many ways, as we shared a very distorted view of the world and relationships, especially with women. It was very humbling and healing for me to see a few parts in letters that shared the same tone that i wrote to past lovers when I was thinking more with my anatomy than my heart. It is funny how life places mirrors in front of us at the most awkward of times.

This is a decent peek into the soul of a frustrated artist. If you are a fan of the Beat Generation or its works, do yourself a favour and pick this little gem up.

[Craven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually don't give post or review books that I haven't finished, because it doesn't seem fair to give something a bad review if I haven't read the entire thing and I usually only quit a book if it sucks. (So no, I don't like everything just the stuff I end up posting.) However, with this one I figured it'd be OK, because I actually liked it a bit, but after a while I felt like I got the point. But yeah, this is a series of letters between Jack Kerouac and his young lover Joyce Johnson. It's an interesting period piece and looks at the gender dynamics and stuff of the time in the context of Bohemian lifestyles. But after a while it becomes redundant and dry, with the two them just talking about stuff like "make sure this poet gets my letter" or "talk to this editor/publisher for me." At that point I decided that I didn't really need to go much further.
It's worth taking a look at, especially if you've read Johnson's memoir, "Minor Characters" a great look at the Beats from a women's point of view and her relationship with Kerouac. If you haven't read that, start there.