Old Angel Midnight

by Jack Kerouac, Ann Charters (Preface), Michael McClure (Preface)

" Old Angel Midnight is one of the great delights of the boundless improvisational world. Jack Kerouac's ear is peerless, manifesting structures otherwise impossible. A masterpiece of the mind freed to fly. Read it aloud, for yourself, 'for the sake of reading, and for the sake of the Tongue … Let's hear the Sound of the Universe, son.'"— Clark Coolidge Old Angel Midnight is a treasure trove of Kerouac's experiments with automatic writing, a method he practiced constantly to sharpen his imaginative reflexes. Recorded in a series of notebooks between 1956-1959, what Kerouac called his "endless automatic writing piece" began while he shared a cabin with poet Gary Snyder. Kerouac tried to emulate Snyder's daily Buddhist meditation discipline, using the technique of "letting go" to free his mind for pure spontaneous writing, annotating the stream of words flowing through his consciousness in response to auditory stimuli and his own mental images. Kerouac continued his exercise in spontaneous composition over the next three years, including a period spent with William Burroughs in Tangiers. He made no revisions to the automatic writing entries in his notebooks, which were collected and transcribed for publication as originally written. Old Angel Midnight attests to the success of Kerouac's experiment and bears witness to his commitment to his craft, and to the pleasure he takes in "I like the bliss of mind." " Old Angel Midnight is the illuminated notebook, the ur-text, of Kerouac vision/voice/language. The golden rule Catholicism of New England mind in kahoots with free time Godhead consciousness. This is true beat pleasure. This is our music."— Thurston Moore

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, American, Literature, Classics

94 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

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

[Mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly the most intriguing and challenging of Kerouac's works that I have read to date, at the same time it feels like there is great meaning which lies hidden just below the surface, just out of reach. This was an incredibly brave move from Kerouac (some might say even 'foolish' as it was bound to invite derision from the anti-Kerouac crusade launched by the press and which still exists to some degree to this day). It is also Jack at his MOST spontaneous.

I have a feeling that Jack lamented the lack of English onomatopoeic words and so one of his most remarkable achievements here may be that he has in fact added to and broadened the spectrum of words which describe what we hear, see, sense, touch, smell and feel. No mean feat.

Here we find Kerouac trying to imitate what Joyce did in Finnegan's Wake by creating his own language. I'm not sure yet, but I hope that Burroughs' assessment of Finnegan's Wake being a 'failed' word experiment does NOT apply to Old Angel Midnight as well. Because I have not yet been able to fully penetrate this work, I am unable to judge.

While Joyce's new language was largely based on a combination of Latin, Greek, Gaelic, German, French and English words, Kerouac's words seem more 'organic', plucked directly out of the Mill Valley air where he stayed with Gary Snyder in a cabin while he wrote most of this book. There are also many references to great authors, musicians, products (jello etc.) and people who were famous in pop culture at the time and some of the words in this book may have roots in Joual (a type of working-class Canadian French which Kerouac spoke fluently with his mother etc.) which I would like to study and delve into.

A truly fascinating book which I am enjoying after just having finished Ulysses, a colossal book which shares some similarities with Old Angel Midnight too.

I feel that this is a work that Kerouacian scholars have largely neglected and really is worthy of more attention. After James T. Jones' great scholarly dissection of Mexico City Blues in a book called A Map of Mexico City Blues, perhaps he, or some Kerouac scholar will write a good one on this work someday. Here's hoping.

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Just finished. Well, in two minds about this one. Some of these poems are really wild and have no idea what they mean but when you read them out they sound quite beautiful so this is really a book to appreciate in terms of the SOUND OF THE LANGUAGE and not meaning. Not to say that it is totally incomprehensible but a large portion of it is.

When Kerouac hits a groove, see for example sketch #1 or #54, he is really on fire and the imagery he evokes is quite vivid and his greatest triumph I think is capturing the sound of his environment. 'Tweep' and 'tswip' are such great words that should be added to the Oxford Dictionary! You can just hear the birds like they are right outside your window, like they were right outside Kerouac's window in Mill Valley.
Something beautiful about a guy who very bravely chose to go his own way with spontaneous prose, ensconced in a wood shack writing these poems in pencil by candlelight. Oh Jack we miss you.

[Adriane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite book of poetry ever, I think because it's so surreal. Poetry often escapes me because I don't have the patience for interpretation. I like prose because it is either telling me an interesting story, or teaching me about something. Poetry generally does neither of those things, it is more like feelings turned into words and that is pretty confusing for me, as if I have no point of reference I cannot share the feeling being expounded upon. It must just be the way my brain works, but I'm drawn to the surrealism of Kerouacs poetry because it really doesn't mean anything specific. I have a feeling most of it is just drunken rambling, but the fact that he uses the words in different patterns and adds a visual element, as well as being serious yet hilarious at the same time, it just really spoke to me.

[Tim Hoar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despise its wildness, this feels like a work of great control from Kerouac. There's a lightness to it. I smiled a lot. The experience is as much about how the words sound next to each other in your head as what they are actually saying. One of my favourites of his work.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rhythmic perfection. Kerouac embodies all that is holy.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

reading the book again this time to teach abut automatic writing works agains the automatic wiring of the brain jack kerouac listens to what his window says. it was his "other" project, a collection of the world's sounds and connection to his Buddha-self the swirling and ecstasy of the sounds that create life, the seed syllables of the ancient creation. do you teach by talking do you teach by having others talk do you teach by writing do you teach by having others write. imagine: it is summer out in california and jack kerouac is sitting by the window as the world comes in. after that is the universe and the "stars farting". after that it just keeps going on the earth and all its sounds that keeps it alive. this is what this book is, jack kerouac records all that as he listens to what his window says and writes it down.

[Kris (My Novelesque Life) · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: 3 STARS
2016; City Lights Publishers
(Review Not on Blog)

Straight up truth...I don't think I am smart enough for Kerouac! While I enjoyed reading it out loud I have no clue what any of it meant. I did enjoy going through the book and it is SO beatnik!

***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fun read for Jack enthusiasts. more naughty language than normal, which felt refreshing because there is much ground to cover here; along with flashing midnight stars, San Fran streets, Lowell rivers, beer soaked bar room floors, and the eyelashes of Beat poets).

[Gautsho]

Ma pole Kerouaci abstraktsemaid asju varem eriti lugenud ja harjunult miskit lugu oodates oli see alguses igavavõitu, aga siis avastasin järgemööda rütmi, sõnapoisid ja et see on ju hoopis luule, las olla ühes jorus kirja pandud, ja siis oli kõik korras. Kerouac on ka suurepärane linnukeelte transkribeerija. Üks lind ütleb: "Pirilee, pirilee, tzwe, tzwi, tzwa" - kohe asi selge. Teises kohas: "...sound of silence broken by the firstbird's teepaleep" - teepaleep, teepaleep. Mõnus öelda ka inimkeeles. Ja lisaks meeldib mulle, et kuna see on kirjutatud Gary Snyder onnikeses, siis on see meeldiv taustamaterjal "The Dharma Bumsile" - TDB on rõõmsat hei-hoogu täis kirjutatud, aga OAM tutvustab Kerouaci argielu selle taga, rahulik-igav sipelgavaatlus ja linnulaul.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry to say this slim collection, comprising prose poems full of onomatopoeia, alliteration, run-on sentences, etc., just really didn't work for me on the whole. I'm not opposed to Kerouac's tendency to sort of feel around for the sound of what he wants to say-- that improvisation, or at least that sense that he's improvising, because I know quite often he actually did quite a bit of revision and gave great thought and consideration to the sound and rhythm of his poetry (and his prose)... that is sort of a key to what gives his work its crackling electricity-- but here it really does feel sloppy and haphazard in a way that I don't think it has previously in my view, at least not often. It's kind of an example of the inevitable failure that must occasionally result from trying to fly so high and so freely, the disappointment that occasionally results from an excess of freedom-- or to use a metaphor that seems particularly apt given Kerouac'a affinity for Jazz, the saxophonist whose solo begins to hit more and more bum notes and loses any sense of forward progression. It's not entirely worthless-- there are occasional glimpses of Kerouac's particular genius-- but I really found very little to appreciate in comparison to any of the others of his poetry collections or novels that I've read.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a lot, but it has a great rhythm in spots. It’s a book-length poem of word babble to read out loud. It makes sense in its feeling, in the way it mimics how a mind can move, not in a straight reading of it. I liked it more than I thought

[Chris Meger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that must be enjoyed out loud. Read it to yourself, or better, have someone you love read it to you. Wonderful.

[Nicholas Trandahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A flood of higher self beautiful angelic madness. Unrestrained and undomesticated prose poetry of the highest order. The first time I read Old Angel Midnight I wasn’t ready for it. This time, I was ready.

[Donnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this because I thought it meant I was sophisticated. I was an idiot, and this book is really really bad.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but sweet, this is perhaps the best example of Kerouac's writing-as-jazz prose improvisation, an all night jam session where the typewriter is the main instrument.

[Jane Fudger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I persevered with this book as it was only a short volume. Unfortunately I found, about half way through, it became non sensical and as a consequence Iskip read the remaining few pages.
Definitely not my type of book- not a good start to my reading Jack Kerouac's other novels [hopefully!]

[Frank Baugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly tedious but he delivers this koan the mumonkan could boast:

‘people visit [Bankei’s] hut to inquire
“what other planet features this?”
and he answers
“what other planet?”’

[Rafya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I need to read this at least three more times to understand it

[Aleida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendo ejercicio de escritura automática. El ritmo y el encabalgamiento de ideas, sonidos y escenarios da al lector un vertiginoso recorrido por las entrañas del pensamiento que, muy lejos de ser lineal es diverso, complejo y a ratos asfixiante.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Jack Kerouac so it feels horrible to give this two stars. I have to be honest though: I found this atrocious. It was a mess of gibberish and not at all enjoyable for me. At least I enjoy his other works!

[Jason Yarborough · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used to have the first stanza memorized. It took over a minute to recite and was probably very annoying at parties...

[Stefano Minichilli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Syncopate bop writin' delicious me

[Jonathan Cavazos · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s beyond me how this got published. It sounds like a drunk soliloquy.

[RA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack's "automatic writings," weaving the Old Angel Midnight as a characterization throughout. The best way is to read aloud quickly, absorbing the sound of the language more than anything. Fun stuff.

[Trevor Roach · Rating 4 out of 5]

super fun watching Kerouac play with words in full spontaneous prose! feels like a fun exercise he did for himself and it paid off! he made me laugh a few times and i appreciate that from the beat buddha

[M.P. Settle · Rating 2 out of 5]

“It was just a lottawords foir nathing … it’s all a lotta sand pilin up helplessly on itself obliterating the What Cave? … the langue just bubbles & in the babbling void … if only I could avoid what I hear … The less I hear of em the happier I’ll be!”

[Jacqueline]

“I love Allen Ginsberg - Let that be recorded in heaven's unchangeable heart”

[Marvin Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love most of Kerouac’s writing but this book is horrible. I would only recommend this to JK super fans who have to read everything. If you’re not a super fan, avoid at all costs!

[Alex Prestia · Rating 4 out of 5]

yup

[Dovofthegalilee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just don't get it. Was this an attempt to be as mixed up as Ulysses? It seems more likely this was the effect of drugs and alcohol

[Teddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh it’s so wanky. Like. So so wanky. It’s giving like. Ur listening to a drunk artist in a bar tell you all the Things He’s Seen and you’re just listening so he’ll buy you a drink