El disfraz de la inocencia: La historia de Jack Kerouac en México

by Jorge García-Robles

“We had finally found the magic land at the end of the road and we never dreamed the extent of the magic.” Mexico, an escape route, inspiration, and ecstatic terminus of the celebrated novel On the Road, was crucial to Jack Kerouac’s creative development. In this dramatic and highly compelling account, Jorge García-Robles, leading authority on the Beats in Mexico, re-creates both the actual events and the literary imaginings of Kerouac in what became the writer’s revelatory terrain.


Providing Kerouac an immediate spiritual freshness that contrasted with the staid society of the United States, Mexico was perhaps the single most important country in his life. Sourcing material from the Beat author’s vast output and revealing correspondence, García-Robles vividly describes the milieu and people that influenced him while sojourning there and the circumstances between his myriad arrivals and departures. From the writer’s initial euphoria upon encountering Mexico and its fascinating tableau of humanity to his tortured relationship with a Mexican prostitute who inspired his novella Tristessa, this volume chronicles Kerouac’s often illusory view of the country while realistically detailing the incidents and individuals that found their way into his poetry and prose.


In juxtaposing Kerouac’s idyllic image of Mexico with his actual experiences of being extorted, assaulted, and harassed, García-Robles offers the essential Mexican perspective. Finding there the spiritual nourishment he was starved for in the United States, Kerouac held fast to his idealized notion of the country, even as the stories he recounts were as much literary as real.

Genres: Biography

135 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2000

About the author

Ensayista, nivolista, traductor...

Jorge García-Robles, quien -según Roger Bartra- encara de un modo lúdico los grandes problemas de México fue Premio de ensayo literario Malcolm Lowry 1995... Es autor del libro vivencial "Qué transa con las bandas" (1985-2014), de la mixtura de escritos ensortijados "Lofránida" (1987), de los cuentos alquímicos reunidos en "Los muslos de Potasia" (1992), de un tomo de urdimbres literarias llamado "Utilería" (1995), de un ensayo biográfico sincopado que dedicó a la estancia de William Burroughs en México: "La bala perdida" (1995 y 2008), de otro ensayo biográfico acerca de la espinosa pero creativa permanencia de Jack Kerouac en Méjico: "El disfraz de la inocencia" (2001 y 2008), el monumental "Diccionario de modismos mexicanos" publicado por Porrúa), investigación referida al caló usado en México desde la época virreinal hasta nuestros días, "Antología del vicio. Aventuras y desventuras de la mariguana en México" (2016), "Virus.com Historias remotas de pandemia." (2020), "El Espíritu beat, ensayos sobre Burroughs, Kerouac y otros nómadas del universo" (2021), "Blues para una especie tóxica o porque nunca se va a civilizar el Sapiens" (2021), "The Last Sausage of the Great Designer, short story for smart kids (and adults)" próximamente...

La obra de García-Robles se ha traducido al inglés, holandés y al sueco; él mismo tradujo al castellano "México City Blues, Tristessa y cinco libros más de Kerouac.

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Won as an ARC in a giveaway by University of Minnesota Press.

Acting more like a short biography and/or travelogue, Garcia-Robles's "At the End of the Road: Jack Kerouac in Mexico" shares a brief introduction to his childhood, a brief explanation of the last years of his life secluded from Mexico and the basis, his life in Mexico in-between.

Explaining his extreme drug use and alcoholism, the book travels to and fro from the US to Mexico stating where and how Kerouac obtained his ideas and creativity for books such as 'On the Road', 'Desolation Angels' and 'Visions of Cody' and how crushed the human psyche can be once rejected by the masses.

The book also brought up friends such as Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, John Clellon Holmes and others, known as Beatniks and the era simply known as The Beat Generation. These Beatniks or brotherhood as they called themselves are still relevant today (perhaps, even more so posthumously).

I went into this not knowing much about Kerouac, but after reading this short work feel well-informed about the life of a man that was fast paced, vain (at times), hypersensitive, yet thought he was a rock star. Ignored by many writers at the time (Truman Capote is mentioned), he finally found fame 5 years after the inception of 'On the Road' in 1957 and couldn't manage the pressure of fame; Instead of relishing in his vanity, he played the idiot (Dostoyevsky reference, yeah!) and retreated outside of public view until his death at the age of 47 in 1969.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won an advanced readers' copy of this book from a goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a biography of Jack Kerouac, with emphasis on Kerouac's time spent in Mexico and his feelings about Mexico. It goes into great detail about what he did there (mostly drugs and prostitutes) and how he felt (great at first, then not so much). It includes detailed conversations of Jack's and excerpts from his writings to help tell the story.

I had a hard time getting into this story. I am not familiar with much of Kerouac's work, so it was hard for me to care about his misadventures in Mexico. Also, Garcia-Robles doesn't explicitly say why Kerouac is important in the beginning of the book, so anyone who doesn't know who he is already will have trouble finding out why they should care about his story as well. The author includes many little phrases directed at the long-dead Kerouac, which get irritating after a while.

Even though it was hard for me to get involved in the story, it was still interesting. Kerouac had an eventful life, and even though I don't admire him as a person, I enjoyed reading about everything he did and felt.

Overall, this book is okay. I would recommend it to people who already have background knowledge about Kerouac and are familiar with and admire his works. I believe that going into it already knowing about Kerouac's accomplishments would make this book both more interesting and easier to read.

[Jamie Barringer (Ravenmount) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won and received an ARC of this book free through the Goodreads First Reads program.

I really enjoyed this book. First, it was short, and fast enough to finish in one evening, while still being well written with lots of good content. Second, this book reads like a biography written by a Beat enthusiast and author, perhaps not quite a voice equal to Kerouac himself, but still a very poetic approach to writing a biography. This sort of thing can be easily overdone, to a point where it becomes silly, but in this case it works. At a few lines the author, Jorge Garcia-Robles, even speaks to Jack Kerouac directly, as if he is imagining that Kerouac is right there reading over his shoulder as Garcia-Robles is writing Kerouac's story.

The one thing I really wished for in this book- photos. As someone who has never been to Mexico, I would love some photos of places that feature in Kerouac's story, and photos of Jack Kerouac himself with his various campanions that turn up in this book. Even just a photo at the start of each chapter would be nice. But, as is, this is a very good biography on an interesting and volatile poet who helped to shape modern literature in the US and world-wide.

[Carrie]

Men are horrifying.

[Rodrigo Blanco Calderón · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pésimo. Es una paráfrasis de los propios libros de Kerouac con interpretaciones manidas, cuando no simplonas. Además, el autor incurre en horrores gramaticales que no son solo atribuibles a la también pésima edición que compré de la editorial La Moderna.

El autor se presenta a sí mismo como “autodidacta” y vaya si lo es. Con solo mirar la bibliografía que pone al final, ya uno se da cuenta de que este libro no es el resultado de una investigación ni de una propuesta ensayística. Es, como mucho, un resumen de lecturas. No aporta nada.

[Jacqueline]

“Jack made a Mexico to the measure of his inner chimeras and boiled it down to a fiction that helped him survive at the time.
Which is not to say Jack didn’t notice the meanness of Mexico. Most of his literary chronicles do in fact emphasize the sordidness and violence of its cactus-sphere. But such was his multidimen- sional fellahin Mexico, so willing was he to forgive its squalor, so great was his need for a cultural, religious antidote to his own coun- try that he never dared so much as to wink at its ugliness. I have no doubt that at times Kerouac deeply despised the Mexican milieu.”

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In short, Jack made a Mexico to the measure of his inner chimeras and boiled it down to a fiction that helped him survive at the time."

[Josh Guilar · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief, interesting sketch of Kerouac's (literary) relationship to Mexico.

[Israel Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Se sabe que el autor ha escrito ya con anterioridad sobre los beats, que ha traducido algunos de sus libros y que su trabajo es seguramente de los pocos en español al respecto de estos celebres escritores gringos. Labor loable aunque en ocasiones moleste que les hable de "tu". No obstante, la investigacion realizada presume de anécdotas, citas y una cronología a detalle, que a cualquier admirador de KErouac puede interesarle y fascinarle por la relación que el nacido en Lowell construyo en cada uno de sus viajes a MExico con su gente y sus manhas. Desde los días que inspiraron algunos de los pasajes de on the road y tristessa, hasta cortas historias desconocidas de sus paseos en el mexico de medio siglo xx. Vale la pena leerlo siempre y cuando se haya leído antes a kerouac para poder relacionar su andar con su fuego interno, la piedra rodante que fue con el espíritu sensible que poseía, y todo ello trasladarlo a un pais repleto de desesperanza y sordidez.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like there wasn't much new information given in this short book.

I liked the focus on religion and the spiritual side of Jack, because that is what I always took away from his Mexican trips.

I really didn't like the weird asides he wrote to Jack. And the extremely opinionated end was a bit much for me.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Kerouac didn't really seem to interact with Mexico, but with his fantasy of Mexico. I suppose many people do this.